I teach lots of digital marketing classes and workshops, and Email Marketing is one of my most popular sessions. And without fail, this question is asked at every Email Marketing class I present. So today, I’m going to share with you my best advice on how often to email your subscribers! Keep in mind, this article is meant to address regular email communication, not sales funnels or sequences.
Consistency is key
There are several factors that can play into how often you send regular email campaigns to your subscribers. Let’s explore a few of those factors
- What is your audience expecting from you? When you encourage subscribers, do you set the expectation up front about how often they’ll hear from you? Hopefully, you’re setting those expectations–it’s a good idea for both you and them. But it goes deeper than that: what information are you going to share with them? That will affect the frequency of your email campaigns too.
- Let’s say, for example, you run a local cafe and coffee shop, and you have daily soup and drink specials. You could very likely be fine sending a daily email sharing the specials so your subscribers can make their lunch plans in advance.
- On the other hand, if you’re a service-based business, like an insurance broker or a web designer, you probably won’t fare as well sending daily email updates. It can be difficult to craft relevant information that warrants a daily email campaign. Service-based businesses generally have greater success emailing their subscribers on a monthly or twice-monthly basis so they can provide relevant content that makes a real impact on their readers.
- Then there’s organizations and associations like Chambers of Commerce and churches and nonprofits who fall somewhere between the daily and monthly email campaigns. Generally these organizations send a monthly “newsletter” supplemented with regular (often weekly) updates.
So, what’s the bottom line?
At a bare minimum, we recommend sending monthly email campaigns. A colleague of mine refers to it as a “pageant wave in the inbox” and I have to agree. Even if your subscriber doesn’t open and read the email, they see your business or organization name, and that visibility is super important! Being consistent with your email marketing, keeping top of mind, and being visible will benefit you when the time does arrive that your subscriber wants and needs exactly what you offer. And that’s a good thing.
Melanie & Co Marketing Collective has been creating highly converting email marketing campaigns since 2010, and is a 5-time All Star Award Winner with Constant Contact.