Email Marketing & CBD: A Match Made in Heaven

From making use of AI and chatbots to working with social media influencers, digital marketing strategies for your CBD brand can involve lots of different strategies, each with their own unique value. Nevertheless, contemporary efforts to connect with your customers should never overshadow the tried-and-true methods of the past. Email marketing just happens to be one of the oldest forms of business-to-customer connection – and it is still one of the most valuable.

You may be surprised to hear that emails:

1. have a better click-through rate than most social media posts
2. can yield bigger returns on investment than many form of marketing
3. can easily build a community around your CBD brand (one that can’t be deleted or banned!)

In fact, as you work to get a strong foothold in the multi-billion-dollar CBD industry, an effective email marketing plan may be the most effective and powerful strategy at your disposal. Let’s take a look at the value of email marketing in e-commerce, including the CBD industry, how to create effective email marketing campaigns for CBD brands, and more.

The True Value of Email Marketing in eCommerce – A Look at the Numbers

When used appropriately, email marketing gives you more than the one-off or occasional sale. Email offers a direct line of communication. This gives you an invaluable opportunity to build trust, engage, and interact with your target customers in a more personalized fashion. The right emails can foster a long-standing connection with your target audience that can turn a one-time purchaser into a lifer.

Just how valuable is email marketing in e-commerce? Take a look at some of the most noteworthy numbers from Hubspot:

• Email marketing is capable of yielding a $38 ROI for every $1 spent
• 3.9 billion people use email on a daily basis
• 73% of millennials prefer to receive business communication via email
• Purchase decisions are swayed for as much as 59% of email recipients
• 59% of digital marketers state that email yields the biggest ROI

Every industry, including hemp/CBD, can benefit from a well-established email marketing campaign. On average across all industries, the open rate of emails is more than 21 percent, and 2.62 percent of emails involve a click-through to a business website. Think about your email list of even 1,000 people. Your email will be read by 210 people, about 26 of whom will actually come to website. That’s some great engagement all from a simple email.

The next question is how do you create an effective CBD email marketing campaign that will actually drive sales?

Email Must Be More Than Sales and Promos

Sales and promos are great, sure. Sending out emails to give your customers first dibs on great prices and promotions for your CBD products is a generous gesture. However, the best email marketing strategies involve far more than sending out requests for people to buy something from your company. A few other types of CBD marketing emails can be just as valuable. Here’s a few examples:

Welcome communications

Your welcome series flow/automation may be one of the most important on your site. With over a 90 percent open rate, welcome emails make a new customer feel connected and important. These messages tend to be short and sweet, offer gratitude, and possibly even a special token of appreciation for signing up or ordering a product, such as a unique savings opportunity. They should visually portray your brand and give the reader some solid expectations about your communication style.

Emails with educational content

Content relative to your CBD brand, the hemp/cannabis industry, and the general interests of your target audience is incredibly valuable. These emails may offer helpful tips about using one of your products, information about newfound benefits, or anything that could be deemed useful to your customers. On the face, these emails educate and engage customers. However, on the backend, these content-based emails nurture sales and brand affinity. Learn more about crafting an effective blog strategy here.

Newsletters

Newsletters are regularly released messages from your CBD brand with a collection of information. You may opt for a weekly or monthly newsletter, for example, that gives info about new products being added in the coming days, sales and promos, or even facts and figures relative to CBD user experiences. This is also a great way to communicate upcoming events, news or press features, product sponsorships, etc.

Transactional communications

Order confirmations, shipping notifications, thank you notes, and other transactional communications are all important as well, and they all come through email. It is simply good business practice to send a brief email to keep customers updated and feeling like they are working with a trustworthy brand.

How to Create an Effective CBD Email Lead Marketing Funnel

You can have all the great content in the world to send out via email to your customers, but you need a proper funnel if you want your email strategy to actually work.

An email marketing funnel, simply put, takes an email subscriber from lead to customer. The general idea with all sales funnels is you have to make your brand discoverable, engage a customer at the right time, and then lead them to purchase. With email, you also have the potential to retain that customer for future purchases.

Your website and especially your blog, are huge players in your email marketing funnel. An optimized website with a well-rounded CBD blog helps prospects find you, but then serves up great content that prospects appreciate and want more of, which can lead to more traction for email signups.

The Challenges of Email Marketing for CBD Brands

No matter what type of email content it is you are drafting, this content is best done with the best SEO and marketing practices in mind. You are gaining access to an open platform for communication, but getting those emails recognized, opened, and converted to sales involves careful content planning and structuring. For this reason, it is best to have a marketing firm that helps with both email and SEO services, as we do here at CannaPlanners.

Another challenge, more specific to the CBD industry, advertising and website restrictions can make it difficult to use the correct terminology and verbiage without getting into hot water with the FDA. Before pulling together email content, you have to be familiar with the litany of nuances that come along with CBD. Because most CBD brand managers are not familiar with the guidelines and restrictions, working with a company like us that knows the rules and can navigate them effectively is a must.

Get Your CBD Email Marketing Campaign Working for Your Brand

Even though direct marketing, SEO, and advertising are all important components in your digital marketing strategy, a CBD email marketing campaign can give you even more traction. If you are ready to get started with an email marketing plan for your CBD brand but not sure where to start, reach out to us at CannaPlanners. We can help you build an effective CBD email lead marketing funnel, build your following, and further establish your brand among competitors.