One of the most common challenges that email marketers face is finding the right balance between sending too many or not enough newsletters.
Despite what some marketers may claim, there isn’t a magic formula for email marketing. These are the same people who treat email marketing as a numbers game, spamming multiple emails per day, every day.
This approach might generate views, clicks, and even revenue, but what does it say about you and your business values?
Sending too many newsletters can annoy your subscribers, reduce your open rates, and increase your unsubscribe rates. On the other hand, sending too few newsletters can make your subscribers forget about you, miss out on your offers, and lose interest in your brand.
So, how can you determine the optimal frequency for your email marketing newsletters?
Look at your business and think of your customers
The products or services you offer can indicate the frequency of your newsletters.
A retail store may want to send regular newsletters with promotions and discounts. It’s not uncommon to see some brands even send multiple newsletters a week!
But on the other side. Suppose you have a pest control business where customers likely use your services only once a year. In that case, it’s probably not wise to be sending them weekly or even monthly newsletters. Regular promotions and discounts are not going to matter much if your customer is not going to be needing your services in 8 months. You also increase the chance they might unsubscribe, and you’d lose your chance of future business with them.
You might be better off sending only one or two newsletters a year to remind your customers, increase brand awareness, and give yourself a better chance of receiving a call from them when they need to use your services.
You could even go one step further and set your emails to send out just before they’re due for their next inspection. A gentle reminder goes a long way.
Look at the data
If you want to fine-tune your efforts even further, you can examine your campaigns’ performance data.
Open Rate
If you already send out regular newsletters, take a look at your open rates. A good benchmark is 20%; if you’re achieving that consistently, then you may have already found the right timing.
Unsubscribe Rate
If your unsubscribe rates are increasing, that could be an indicator that your newsletters are being sent too frequently. Try increasing the time intervals between your newsletters and look at the numbers again. An unsubscribe rate of under 0.5% is a good indicator.
Wrapping Up
Of course, these are only general guidelines, and you should always test and experiment with different frequencies to find what works best for your specific audience and business.
Every business is different, and only you would know what your customers would want in terms of engagement with your brand.