‘Send the right emails, to the right people, at the right time’ – the sentence has been emphasized enough for quite a long time now. Although, every email marketer still struggles to establish a campaign structure that entirely works around the said philosophy. Setting up an email marketing campaign with keeping email frequency and email cadence in mind is the way to go!
Email is, and has always been the pivotal digital communication channel! Brands and even the millennial & gen Z consumers admit emails to be their preferred mode of communication. Email marketing goes beyond just establishing a personal connect – it is an effective way to convert leads into sales as well! That’s the reason why email marketing banks the most ROI out of all the other digital channels. Every $1 spent on email marketing brings back $42 in return. Check out the industry-wise bifurcation for email marketing ROI below.
(source: Litmus infographic)
Email marketing is here to stay, and while we are at it, why not do it efficiently and house the most possible benefits? Without any further ado, let’s explore the aspect of email frequency and learn the art to ace it.
What Is Email Frequency and Email Cadence?
Email marketers are often bombarded with such terms, and the majority of the time, people use Email Frequency and Email Cadence interchangeably. However, there’s a fine defining line between these two. Email frequency and email cadence are correlated but not the same. Email Frequency represents the number of emails sent in a said time period, while Email Cadence or Send Cadence is the pattern and timing of the sent emails.
A unified email frequency is a myth!
Just like every being, every business is different. Even in the same industry, there are high chances for two brands to have distinct email marketing strategies in place. There is no ideal number that one can claim upon when it comes to the right frequency. Equally, the definition of perfect email frequency differs from brands to brands or even campaign to campaign. One needs to identify what works best for them and how many emails their subscribers are welcoming and appreciating.
Why Email Frequency Matters?
Before we jump on to the best practices for setting up the right email frequency, let’s understand why we’re doing what we are doing. You should know your Whys before your Hows, shouldn’t you? Here are a few pointers that indicate why having the right email frequency in action is important.
Email Deliverability & Sender Reputation
Email sender reputation is a score that your Internet Service Provider (ISP) assigns to a particular organization that is involved in email marketing. The number of emails you send i.e. email frequency is one of the factors while determining the score. Good sender reputation increases the email deliverability which can be described as ‘the chances of your emails reaching the recipients’ inboxes’. The number of emails you send makes an impact on your brand’s overall email marketing success, thus, gauging how many emails you send is important.
Email Engagement Metrics
Measuring email marketing efforts is as vital as your strategy and email template design or html email template. Without analyzing various email engagement metrics, you cannot measure the success of your email campaign or find the loopholes that need attention. A defined email frequency per campaign or segment will help you analyze your email open rate, click-through rate, conversion rate, and the unsubscribe rate to name a few.
Understanding Customer Lifecycle Stage
Every customer or subscriber falls under a specific customer lifecycle stage. Setting up an email frequency for your marketing campaigns will throw a light on your consumers’ buying journey and apparently will help you focus on your loyal customer base. It will also help you create email segments (cluster/email list) to bifurcate various customers based on their preferences, engagement metrics, demographics, and more. The result-driven campaign structure can be then designed for those segments.
Best Practices for Setting Up the Right Email Frequency
As mentioned earlier, there is no unified email frequency that can assure a positive impact for all email marketing campaigns across the industries. The ideal practice to follow is to determine what’s your ‘sweet spot’ and what works for your customers. But, there certainly are a few considerable aspects to count on while finding YOUR right email frequency. Let’s explore what they are…
Ask for the Subscriber Preference
We all know that consumers today are flooded with promotional and non-promotional emails. So how can you decide how many emails are too many? The simple answer to this is to let them choose their own email receiving frequency. During your welcome email itself or during your initial email threads, ask them to choose how many emails they want from your brand. This is a best practice for organizing your email lists as well. When they decide for themselves, the consent leads to less unsubscribe rate and higher open & click-through rate.
Study Your Audience & Your Engagement Metrics
There’s no right answer to what email frequency works best. The whole point is to analyze your data and then set a unique email frequency that can become your sweet spot. Understanding your subscribers’ preferences, buying journey, engagement metrics, and other touchpoints will guide you to set different frequencies for different email lists. Learn how frequently they want to communicate with you and accordingly plan your email marketing campaigns. Around 69% of the users hit the unsubscribe because of ‘too many emails’ – HubSpot. You need to grow past that stage with a reliable email frequency in place.
Targeted Sends
When we talk about an email copy, it does not stop at what message you send across! An email copy comprises email subject line, header text, body text, call-to-action-buttons, visual cues (email template elements), and signature. In context with setting up the right email frequency, these email copy elements must change as per the segment, campaign, and inbound marketing stages. This practice refrains you from sending the same message across your whole subscriber list. Targeted sends increase opens and yet the Hubspot study mentioned above also shows that 80% of email marketers send the same content to all their subscribers. Emphasize on targeted sends before determining an email frequency to boost engagement.
Competitor Analysis
As email marketing differs from industry to industry, the easiest and most lucrative way of setting out an email frequency is by learning what your competitors are doing and what is beneficial to them. Consumer preferences are industry-specific (in most cases), and there are high chances that the email marketing strategy that is working for them might work for you too. Look up to the brands with credibility and a great customer base. The practice helps you deliver what your consumers might be looking for. All you have to do is tweak it a little to perfectly fit your business.
Test, Test & Test More
Not utilizing the A/B testing facilities at all email marketing stages including various aspects of your professional email template is like closing a door on an opportunity! Test multiple email marketing frequencies until you find an amalgamation of increased engagement, increased conversions increased subscribers, and lesser unsubscribes. Reaching an optimal point is a salient feature to master the email frequency method.
Wrap-Up
Though there isn’t any answer for a perfectly defined email frequency, it isn’t as tough as it seems until you study the described areas. Email marketing is here to stay and for impactful campaign results, make sure you send the right amount and kinds of emails to the right audience at the right time. In a nutshell, follow the best practices to come up with an email frequency unique for your brand.
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