One question we hear quite often from our clients is, “How often should I be sending emails and communicating with my database of leads?”
While we wish there was a hard and fast rule on this topic, like so many other marketing questions, the answer really depends on many variables. Take a moment to think about your database and answer the following questions…
• Are my emails relevant to my entire database or should I be segmenting it into subsets so I can send more tailored communications?
• Do my emails include something of value (special offers, industry news) to recipients?
• Are my email stats from previous campaigns sending me signals?
• Am I testing and measuring different variables and messages?
1. Segment for success. If you have developed a fairly substantial opt-in database over the last several years, chances are, it is time to segment it. The segmentation could be as simple as sorting job titles between sales and marketing and tweaking the messaging and offers for each. Or, your segmentation strategy could be as detailed as employing multiple conditional statements to find a very specific niche. Whatever the case, relevancy will help to decrease your number of opt-outs while boosting your positive stats such as opens and clicks.
2. Think value. Always include a good reason for a viewer to open the email. No, that doesn’t mean you have to give away a free iPod in every email but you should carefully consider the value of the email content. The spiff could be anything from a free, educational white paper or a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card for completing a survey. The bottom line is that inboxes are cluttered and valuable content has a better chance of being deemed relevant or important.
3. Look at the stats. Most companies have used email marketing in the past and probably have some useful stats available. Did your unsubscribe rate spike when you sent emails more frequently? Did opens/clicks fall off the map when a certain segment received a communications blitz? Examining the stats objectively will likely give you some important clues as you work to find the optimal communication frequency.
4. Test it. Testing different email scenarios is crucial. Days of the week, subject lines, time of day, messaging, offers – all of these variables should be tested because they potentially impact your recipients’ engagement and the overall effectiveness of the email.
5. Try Marketing Automation. To take your email frequency testing to the next level, consider a marketing automation tool that offers drip or logic-based campaigns. These multi-step campaigns send or halt communications based on the recipient’s activity. For example, if someone opens and clicks on a white paper download, the next step might be to send a relevant case study in 10 days. If that email is opened, the recipient receives another form of communications in a specific timeframe. Unlike a typical mass email blast, these recipients are qualifying themselves for future correspondence by responding the previous one. If recipients start opting out of the drip campaign after first expressing clear interest, you probably need to throttle back the frequency.
With these considerations in mind, you’ll be more likely to find that “sweet spot” of email marketing where you are keeping your list engaged with relevant communications, without going overboard and drowning them in emails.
