Welcome to High On Marketing - A weekly newsletter where I show you how to strengthen your email marketing strategy for your cannabis brand. Learn how to nurture your audience, increase retention rates, and sell more weed.

Today’s Email:

• Identifying Customer Personas for Your Email Strategy

• Behavioral vs. Demographic Segmentation

• Crafting Targeted Campaigns

• What You Can Do Today

Let’s Roll 🛼

Do you actually know who your customers are? Most canna brand’s don’t…

Effective email marketing requires a deep understanding of your audience. You can’t try to copy the strategy of another successful brand - why?

Because your audience is different.

Your strategy isn’t providing you the results you want because you’re not addressing your customers the way they want to be addressed.

The first step is figuring out exactly who you’re talking to. Here’s how to do it:

Identifying Customer Personas:

Understanding who your customers are is the first step in effective segmentation. Creating detailed customer personas helps tailor your marketing to meet the specific needs, preferences, and behaviors of different segments.

Here’s the 3 best ways to collect data on your audience for proper segmentation:

• Collect Data: Use your sales data, customer feedback, and social media analytics to gather information about your customers.

• Analyze Buying Behavior: Look at purchase histories to understand what different customers are buying and when.

• Conduct Surveys: Directly ask your customers about their preferences, lifestyle, and how they use your products.

Identifying customer personas is a crucial strategy for cannabis dispensaries aiming to optimize their email marketing efforts.

Understanding the distinct characteristics and preferences of various customer groups means your dispensary can tailor communications more effectively.

The more you know about your audience, the better.

Behavioral vs. Demographic Segmentation:

Segmentation can be approached in countless ways, but focusing on behavioral and demographic factors are particularly effective for dispensaries.

And it’s important to know the difference between the two:

Behavioral Segmentation:

• Based on Customer Actions: Segments are created based on how customers interact with your business—what they buy, when they buy, response to previous campaigns, etc.

• Advantages: Highly personalized and predictive of future behavior.

• Examples: Customers who prefer edibles, frequent purchasers, or those who respond well to discount offers.

Demographic Segmentation:

• Based on Statistical Data: Segments are based on age, gender, location, income level, etc.

• Advantages: Easier to identify and a good starting point for broader campaigns.

• Examples: Millennials, local customers, or high-income individuals.

But what can you do with all this info?? Here’s 6 options:

1. Personalized Product Recommendations:

   • Based on Purchase History: If a customer frequently buys a particular type of product, such as edibles or tinctures, the dispensary can send emails featuring new products in these categories or offer discounts on similar items.

   • Preferences and Past Interactions: For customers who have shown interest in specific content or products (e.g., by browsing on the website), emails can highlight these products or provide further information, such as usage tips or reviews.

2. Targeted Educational Content:

   • Demographic Insights: If demographic data shows a large number of customers in a particular age group, emails can include information tailored to the interests or needs of that demographic. For example, older customers might receive emails about the benefits of cannabis for pain management.

   • Behavioral Data: For customers who engage with educational content on the site, follow-up emails can offer deeper dives into topics they’ve shown interest in, like advanced cannabis cultivation techniques or the science behind cannabinoids.

3. Customized Promotions:

   • Seasonal Offers Based on Purchase Behavior: If data shows that certain customers tend to make more purchases around specific times (like holidays or 4/20), these customers can receive special promotional emails tailored to these high-engagement periods.

   • Exclusive Deals for Frequent Buyers: Reward loyalty by offering exclusive discounts or early access to new products to those who frequently purchase or engage with emails.

4. Event Invitations:

   • Location-based Events: Use geographic data to invite local customers to in-store events, workshops, or community gatherings, making sure to highlight events near them to increase relevance and attendance.

   • Interest-based Workshops: Send invites for specialized events based on the interests they’ve shown through their browsing and purchasing habits (e.g., a cooking with cannabis workshop for those who buy edibles).

5. Birthday and Anniversary Emails:

   • Special Offers: Send customers special discounts or freebie offers on their birthday or on the anniversary of their first purchase. This not only delights the customer but also encourages them to make a purchase.

6. Re-engagement Campaigns:

   • For Low Engagement: If customers haven’t opened emails or made purchases in a while, send them a “we miss you” email with a special offer to rekindle their interest. Tailor the message based on their last known preferences or purchases.

You won’t sell any weed without these 5 essential cannabis email strategies. Discover them here:

Creating Segment-Specific Email Campaigns:

Once you’ve created your customer personas, you can start crafting targeted campaigns.

Here’s 3 things to keep in mind:

• Tailored Content: Develop content that resonates with the specific interests and needs of each segment. For example, send educational content about the health benefits of cannabis to wellness-focused personas.

• Personalized Offers: Create offers that are likely to appeal to the behavior and demographics of the segment. For example, offer a special promotion on premium products to high-income segments.

• Testing and Optimization: Continuously test different messages and offers to see what works best for each segment. Use A/B testing to refine subject lines, images, and calls to action.

What You Can Do Today:

Start simple by reviewing your current customer list and identify at least two distinct segments you can immediately address with targeted campaigns. Consider one behavioral and one demographic segment to start.

The easiest customer personas to create at first are usually based on product preference and purchase frequency.

Start creating personas for your most common customer types - weekly cart purchasers, bi-weekly flower buyers, etc.

Start crafting targeted messages using the tips I gave you today, and most importantly… TEST!

Happy Segmenting!

See you next week,

Steve

P.S. I’m currently finished 46 out of 50 email templates for my High On Marketing Evergreen Templates! Pretty soon I’ll be doing final edits (hopefully they don’t take longer than the actual writing😭). I can't wait for launch day!