September 16, 2024
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So far in 2024, more than 3.6M B2B emails have been sent through the Cannabiz Media Cannabis Market Intelligence Platform. These campaigns largely come from ancillary businesses (everything from lighting manufacturers to payment processors, POS systems to extraction equipment, etc.) looking to market their product or service to licensed cannabis operators. With such heavy and specific email volume, we have the unique ability to report on email marketing engagement among cannabis operators in the U.S.
Note that email marketing campaigns sent through the Cannabiz Media Cannabis Market Intelligence Platform are considered cold outreach, which measures against different engagement benchmarks as compared to standard opt-in email marketing open and click rate averages.
Within the Cannabiz Media Cannabis Market Intelligence Platform, users have the ability to segment their distribution lists in a number of ways. One of the most commonly used filters within the Cannabiz Media Cannabis Market Intelligence Platform lets marketers target their audience by state.
This is critical to success because with each state operating its cannabis market independently, the value proposition that a marketer must deliver varies greatly by location. What operators in Virginia are looking for might be vastly different than what operators in Nebraska need. Let’s take a look at the top 10 states whose operators have been most engaged with email marketing in 2024, considering both opens and clicks.
Most of the states in the top 10 have relatively newer, smaller programs. Success in these locations is likely due to low inbox noise, which is a principle that explains that the more emails someone gets in their inbox, the less likely they are to open them. Being newer, smaller programs, they are not on many ancillary companies’ radars. These email results would suggest that being first to a new market has significant upside.
Comparatively, looking at the full data set, all but three states exceeded the recommended 20% open target for cold outreach. The three that fell short were Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Delaware. Oklahoma in particular, which has by far the most active licensed operators, consistently shows low engagement. The abundance of operators draws ancillary businesses like a magnet, meaning they are inundated with sales outreach at a much higher rate than other states. As previously discussed, the more noise within an inbox, the lower engagement emails receive.
The impressive click rates from the top 10 states again supports the notion that smaller markets draw less inbox noise, and therefore higher engagement. Interestingly, there is zero overlap between the most engaged states by opens as compared to the most engaged states by clicks, which suggests there is an inconsistency of well-written subject lines versus well-written calls to action. It seems email marketers may be struggling to succeed in both areas.
Another common filter used to segment distribution lists in the Cannabiz Media Cannabis Market Intelligence Platform is license type, therefore allowing marketers to target cultivators, dispensaries, retailers, manufacturers, etc. separately.
Across the board, the results show that Cannabiz Media users beat the 20% minimum open rate recommended for cold outreach, therefore showing an impressive level of engagement from cannabis operators of all walks.
You’ll notice that the lesser sought after license types such as marketer, research, and testing are outperforming the more popular license types such as dispensary, retailer, cultivator, and manufacturer. As previously discussed, this is likely due to inbox noise. The smaller license types are not targeted by ancillary companies as frequently (i.e. less inbox noise) and therefore show higher engagement.
Aside from analyzing recipient segments, such as license type and location, we can leverage what we know about the industry types of the email marketers themselves to consider what content types resonate among operators.
The kinds of ancillary businesses that tap into the Cannabiz Media Cannabis Market Intelligence Platform to conduct email marketing are greatly varied, but can largely be grouped into 16 categories.
Categorically we can see that certain groups outshine the others. That could mean these groups employ stronger marketing teams, but it’s more likely that their goods and services are more sought after by operators. Security Services and Equipment, for example, is likely needed by most if not all license types whereas Extract and Edible Products is something only manufacturers can benefit from.
And coming from a marketer, it’s comforting to see that Advertising, PR, and Marketing Agencies are among the top performers! Perhaps groups like Testing and Lab Services, Media/Publications/Information, Accounting, Packaging and Supplies, and Extract and Edible Products should look to hire an agency to improve their results above the recommended average.
The question on every email marketers mind: What is the best day to send email campaigns? Some email marketing service providers, like Cannabiz Media, offer tools that show you the best day and time to send based on your specific distribution list to help your campaigns be as successful as possible. But here is what we’ve seen in 2024…the results are not what you’d expect.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday have long been considered the best day to send email campaigns. Those days were thought to be the sweet spot, avoiding hectic Monday schedules where people are playing catch up from the weekend, the checked out mindset of a Friday, and the perceived blackhole of the weekend. So how are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday now leading the pack as the most engaged days? Back to the conversation about inbox noise, perhaps email volume is at play so let’s take a look.
Similar to previous discussions about inbox noise, it seems quieter inboxes on the weekends are giving campaigns delivered on Saturdays and Sundays an engagement boost. As soon as deliveries start to go up during the week, open rates drop. It makes for an interesting parallel to the basic economic laws of supply and demand. This could be unique to the cannabis industry, which often operates all week long as compared to other industries and business types which go dark on the weekends.
The rules to successful email marketing are ever-changing which is why it’s important to stay updated on the latest trends for your specific industry. The cannabis industry in particular has proven time and time again to be unique in many aspects, including email marketing. To set yourself up for success, consider investing time in yourself by taking courses specific to cannabis email marketing. Free programs such as the Cannabiz Media Email Success Academy can be incredibly valuable in learning what makes cannabis email marketing unique in segmentation and content writing. But most importantly, remember to continue testing and evolving based on what works best for your brand and target audience.
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