Many email marketers find out the hard way that there’s a difference between staying “top of mind” and sending readers more emails than they care to receive, and it’s usually when they see their opt-out rate increasing rapidly.
The fact is that over a third of all opt-outs have been found to be caused by email frequency that was too high, and that doesn’t even include people who “emotionally unsubscribed” or simply hit the delete button when they saw yet another email from what used to be their favorite subscription.
Even worse, according to the latest industry data, when it comes to email frequency, 60% of marketers don’t offer their readers the ability to change their email preferences.
What that means is that one of the most vital tasks that an email marketer has is the task of finding the “sweet spot” between sending too few emails and sending too many. Most experts however will say that if you’re going to err on the side of caution, sending too few is your best bet.
Think of it this way; when it comes to things that have a perceived value like, for example, diamonds. The fewer of them that there are, the more highly valued they are. Less diamonds equals a higher perceived value and, in the case of email marketing, it can be the same story there.
Making it more difficult, of course, is that there’s really no single email frequency that’s best – no “one size fits all” solution. Where, for example, people who love your product will want more emails, those that only like your product will feel overwhelmed by the same amount.
Email marketing experts believe that, in order to have the best CTR, you need to break down your subscribers into groups that quantify their level of engagement. Some of those would include;
- The time that elapsed since their last purchase
- The overall total value of their last purchase
- The overall interaction on social media that the user/users have with your brand. These would include followers on Twitter, product reviews, fans on Facebook and “pinners” on Pinterest, among others
- Your average open rates and click through rates (CTR)
Once you’ve determined these segments of your users, your best way to know how often to send an email is by doing what marketers have done for eons – testing.
The best email marketers know that what they’re doing is conversing with their subscribers and, in any good conversation, it helps to be a good listener as well. That being said, giving your readers a voice as far as their email preferences and frequency are concerned is always in your best interest.
And remember, with email marketing, sometimes less really is more.