As a marketer, you want to stay top of the mind of your customers, but how do you do this without pissing them off and overwhelming them with your emails? How do you send the “perfect” number of emails per week, per month, etc.?

I personally don’t believe that there are set rules for this, and rather than asking what is the right sending frequency, you should ask yourself “what is my subscriber’s expectation?” … as well as what my current metrics are telling me?

If your subscriber’s expect the latest news delivered to their inbox, they may be okay with 3-4 (or even more) emails a day or maybe it’s a daily deal site they signed up for and once a day is what they expect.

However, if I am an insurance agent selling annual premiums, do I really need to email my clients on a daily basis?

Maybe yes, maybe no…

More importantly, what you need to ask yourself is “Do my emails offer value to my recipients and are they well written, with valuable content?” or are you just pushing sales with each email you send?

Sending frequently (without offering value) can lead to high list churn and unsubscription numbers OR may cause your subscribers to slowly detach and not engage with your emails, even if they DON’T unsubscribe.

Overmailing can also cause bigger problems with email deliverability, harming your sending reputation and your email messages ending up in the spam folder, ouch!

It’s easy to fall victim to over-sending especially if with each email you generate more revenue.

Over-sending to generate revenue may work in the short-term, but if your simply sending more emails for additional revenue, it may cause list fatigue over time and the water well will eventually run dry.

That’s why I always like to follow the 2-1-2 formula of sending 4 valuable informational emails to 1 sales-y email, with the sales-y email sandwiched between the 4 😉

Obviously, this does NOT mean you can’t “soft-sell” in your informational emails, it just means you have to put some thought into these emails and offer VALUABLE content to your readership.

So now time for some action you say…

Wait right there! Before making any changes to your sending frequency, you should evaluate your current metrics to see:

1. How much are you currently sending?
2. What’s your open & click rate?
3. What’s your conversion rate?
4. What’s your “churn” or unsubscribe rate?

Done? Now what are your overall goals and where do you want these metrics to be?

After an evaluation you may find that you need to put a leash on it and send less…

Or maybe things are looking great and you figure you need to send more?

Either way, the decision should be based on:

1. What are the current metrics telling me?
2. Am I offering valuable content and building trust with my customers with each email?  (cause just as I believe in business, you’re either ascending or descending and things rarely stay the same)

Increase or Decrease mailing frequency based on your findings and don’t forget to ABC (Always Be Cautious)…