Canadian cannabis Licensed Producers are limited in their abilities to communicate with consumers digitally and in person. One marketing channel that is widely available to all LPs and retailers alike is email marketing.
Why is Email Marketing Important For Cannabis Companies and LPs?
Email marketing is vital for almost every industry – but is especially important for cannabis industry marketers. Social media (especially Meta’s platforms Instagram and Facebook) are notorious for removing cannabis-related content and suspending/banning cannabis-related accounts. Building up an audience of thousands of followers over months or years only to have them ripped away in an instant has been a harsh reality for a large number of cannabis industry marketers.
Email marketing provides a solution to this problem. Once a user is subscribed to your email newsletter, they can never be taken away from you. You own that list, you can back it up and take it from provider to provider. You will always have a method of communicating with that individual.
Furthermore, if we look at The Cannabis Act, the first and main point under promotion states:
Subsection 17(2) of Cannabis Act provides that, subject to the regulations, a person that is authorized to produce, sell or distribute cannabis may promote cannabis by means of informational promotion or brand-preference promotion if the promotion is:
a) in a communication that is addressed and sent to an individual who is 18 years of age or older and is identified by name
Email marketing offers an age-verified direct communication channel and provides the chance to identify the consumer by name. As long as your sign-up process includes verifying your consumer’s birthdate through an age-gate, email marketing communications are considered compliant by the regulatory bodies in Canada.
Which Email Marketing Program Should I Use For My Cannabis Company LP?
Certain email marketing software providers are cannabis-friendly while others are not. One example of a non-cannabis-friendly provider is Mailchimp. Many cannabis companies (producers and retailers) have been shut out of their Mailchimp accounts completely without being able to further communicate with their consumers. This is why it is important to use a cannabis-friendly platform and to frequently back up your email list. We suggest using Drip, Klaviyo, Hive, or Cakemail as a replacement for Mailchimp.
Cannabis-friendly email marketing software providers include:
- Drip offers “Email and SMS marketing for growing e-commerce brands”. The company is outwardly 420-friendly and is actively looking for clients in the cannabis industry. Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
- Klaviyo is one of the most popular email marketing softwares and is used by some of the largest companies in the Canadian cannabis space. Klaviyo is based in Boston, Massachusetts, and is a 420-friendly platform.
- Hive offers software to “power your customer journey with email, SMS and CRM, all-in-one”. Many cannabis industry marketers report that they have had no issues while using Hive to disseminate their messaging.
- Cakemail is an app and API that “makes it easy for companies and developers to manage contacts and relationships, deliver highly personalized email communications, track activities and generate meaningful analysis”. Based in Montreal, Quebec – the Cakemail team is outwardly 420-friendly and is actively scouting cannabis-industry clients.
How Do I Get Subscribers to Sign-Up To My Cannabis Email Newsletter?
The first step after establishing your goals and creating your email marketing strategy is to begin attracting subscribers to your newsletter list. There are several methods to accomplish this.
First, ensure that there is a landing page on your website and/or have a form on the bottom of your website for consumers and budtenders to sign up through. Drive traffic to this landing page or form in all of your social media and digital communications to grow your list. Have your brand reps sign-up budtenders and consumers to this list during brand activations and store visits.
Want to Learn More About how Cannabis Brands can use Email Marketing?
We’ve got more information about email marketing for cannabis brands in the Cannabis Brand Marketing Guide we’re releasing at the end of the summer. We’ll be sharing some best practices and types of email marketing content for cannabis brands to use. The guide will be full of useful tips and tricks for navigating this highly-regulated and difficult-to-navigate industry.
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Last Updated on July 19, 2022 by ADCANN
