D8 Austin

Austin, Texas

Email Marketing Strategy for a CBD Brand

Image of many gummy bears dancing a party

Role

Creative Strategist: My responsibilities included generating the strategy, visualizing data, creating visual assets, copywriting, designing HTML layouts, and automated flows.

Tools

Google Looker Studio
Wix Analytics
AI Midjourney
emBlue
Miro
Photoshop
Illustrator
Figma

D8 Austin is a hemp-derived CBD product retailer with both a physical store and an e-commerce site with over 1K per month. Since 2020, they have been devoted to promoting wellness worldwide with their range of CBD-infused formulations crafted from simple ingredients. Their success is attributed to their perfected production process, which preserves hemp plant terpenes and phytocannabinoids, resulting in broad and full spectrum properties in their all-natural offerings.

Photo of D8 Austin owner, a CBD brand in Texas

My mission was to drive growth by increasing e-commerce sales on the email channel from 1% to 8% while improving customer recovery. Through the implementation of personalized, targeted email campaigns enriched with a fresh content strategy, we connected with our audience on a deeper level. Embracing innovation, I successfully deployed remarketing flows that included abandoned carts and welcome-back emails to re-engage and recapture customers, magnifying our brand's impact. By analyzing performance metrics and fine-tuning our segmentation strategies with data-driven insights, we transformed the email marketing approach into a powerful revenue generator.

Project goals

The client experienced several pain points in their previous email marketing strategy. Firstly, their products were left uncategorized, leading to confusion and inefficiencies in presenting the right products to their audience, which resulted in missed opportunities for sales and customer engagement. Secondly, the lack of marketing automation hindered scalability and effectiveness. Manual processes consumed valuable time and resources, limiting their ability to engage with customers at scale and deliver personalized experiences. Lastly, a noticeable absence of a creative and content strategy affected their email campaigns. This deficiency prevented them from creating compelling and engaging content that resonated with their audience, potentially reducing customer engagement and conversions.

Addressing these challenges was crucial to unlocking the full potential of their email marketing efforts and driving significant sales growth.

Pain Points & Challenges

Data analysis and flows

Through data analysis, I identified the need for clearer product sales and yearly activity clusterization. To address this, I developed a data modeling solution based on keywords, visualizing top-selling products by category and dates. This approach yielded valuable insights, enabling the creation of an automated email flow and a content strategy informed by specific product and audience clusters.

As a result, sales and customer engagement significantly increased, with effective data-driven marketing campaigns enhancing customer experiences. The brand achieved improved loyalty, retention, and a stronger market position. The data analysis and modeling solution laid the groundwork for future growth, empowering informed decisions based on customer preferences and behavior.

Google Looker dashboard of product sales
Flow diagram for an email marketing campaign for d8 Austin

My content strategy centered around analyzing e-commerce sales data to uncover valuable insights like keywords, top-selling products, and peak selling days. Using this information, I organized the data and crafted visually captivating emails tailored to specific audience segments. By aligning content with high-performing days and categories, my goal was to deliver targeted messaging that effectively engaged customers.

To achieve this, I harnessed SaaS technology to create an automated flow. This flow enabled us to track user behavior, tag and segment contacts based on preferences, and trigger timely emails during their customer journey. Additionally, I collaborated with AI to design hyperrealistic images that resonated with our intended demographic. This visually compelling representation fortified the connection with the target audience and bolstered brand recognition.

Content strategy

Top selling Categories: Edible, Vape and Flower. Possible ideas for each campaign: Gummy Tuesdays, Naturally, Take a Vapecation, Blooming Sense

Deliverables

Upon finalizing the content strategy, I designed six distinct layouts and created content for ten emails. These emails centered around the notion of product categories coinciding with everyday activities. By wearing your purple sunglasses, you can immerse yourself in these daily escapades alongside our brand mascot.

  • Style Guide page one, Typography used Trebuchet.

    Email Safe Fonts

    Transitioning to email-safe fonts was crucial to ensure consistent readability across diverse email clients. This guarantees recipients view the content as intended, eliminating rendering issues that could impede effective communication. This shift maintains a seamless visual experience, regardless of the platform used, maximizing the impact of our messages.

  • Style Guide Color palette

    Color Palette

    I integrated the brand's colors and introduced a distinct color identifier for each product category, aligning with the brand's color palette. This strategic approach enhances visual cohesiveness and aids navigation, reinforcing brand identity.

  • AI generated content gummy bears in a roller coaster

    Transitioning from a product-centric identity

    To humanize the brand and move beyond product-centric messaging, I created a mascot and crafted a narrative focused on stepping into purple sunglasses to fully engage in the D8 experience. This strategy promotes relatability, urging everyone to embark on a tailored journey.

  • Welcome email: two gummy bears meditating. Promo code. Info about store. Their philosophy

    Welcome email

  • Newsletter: Two gummy bears on a roller coaster. Blog post about CBD. 3 CBD products. Directions to the store

    Newsletter

  • Edible CBD Email: gummy bears at a party. Customer review. 3 CBD products. Blog post about CBD Edibles

    Edibles category

  • Vape CBD Email: gummy bears vaping. Customer review. 3 CBD products. Blog post about CBD Vaping

    Vape category

  • Flower CBD Email: gummy bears eating muffins. Customer review. 3 CBD products. Blog post about CBD Flowers

    Flower category

  • Tincture CBD Email: gummy bear with a pipette testing. Customer review. 3 CBD products. Blog post about CBD Tincture

    Ticture category

  • Topical category

  • Abandoned Cart email: Gummy bear inside shopping cart. Abandoned products. Store directions

    Abandoned Cart

  • Black Friday Sales Promo: Jumping gummy bear into space. discount. Call to action

    Black Friday Promo

  • Thank you email: Person surrounded by gummy bears. Purchased products. Call to Action

    Thank you

As we look forward, interactive campaigns and user-generated content stand as potential catalysts for heightened engagement. Strengthening the “purple sunglasses” narrative could forge emotional connections with the audience and provide a compliant platform for CBD advertising on social media. This approach effectively deepens customer relationships, broadens impact, and extends outreach, ensuring future brand growth and resonance.

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