Email Marketing: How Many Emails Are Too Many?

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How many emails are too many?

When 70% or more of the marketing emails that you are sending out go unopened it can feel daunting or even fruitless to increase the frequency. Fortunately, the first impression an email makes is that headline in the inbox. Even if the email is never opened, a good, branded headline makes an impression! Many of my clients ask “how many emails can I send before I start to look spammy?” The answer, as it turns out is different for each client. 

List size matters – so does your industry

The first thing I look at is the size of your subscriber list. If your list is less than 2,000, sending out 4 to 8 emails a month would be the maximum recommended. If you are an eCommerce company with 10,000 or more subscribers sending out daily emails might be a good strategy. Remember that you can expect attrition of your list every time you send out an email. Look at your new subscriber data! If you get 100 new subscribers each week but you lose 20 subscribers each time you send an email that you shouldn’t send out more than 5 emails each week, and likely fewer so that you can keep growing your list. 

Let the content be your guide

If you are used to sending out one monthly newsletter. Consider increasing the frequency of your emails by breaking down the content into multiple emails that are focused on one type of conversion. This can increase open rates by a few percentage points.

Divide and conquer

If you are used to sending out one monthly newsletter jam-packed with information you should consider increasing the frequency of your emails by breaking down the content into multiple emails that are focused on one type of conversion. This can increase open rates by a few percentage points. People will scroll past what doesn’t interest them but you’ll still get impressions with your headlines.

Repeat content when it’s logical

Sending out multiple emails for the same blog post = spammy Sending out multiple emails leading up to a special event or sale = strategic 

Don’t spam your List

If you have a list of fewer than 500 emails and you are sending our multiple emails for one blog, that’s going to feel like spam.

Segmentation & When to Retarget

One way to work around your frequency concerns is to target your emails by segmenting your list. For example: Send a special coupon only to the segment of your list that has purchased in the last 3 months or send emails daily to new subscribers. 

By targeting your emails you are engaging with customers who either need a second or third chance to get important information or have qualified themselves as interested because of a type of behavior that you can monitor. 

Sending personalized reminder emails to users who filled on an online shopping cart but left without buying is a great way to re-engage with qualified buyers and complete the conversion.

There is no hard and fast formula to how often you should send marketing emails, however by considering your audience size and the content you have to share you can use these guidelines to come up with a successful strategy that meets your goals.