With the lead up to 4/20, everything gets done to make the most out of the biggest day of the year for every cannabis business. The deals get planned. The inventory gets staged. But the emails? Written last minute, sent to the full unfiltered list, and mostly ignored.
The high holiday comes with a massive multiplier and this year Cova is helping cannabis retailers all over North America use email and SMS to boost sales. This comprehensive guide covers how to build and clean your subscriber list, which email platforms actually support cannabis businesses, how to build your campaigns in the weeks leading up to April 20th, and how to use SMS to capture the customers your emails don't reach.
Key Takeaways
- Most mainstream ESPs (Mailchimp, Constant Contact, ActiveCampaign) prohibit cannabis content – choosing the wrong platform risks your campaigns being shut down without warning, along with your data.
- Because 4/20 falls on a Monday in 2026, front-loading promotions from Thursday the 17th onward is a stronger strategy than saving everything for the day itself – 2025 data from Canada shows Thursday having the highest single-day lift of the entire 4/20 weekend.
- SMS is the highest-reach channel available to dispensaries, with open rates consistently above 90%, but requires double opt-in, 10DLC registration, and age-verification flows to be carrier-compliant.
- An effective 4/20 campaign is not a single email – it's a sequence running 2–3 weeks out with each email achieving a very specific purpose. Likewise, SMS needs to be even more targeted, fewer messages (2-4, starting later and ending earlier), and aligned with your email strategy.
Building and Verifying Your Subscriber Lists
Email marketing delivers an average return of $36–$42 for every $1 spent – one of the highest ROIs of any marketing channel, higher than paid social or SEO. But none of that would be possible without a great list. In fact, not only will a bad mailing list make campaigns ineffective, it can also be a legal liability.
Before cannabis operators work on improving the quality of their email subscriber lists, they verify it's legal and compliant. Here are the 3 big things every dispensary owner should do when building and preparing their subscriber lists:
1. Age Verification
Every email or SMS subscriber needs to be of legal age, confirmed with an age-gate (like a pop-up) before they opt-in for the mailing list. In the US, that's typically 21+. In Canada, it's 18+ in Alberta, 19+ in most provinces, and 21+ in Quebec. The safest approach for a cross-market list is to gate at 21+ and save this information in your CRM and/or email service provider (ESP).
Under Canada's Cannabis Act Promotion Prohibitions, any promotion that could reach minors is prohibited. In the US, similar regulations exist but state-by-state regulations add another layer of complexity – double check state laws.
2. Mandatory Double Opt-in (for SMS)
For email, double opt-in is best practice. For SMS, it's essentially required to pass carrier filtering and spam regulations. Double opt-in requires subscribers to confirm their email or phone number, usually by replying to the SMS or clicking on a unique link on the email.
Both the United States and Canada have regulations like TCPA audits in the US and CASL complaint investigation in Canada that make single opt-in a liability for businesses.
3. Early Segmentation and Clean Lists
Even small dispensaries can have mailing lists with tens of thousands of subscribers – but not all of them are equally valuable. If you're restarting campaigns after a break, create segments with the most engaged customers first, and work outward from there as your sending reputation rebuilds.
On the other hand, new businesses should not let their lists get unorganized – capture preference data at sign-up and set up tagging based on order details (such as province/state).
Editor’s Note: If you have a dormant list, in addition to segmenting out inactive subscribers, you should also warm up the domain slowly with the most engaged subscribers (to achieve a high open rate and prove authenticity to ESPs).
Choosing Your ESP – Cannabis-friendly Platforms Compared
Email service providers (ESPs) are companies that will send your emails (and SMS) on your behalf – Klaviyo, Alpine IQ, Omnisend, etc being a few examples. However, not all ESPs are the same and several completely prohibit sending cannabis-related emails or SMS.
The Mainstream ESPs Cannabis Dispensaries Should Avoid
Mailchimp is the most popular email marketing platform in the world but unfortunately, as of 2026, it is not cannabis friendly. Mailchimp explicitly prohibits promotion of cannabis, vaping, CBD, or any federally illegal drug. There are also several reports of Mailchimp outright shutting down accounts of cannabis-based businesses without warning.
Other popular mainstream ESPs like Constant Contact and ActiveCampaign have similarly worded Terms of Service, not clearly allowing the promotion of cannabis related goods (especially THC).
Given the risk of your 4/20 email campaign being suspended without warning (and losing your data) is a good enough reason to look elsewhere. Here is a brief breakdown of the top cannabis-friendly email marketing platforms as of 2026:
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Klaviyo
Klaviyo is fast becoming the most popular option for email marketing across industry and the platform has confirmed support for CBD and THC businesses on multiple occasions.
Klaviyo Flow templates | Source
Klaviyo offers a best-in-class flow builder, powerful segmentation, automation, and hundreds of integrations with an easy-to-use interface for designing emails. The tradeoff for all of this is pricing – Klaviyo becomes one of the more expensive options for retailers at scale. Still, for small to medium dispensaries, Klaviyo is a strong, safe candidate that allows meaningful email volume at a manageable price.
Running SMS Campaigns: Klaviyo does not explicitly support cannabis-related SMS content and in fact, prohibits anything federally illegal or restricted. It might be best to confirm your use case and jurisdiction with the Klaviyo account manager before proceeding
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Alpine IQ
Unlike Klaviyo which is a robust but general-purpose email marketing tool, Alpine IQ is a CRM first that also has email marketing capabilities – and depending on your goals, one might be more suitable than the other.
Cova and Alpine IQ Two-Way Integration | Source
Alpine IQ was built specifically for cannabis retail and as a CRM integrates directly with dispensary menus, loyalty programs, and point-of-sale systems. If you run a dispensary and want your email campaigns tied directly to what's in stock and who spent what last week, Alpine IQ is the most purpose-built option available.
Best of all, if you have a capable POS like Cova POS, you already have an Alpine IQ integration built-in.
Running SMS Campaigns: Alpine IQ is one of the few platforms that supports cannabis content in both email and SMS with built-in 10DLC registration and age-verified links.
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Omnisend
Omnisend is a cannabis-friendly direct competitor to Klaviyo for eCommerce brands. It offers cart abandonment emails, product recommendation flows, and pre-built templates designed with retail brands in mind. If you're selling online, Omnisend's eCommerce triggers are also worth evaluating.
Omnisend’s Campaign Editor | Source
Running SMS Campaigns: Omnisend has a similar SMS platform to Klaviyo but Omnisend only recommends following S.H.A.F.T. guidelines (which do not include cannabis), therefore not explicitly banning cannabis content on its platform. That said, it’s always best to confirm with your account manager.
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Moosend
Moosend has also explicitly stated it supports both CBD and THC content. It's significantly more affordable than Klaviyo for comparable send volume and comes with solid automation features and a clean template builder. A reasonable choice for businesses that want reliable send rates and plenty of community support with much more affordable pricing ($32/month for 10k subscribers).
Moosend’s Campaign Editor | Source
Running SMS Campaigns: Moosend has no SMS capability whatsoever – it is an email-only platform. Any dispensary expecting to run email + SMS from Moosend will have to bolt on a separate tool.
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Hubspot
Although Hubspot is a mainstream CRM with ESP capabilities, they have relatively open Terms of Service, allowing any businesses and cannabis campaigns as long as they are compliant with local laws. With many businesses already using Hubspot for CRM, Hubspot makes a good candidate to shortlist – especially for B2B cannabis businesses (suppliers, brands selling wholesale).
Hubspot’s Email Builder | Source
Running SMS Campaigns: Although Hubspot does have its own SMS marketing platform, it’s not dedicated to it and thus some features may not exist. Similar to its stance on email, Hubspot allows content that is compliant with legal laws and does not explicitly prohibit cannabis-related SMS content.
4/20 Email Campaign Strategy for Cannabis Retailers
A campaign, like a 4/20 email campaign is technically a series of campaigns – an email series. In other words, an effective 4/20 email campaign includes sending several emails at various intervals in the weeks leading up to April 20th.
At the very least, dispensaries want to plan for three distinct phases: the warm-up, the push, and the final big reminder. Here’s what that may look like in practice for 4/20:
Reinforcing the List (March 20 - April 8)
4/20 is the holiday to prepare – it’s bigger than Black Friday and even Christmas in terms of sales volume uplift. You must start early, 3 weeks is the minimum and you can begin earlier if you choose to.
The goal in this phase is not to blast emails but rather to build, clean, and reinforce your mailing lists. Here is what should be finalized by this point:
- 4/20 promotions and offers you’ll be running
- Email design and copy (built-natively or compliant custom HTML templates imported)
- Content calendar fully mapped out
- Warmed up sending domain (and SPF, DKIM, DMARC – all configured)
- Lists and especially segments for each individual campaign
- (Optional) Updating general flows like abandoned cart, back in stock, order confirmation, etc.
Many stores will begin teasing the 4/20 promotions during this time with one or two emails to the most engaged segment.
This phase is also when you should be running your hardest list-growth push of the year: in-store tablet signups, website pop-ups, social posts driving to a signup landing page. Every subscriber you add now enters your warm-up window and will be primed by the time deals go live.
Starting Promotions (April 9 - April 16)
Most cannabis dispensaries begin revealing deals and offers the week before 4/20. Depending on the send volume and email marketing history, 2-3 targeted and segmented campaigns is the sweet spot. Focus on value, products, and culture. For deal hunters, save a more comprehensive deal roundup as a final reminder before April 18th that will go to your entire engaged audience.
This is where segmentation matters most and we never recommend blasting a generic email to your entire list. If you have an unsegmented master list, you can still use past buying habits and store metrics to create lists based on engagement levels and types of products.
Editor’s Note: If your subscribers aren’t used to emails from you, sending several in a short span can drive up the unsubscribe rate. A high volume of emails may also trigger spam filtering from ESPs, especially on new domains.
For instance, given that 4/20 in 2026 falls on a busy Monday, we predict strong demand for pre-rolls, vapes, and edibles – so make sure to sufficiently advertise them in your emails.
Securing the Bag (April 17 - April 21)
If you haven’t looked at sales figures from last year’s 4/20, you might find the phasing weird. On a more typical middle of the week 4/20, the heaviest promotions would begin on April 20th itself but we have good reason to believe it would be more beneficial to begin promotions earlier in the week, as early as Thursday.
This allows consumers to beat the Monday rush and stock up on their favorite 4/20 snacks earlier in the weekend when they’re not as busy.
We already saw many retailers in Canada front-loading their promotions early in the week (in anticipation of 4/20 coinciding with Easter Sunday). This resulted in Thursday, April 17th having the biggest single-day lift of the entire weekend. Read the free 2025 retail sales infographic for 4/20 for the full insights.
Additionally, we recommend two sends on April 20th itself – one in the morning before people make their way to work (7-9 AM) and another midday email (12–2 PM).
The morning email is a final comprehensive recap: what the deals are, store hours, how to order online, how to skip the line. The midday email is a short nudge targeting people who opened the morning send but did not click, or the engaged segment broadly – getting them to come in after work.
After 4/20, subscribers are more trigger happy on the unsubscribe button but a single email – a genuine thank-you with a bounce-back offer (or another strong incentive) designed to bring 4/20 buyers back within the next 7–14 days usually has a very high ROI since people are still high in the 4/20 spirits.
8 Email Ideas for 4/20 Campaigns
Every brand's email strategy for April 20th will look slightly different. Based on the common ground that is the holiday, industry, and demographic, we've compiled a list of 8 email ideas that give you a range of options to build a sequence that fits your store's size, your audience, and how much you have to offer this year.
Every brand's email strategy for April 20th will look slightly different. Based on the common ground that is the holiday, industry, and demographic, we've compiled a list of 8 email ideas that give you a range of options to build a sequence that fits your store's size, your audience, and how much you have to offer this year.
1. Early Access (VIP Tier, Most Engaged, Special Sign-up)
Give your most hardcore fans access to 4/20 deals earlier than others. You can build this segment based on:
- existing loyalty program tiers
- by recent spend (for instance, all “high rollers” who’ve spent over $1,000)
- the most engaged (emails opened, site visited, made a recent purchase, etc)
If you have been teasing limited quantity SKUs, you could even set up a separate email capture form for early access/pre-orders – giving them access to some time-sensitive deals and promotions before they go live for everyone else.
2. Deal Showcase
This will be the primary high volume sent at the start of phase 2. This email will include all of the major deals, discounts on categories, and promotions – all laid out in a clean, scannable format. Organize by category (flower, edibles, concentrates, accessories). Include product images, original prices, and sale prices. One clear CTA: "Shop Now" or "Order Ahead."
This is not the place for storytelling or brand messaging – it is the reference email that most subscribers will use to decide whether 4/20 this year is worth checking out or not.
3. Product Spotlight Series
If you have a high number of branded SKUs or even better, clear segmentation based on product preferences, you can send highly targeted emails to smaller groups of people – flower buyers get the flower email, edible enjoyers get the edibles email, and so on.
Engage in storytelling, send personalized and relevant information, starting early in Phase 2 with categories and round it off with this year’s 4/20 theme.
Editor’s Note: Since 4/20 is on a Monday this year, lean into products that fit a workday. Pre-rolls, gummies, beverages, vape cartridges – anything that requires zero preparation and is easy to consume after work. Your product recommendations emails in the final days before 4/20 should emphasize convenience.
4. Build Your Bundle Email
If you are running combination discounts across different categories, prompt customers to buy bundles (or create their own). Unlike a flat rate discount, bundles are more likely to uplift AOV and move more SKUs. Show them possible combinations in the email, here are some examples:
- Flower + Grinder (Buy an eighth, get 30% off a grinder)
- Vape Cartridge + Battery Pack
- Pre-Rolls + Edibles (Mix and match pre-rolls with edibles for a flat combo discount)
- Tincture + Topical (Wellness/self-care combo)
5. The “What to Buy” Gift Guide
Gift giving is catching on in the cannabis industry and although it’s not quite the mainstream gift yet, people love getting surprised with some edibles – use this email as a reminder. Here are some angles you can explore in this category:
- Kits for different kinds of buyers (wellness seeker, newbie, social smoker, enthusiast, etc).
- Gift in different price ranges ($50, $100, $150, etc)
- Monday After Work Special (and maybe some cheeky “before work” options for the remote workers).
If your store sells gift cards online, this is a great place to give them a shout out.
6. Loyalty Points Reminder
If your customers have been sitting on unspent loyalty points, 4/20 is the perfect time to get them to finally use them. Include your best 4/20 offers in the email for the extra push. If you’re running points multiplier events (such as 2x points for every dollar spent), mention that too.
If you recently started a points program and the vast majority of customers don’t have an existing balance, another strategy would be to gift a small amount of points – enough for a small discount but not enough to make any free purchases. The cost of free points (through signups, leaving reviews, engaging with the brand, etc) is different for every company so do your own cost analysis.
7. Skip The Line
A central theme of this year’s 4/20 will be the Monday rush – something that may put off many people from coming in on April 20th. If your store offers online ordering, curbside pickup, or pre-order options, this email is essentially a public service announcement for that. Make sure to include clear instructions on how to order ahead.
Even if your dispensary doesn’t have those options, you can still send a Skip the Line email in Phase 2, inviting customers to get the 4/20 discounts as early as Thursday and throughout the weekend to have a relaxing after work session on 420 Monday.
8. User Generated Content (UGC) / Social Proof Email
4/20 is one of the most social days in cannabis culture – people share what they're smoking, what they bought, and how they're celebrating.
Let the community do the selling for you by showing user generated content (UGC) of your products and store (with permission), testimonials, and online reviews. Also invite customers to get featured on the social media platforms by sharing their 420 hauls (maybe in exchange for points or a small discount).
The emails above are not all meant to be sent to everyone. Some are broad, some are highly targeted, and a few are operational rather than promotional. Pick what applies, skip what doesn't, and personalize the rest to work with your unique dispensary.
SMS Marketing for 4/20
Unlike email, SMS tends to have far higher open rates and messages are typically read within minutes. On a day like 4/20, that makes it the most effective channel for same-day urgency (flash deals, morning blasts, and midday reminders).
SMS Compliance for Cannabis Dispensaries is Mandatory
SMS marketing for cannabis has more compliance requirements than email and violating them can get your campaign blocked or worse, your account terminated. The two biggest compliance requirements that cannabis dispensaries must meet before sending SMS campaigns are:
- 10DLC registration: Every brand and each campaign needs to be registered with the Campaign Registry before sending bulk texts. Cannabis is a restricted category and thus there are additional requirements, such as links in messages must be routed through an age-verification gate before reaching cannabis content.
- Explicit & documented opt-in: Every contact must have explicitly opted in to receive texts from your dispensary. This is like email double opt-in (subscribers confirm their number) to pass carrier filtering. The opt-in records must include the date, time, and source of each consent and be kept available for audits. The TCPA carries damages of $500–$1,500 per non-compliant message.
Fortunately, there are multiple purpose-built options like Alpine IQ, Springbig, and Carrot that handle 10DLC registration, age-verified links, and POS/loyalty integrations out of the box.
How to Time SMS for 4/20
SMS sends should mirror your email phases, but with fewer, more targeted messages. SMS are more impactful with more people having smaller tolerances for spam.
- Early Engagement (April 9–16): One text to your most engaged segment – loyalty members, recent purchasers – teasing 4/20 deals (without revealing them just yet). Personalize where you can – mentioning a loyalty point balance or their purchase history in the message significantly improves CTR.
- Early Discounts & Pre-Orders (April 17–19): Send a direct, practical text conveying that deals are live now, how to order online or for curbside. If you have limited inventory on high-demand SKUs, mention it, incentivize pre-orders. Scarcity language in SMS performs well because the format itself feels immediate and personal.
- Day Of (April 20th):
- Morning (7–9 AM): Short SMS with deals, store hours, and order link. The goal is to get them to order ahead.
- Midday (12–2 PM): Use segmentation to avoid resending to people who already interacted with the morning SMS. The message targets people leaving work, acknowledging the late timing: something like "still time to order" with an order link is more useful than a generic deal reminder.
Also Read: Learn Everything You Need to Know About Dispensary SMS Marketing: Laws, Software & Compliance
Keep total send frequency between 2–4 messages for the full 4/20 window. More than that and unsubscribe rate may be higher than expected. Also skip any bounce-back and/or retention messages – leave that for the email.
Start Your 4/20 Email & SMS Marketing Campaign Right
Make the biggest cannabis event of the year count – start by choosing a cannabis-compliant email platform, building your mailing list, and making sure everything is connected to your in-store point of sale (POS) to create the most seamless shopping experience possible – whether they are redeeming loyalty points, picking up a pre-order, and using the self-serve kiosk to beat the line.
Cova POS integrates with purpose-built cannabis marketing platforms to give your campaigns the customer data they need to actually perform — loyalty points, purchase history, product preferences, and more. If you’re ready to learn more, contact us today and let’s talk!