Cannabis Email Marketing Trends: MJBizCon Edition

Introduction

As we approach MJBizCon—the largest industry show of the year—cannabis email marketing activity will increase as everyone attempts to drum up recognition, interest, and booth visitors prior to the show.

Looking at last year’s email marketing activity, over 1.65 million emails were sent through the Cannabiz Media Cannabis Market Intelligence Platform between October-December 2023, with over 91,000 emails associated with MJBizCon containing a variant  of the show name in the subject line. With this volume of show-specific email content, we have the unique ability to analyze email activity for the event to help you optimize your email marketing for the 2024 show.

Key Findings

• The average open rate of MJBizCon cold outreach emails achieved 30%, far exceeding the standard 20% benchmark.
• Email marketing efforts that begin as early as two months in advance of the show experience the highest open rates of 45%.
• Spelling the show name with the correct spacing and capitalization gives you the best chance of engagement, leading to average open rates of 34%.
• Including words like “meet”, “see”, “find”, “join”, and “visit” touted an average open rate over 33%, but including the booth number did not have a significant impact beyond that.

When should you start your outreach for MJBizCon?

Outreach began up to two months in advance of the show and impressively the overall open rate on these cold emails reached an average of 30.26%.

Inbox noise is undoubtedly at play here, which is a principle that explains that the more emails someone gets in their inbox, the less likely they are to open them. The highest open rates of 45.37% were seen two months prior to the show, which is significantly higher than the overall average proving that early outreach can win big. By November, email traffic increased 535% and that  drove the open rate down to 27.70% due to increased inbox noise. However the few who were persistent and continued their outreach during the show saw a rebound in open rate of 34.19%, again proving that lower inbox noise increases engagement and busts the myth that people don’t check their inboxes while at tradeshows.

Does the spelling of MJBizCon in your subject line matter?

If you’ve been through this tradeshow before, you’ve no doubt seen that MJBizCon is referred to and spelled in a number of ways. And yes, it does have an effect! Seven variations were detected in this analysis resulting in an enormous swing in open rates.

Unsurprisingly, the correct official spellings of “MJBizCon” and “MJBiz” beat the overall open rate average. And while the impressive open rate for the closest (but still incorrect) spelling of “MJ Biz” cannot be ignored, we’d be remiss to overlook that variation has the lowest number of deliveries and therefore the smallest dataset to reflect upon.

While this doesn’t take into account other email marketing best practices that significantly affect open rates (like subject line length, list segmentation, and sender reputation) it does showcase that accuracy and professionalism matter.

Other Top Performing Trends

Using words that encourage in-person meetings such as “meet”, “see”, “find”, “join”, and “visit” in subject lines touted an above average open rate of 33.23% whereas those without fell to 27.85%. However, taking it a step further to include a booth number in subject lines does not have a significant effect on open rates, with only a 1 point difference between those with and without.

Despite popular belief that posing a question in the subject line is beneficial, MJBizCon email marketing data proved the opposite. Those without a question saw a 31.07% open rate, beating the average, whereas those that did include a question only saw a 24.20% open rate.

And for fun, let’s review the top 5 performing subject lines based on open rate. Notice how four of the top five correctly spell out the show name as “MJBizCon”.

1. Let’s Meet at MJ Biz in Las Vegas
2. NEW CANNA Products at MJBizCon
3. Let’s Meet Up At MJBizCon
4. MJBizCon Starts Tomorrow, See You At Booth XXXX!
5. Meet us at MJBizCon

It is worth noting that all five of those top performing subject lines were used on relatively small distributions. With each one delivering to less than 2,000 recipients (with one as small as 200 recipients) it is important to emphasize that hyper segmentation and small list sizes matter just as much as your subject line! To further illustrate this point, the largest distribution in the dataset with almost 4,500 recipients received an abysmal 7.25% open rate.

Key Takeaways About MJBizCon Email Marketing

• The earlier you begin your MJBizCon email marketing, the better. Begin mapping out your cadence (schedule and content) now so you can start distributions as early as two months prior to the show.
• Outreach should continue throughout the show, which can be done by scheduling campaigns in advance so as not to burden your on-site team during the event.
• Take the time to proofread and ensure you are accurately referring to the show name. Incorrect spellings immediately flag to the recipient that you are not a trusted partner of the show.
• While the data shows that one of the emails in your series focus on an in-person meeting, it should be just one element. Per our usual email marketing recommendations, your content has to show value to the recipient and answer the question: “What’s in it for me?”. In short, don’t just talk about yourself! Provide valuable content and explain the benefits of visiting your booth.
• Audience segmentation and list size are just as important as a well-written subject line. Consider it the one-two punch to successful email open rates.

Conclusion

Being successful at MJBizCon does not begin the day you step foot on the show floor. You’ll spend months planning your booth, handouts, and talking points, but you need to add pre-show email marketing to that prep list. In the weeks leading up to October when you’ll begin your email series, make sure you’re ready from a technical standpoint with a healthy domain reputation. Consider taking a quick (and free) course from the Cannabiz Media Email Success Academy about the technical aspects to lay the groundwork for successful email marketing campaigns.

And remember, it doesn’t stop there. Once you’ve gotten them to your booth and collected their information, your post-show email marketing strategy is where you turn that effort into revenue. Check out the ultimate guide for converting leads to customers after MJBizCon to build your email followup strategy for after the show.