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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.

⚡Quick Tip⚡

Today’s Email:

• The Most-Common Cannabis Marketing Mistakes (and how to fix them)

• How to Optimize Your Emails from Subject Line - CTA

• Some Juicy Data to Back it All Up👀

Let’s Roll 🛼

Last week, we covered how to grow, automate, and scale your dispensary’s email marketing.

But what if you’re doing everything "right" and still not seeing the results you want?

Chances are, you have invisible leaks in your strategy - small, fixable mistakes that are costing you engagement and sales.

f your emails aren’t performing like they should, it’s usually because of:

• Low open rates - Your emails never get read

• High unsubscribe rates - People don’t find your emails valuable

• Low click-through rates (CTR) - Your emails get opened but not acted on

• Promotions that don’t convert - Your offers aren’t resonating

Today, I’m helping you patch these leaks so your emails can generate more engagement, clicks, and revenue.

Let’s dive in ⬇️⬇️

Problem: Low Open Rates.

Solution: Fix Your Subject Lines.

It doesn’t matter how great your content is if no one is reading it.

Industry Benchmark: The average email open rate for retail & e-commerce is 20-25%. If yours is lower, your subject lines are likely the problem.

Your subject lines should evoke some kind of emotion - whether that’s excitement, curiosity, FOMO, etc.

Here’s my top 4 subject line strategies:

✅ Personalization: “Hey [First Name], your favorite strain is back!”
✅ Curiosity Hooks: “You’ll want to see this… 👀”
✅ Urgency: “🚨 24 Hours Left: VIP Access to Exclusive Strains”
✅ Cliffhangers: “We need to talk about your last purchase…”

Problem: High Un-Sub Rate.

Solution: Reassess Frequency & Relevancy

If people are actively opting out of your emails, you’re either emailing too much or sending content that doesn’t match their interests.

Industry Benchmark: A normal unsubscribe rate is 0.1% - 0.5% per email. If you’re above that, you have a problem.

Here’s How to Fix It:

👉 Segment better: This is always the first thing you should look to fix. Relevance above all! Customers who only buy edibles shouldn’t be getting vape promos.

👉 Use preference centers: Let subscribers choose how often they hear from you.

👉 Dial-back the promos: Most unsubs happen because of consistent, irrelevant content; but the 2nd most common reason for unsubs is too much selling! At most, your content should be only 30% promotional. The other 70% is for engaging, nurturing, and staying on top-of-mind.

Pro Tip: If people are unsubscribing after a discount promo, they only joined for the deal. Consider a better onboarding strategy to nurture them before selling.

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Problem: Low Click-Through Rates (CTR)

Solution: Your CTAs Need Some Work!

Industry Benchmark: Average CTR for retail emails is 2-3%. If yours is lower, your CTAs aren’t doing their job.

Common CTA Mistakes:

❌ Too generic - “Click here” (why?)

❌ Too many choices - If you ask your audience to do too much, they’ll do nothing. 1 clear CTA per email.

❌ Not enough urgency - “Check this out if you have time” won’t drive action.

How to Fix Your CTAs:

✅ Be clear on the benefit. → “Claim Your Free Pre-Roll Now”
✅ Use action-driven language. → “Reserve Your Favorites Before They’re Gone”
✅ Limit choices. → Give them one clear action to take.

Pro Tip: Try placing your CTA higher up in your email. Most readers won’t scroll all the way down.

Problem: Promotions Not Converting.

Solution: Adjust Segmentation & Offers.

If your discounts & sales aren’t leading to purchases, you might be sending the wrong offers to the wrong people.

Data Shows that personalized offers convert 3-5X better than generic ones.

I know we touched on segmentation already, but it’s still the MOST COMMON mistake I see dispensaries make.

The number of times I’ve gotten an irrelevant offer in my inbox from a dispo is insane.

On the flip side, the number of relevant offers I’ve gotten could probably be counted on one hand (two tops)!

Sending the wrong offers to the wrong people at the wrong time is KILLING your email marketing potential….

Here’s How to Fix It:

✅ Segment offers based on purchase history:
→ Example: If someone buys gummies, offer them an exclusive BOGO on edibles - not vapes.

✅ Use scarcity to drive action:
→ “This offer expires in 24 hours - don’t miss out!”

✅ Leverage loyalty incentives/milestones:
→ “You’re only 50 points away from a free 1/8th - shop now!”

Pro Tip: Instead of blanket discounts, test different types of promos/incentives (BOGO, free gifts, early access) to see what resonates best.

Additional tips for segmentation and promo success: Create brief preference surveys for your customers to fill out for a small reward. The customers that take the time to fill them out are providing you with a treasure trove of data that will make segmentation, communication, and engagement much easier for you.

Add your preference surveys to your welcome series to start collecting data on new subs ASAP!

Ready to Plug the Leaks? Here’s Your Next Step:

Your emails should be making you money. 

If they aren’t, it’s time to audit, adjust, and optimize.

Want me to review your email strategy and identify your biggest leaks?

Reply with "FIX IT" and I’ll personally help you optimize your dispensary’s email marketing.

See ya soon,
- Steve

When You’re Ready, Here’s How I Can Help You…

Click HERE to download the High On Marketing Evergreen Templates - 50 pre-written emails tailored for cannabis brands to educate, engage, and encourage action from your audience

Stay on top-of-mind while building a well-informed, loyal customer base.

Get your templates today and have the next 6 months of canna content covered!

⬇️Don’t forget to use your subscriber code for 50% off!⬇️

9VVS85T

P.S. ⬇️⬇️