Email frequency is one of those fickle subjects, that marketers often have a strong opinion about.
On one hand, people say that if you email too frequently, then you’ll annoy or tune out subscribers. On the other, if you email too infrequently, you may be forgotten about, and you certainly won’t have as strong of a relationship with your lists.
While there is no ‘perfect email frequency’ that makes sense for every company, I’m here to say this:
It’s far better to email a little bit too frequently, than it is to not email frequently enough.
In this article, I’m going to make the case why.
Table of Contents
A Word Of Warning – Email Content Matters
Regardless of how frequently or infrequently you decide to mail your list, it’s not going to ever do you any good if your email isn’t valuable.
See, when people hear about people mailing several times a week or even daily, they fail to take this factor into account.
People will absolutely unsubscribe in mass, if all you do is promote ads.
However, think about it this way.
If somebody mailed you hundred dollar bills each day, would you get mad and demand they stopped mailing you?
Sure, it’s a larger volume of mail than normal… but wouldn’t you still make the effort to go and collect it each day?
More importantly, wouldn’t you actually get upset if they suddenly stopped coming?
See, if you are emails are consistently valuable – it’s actually worth the time to open and read through them, you really can’t send too much.
Some people will unsubscribe regardless, but the majority of people will look forward to your emails, even going out of their way to find them, if for whatever reason they miss them.
This is how some marketers are getting away with sending, 1, 2, even 3 emails every single day.
Sounds a little over the top? Maybe, but just think of how powerful the relationship is with that list!
Sorry Honey, I’m Ignoring You
Approach your email strategy the same as you would any other relationships – with your spouse, your family, or your friends.
No, this doesn’t mean inviting them out on a date. But it does mean that you ask yourself a few questions about these relationships:
- How often do you talk with them?
- What kinds of topics do you talk with them about?
- What happens when you go too long without talking with them?
‘Hey Buddy, Join My MLM?’
On one end of the spectrum, I see email marketers like this.
They may email once or twice a month at most. When they do, it’s often about some promotion they have going on – maybe a sale going on in their store, or a limited time offer that just became available.
This gives off the same impression as some random contact in your Facebook friend inviting you to coffee, so they can pitch you on joining their MLM company.
You two may have been friends back in the day, but now you hardly know them, and they’re only using you for their own selfish gain.
In the case of email marketing, subscribers may not remember who you are at all or why they signed up to your company. There is no relationship there, the subscribers don’t trust you, and they have no real reason to care.
When I’m hired to turn around poorly performing email marketing campaigns, this is one of the most common problems I see, yet it’s so easy to fix.
The Right Way To Approach It
In any meaningful relationship, you don’t go two weeks without getting in touch.
Sure, maybe with acquaintances or distant business contacts, but not with the people you really know, like and trust.
When I find something really cool or interesting, I share it with my friends, and they share their discoveries with me as well.
We talk about them, even if only for a few moments, and go on with our day. If there’s any important news, we have the opportunity to share that with each other too.
My personal email frequency is roughly once every two days. This is frequent enough to stay top-of-mind, and avoid people forgetting about you.
I want people knowing exactly who I am, what I stand for, and how I can help them.
I want them aware of every product that I offer – and build up significant imagery over time on why they’re so great.
Never forget that there are thousands of companies fighting for your subscribers’ attention every single day. If you go too long without mailing, you will be forgotten even if your emails are generally very good.
There are a few other points to take note of, however.
The Case For Frequent Mailing – Additional Points
People Don’t Open Every Email
This one’s a big problem.
No matter how great your emails are, people aren’t going to open every single one of them, every single time. And for lists that aren’t mailed frequently (and thus have a weak relationship with subscribers), it’s not uncommon for open rates to hover between 10 and 15 percent.
Even at 15 percent, that means it would take more than 6 emails on average for each subscriber to open a single email, if different people opened them every time.
Mailing twice a month, that would be one open every 3 months. Even mailing weekly, that is still nearly a month and a half between emails.
Now obviously, some people will open more frequently than others. But how the heck are you going to even be remembered – let alone make any money, if so few emails are actually ever opened?
It’s impossible.
One well-executed campaign would make you more money in a few weeks, than a strategy like that would make you in the entire year – maybe throughout the entire lifetime of your list.
More Emails = More Promotions = More Sales
Send more emails, and you will make more sales. It’s that simple.
For many companies, email will be the single greatest driver of revenue that’s available to them – it certainly is for me. And while you should never blast ads with every email, you have the opportunity both to provide consistent value and promote your products as you ramp up the volume of emails that you send.
If you send 3 emails a week, with two being value-packed and another being strictly promotional…
You not only fit a higher number of promotions in, but your list is far more receptive to your offers in the first place!
Not only will you be promoting more, but your offers will be converting substantially better at the same time! It’s a win-win.
Better An Obsessive Few, Than An Apathetic Many
What would you rather have:
A list of 1,000 people that are raving, fanatic fans – opening every email, and purchasing every thing that you ever promote to them?
Or, a list of 100,000 people that don’t even recognize your name when you send out an email?
I guarantee the marketer with the 1,000 fans is making a heck of a lot more.
When you email frequently, you are going to lose some subscribers. It is inevitable. Yet those who remain will be far more engaged, and far higher-quality leads for you to be connected with.
And let’s be honest – those people that left? You don’t want them on your list anyway.
My goal with my audience is that they get to know me on a deep level. They think about my frequently and consume my content before anyone else’s. They start to remember things about me and my company that I forgot I’ve even told them. They know, like and trust me, because I’ve spent large amounts of time with them through my content, sharing personal stories and demonstrating the value that I can provide.
This simply cannot and will not ever happen with one interaction a month. It is impossible. And because attention is a limited resource, if you are not the person or brand that really connects with your subscribers, somebody else will.
Segmentation Can Keep Emails Relevant
Relevance and value is key to email marketing success.
By breaking your list up into segments and only sending messages that are relative to their problems and interests, you can ensure maximum engagement without coming across as annoying or spammy – even when sending daily emails.
After all, it doesn’t make sense to send promotions for products that subscribers have already purchased, for example.
Conclusion
In truth, the entire article can be summed up by one sentence:
If the emails you are sending are truly valuable, you cannot send too many.
I hope that you can now see a few reasons why.
While there’s no perfect frequency that works for every company, I personally recommend no less than twice a week if your goal is to maintain strong relationships for your list.
Email is an incredible platform for building relationships and making sales. I’m wishing you the best with it!
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About This Section:
I personally believe that running an online business is one of the greatest ways to support your family, granting you the freedom to spend more time with your children. Therefore, I occasionally publish some business articles that will help parents with their entrepreneurial ventures.
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