How Often Do You Email Per Week?

If you have a list that is built from giving away something for free, it is probably a good idea to email once a day for a week. It is important to determine what you want your list to do. If you are trying to sell them something and at that point they haven't bought anything yet, some marketers ask them how often they want to receive emails from you. Others keep up the daily emails until they buy or block you.

If you are trying to develop a relationship with your list, some of your daily emails are just good content, anyway. Good content is usually appreciated, and most list members will want to continue to read something of value. This gives you the opportunity to sell related products in addition to the free content.

Once they buy, you are obviously going to treat them with extra special care. Buyers should be elimiated from their original list and switched to a buyers-only list. This list will probably receive fewer mailings per week. If you email them less than once a week, there is a good chance they will forget you.

I think my own experiences matches with every word of that.

My lists are initially built from potential customers (not buyers), who opt in for "more of the same" (that they've seen on my site) including a "free report". I would never email them daily.

I've tested enough to know that if I did that, (i) I'd get unsubscriptions, and (ii) I'd get lower open-rates and less income from the ones who remain subscribed.

Well, it depends on (a) what sort of list it is, and especially on (b) their expectations, doesn't it?

Personally, after all the testing I could be bothered to do, in a few different niches, without getting significant unsubscriptions and so on just from "testing", I now send email on days 1, 3, 6, 10 and 15 and thereafter at 5/6-day intervals (never 7-day intervals, because of the "same day of the week" problem).

I think many of the most worthwhile ways of keeping people on your list (as well as keeping them opening and reading your emails) relate to things you need to do before people opt-in, not after. It's about setting expectations, establishing reliability and credibility, and earning people's trust.

These things all vary according to the traffic demographics, the opt-in incentive and maybe even the niche, too.

These are the kind of things I normally suggest to people who ask ...

(i) Explain really clearly to people that they're going to get regular emails from you, in addition to the "free report" or whatever carrot you're giving them in exchange for their email address;

(ii) Explain openly roughly how often you'll be sending these emails, and stick to what you've said;

(iii) Explain what information/materials will be covered in your emails, and why (obviously making the whole thing sound as attractive/appealing as possible);

(iv) Make sure that the "free report" is designed specifically to make sure that its recipients open and read the subsequent email series (failure to do this is a terrible missed opportunity and leads to unnecessarily low open-rates);

(v) Always use a reliable autoresponder with good deliverability, never a free one which may send spammy junk of its own out with your emails (opt in yourself, under a few email addresses, and see how they look and whether they reliably hit your inboxes);

(vi) Make sure there's as good a match as possible, in tone, style and presentation, between (a) what attracted people to your site in the first place, (b) what they saw when they got there, and (c) what you send by email - this can make a huge difference to keeping people subscribed and opening/reading your emails, because continuity matters;

(vii) As well as all the more obvious things like reminding people who you are, why they're receiving it, how to unsubscribe and so on, put a little "feeder" in each email for the next one, so that it'll be expected and welcomed when it arrives (can also make a big difference);

(viii) Don't use people's first names when you send them autoresponder emails: marketers (often) love to do this, or at least the ones who are naive enough to imagine that people think it "makes it look more personal" - it does no such thing. People aren't stupid and they know that it's automated and means nothing. Customers often think it "just makes you sound like an insurance salesman" and it puts them on their guard - exactly the opposite of what you ought to be doing. (You can also build bigger lists by not asking for their names - an email address is all you need, and more people will opt in if that's all you ask for);

(ix) Don't try to give your emails "clever"/"tricky" subject-lines, or be misleading in any way in their titles: not only does this not work at all, but if anyone ever complains about it, your autoresponder company may (rightly) drop you like a stone.

I used to sen emails maximum of 2 times a week. More than that, would make your subscriber opt-out.

I have not yet tried email marketing although I have read a lot about its efficacy in Internet marketing. It is believed to be one of the finest marketing methods. Hmm, I will have to try though.

I am currently experimenting with emailing my list regularly. Around 2 emails every 3 days. It has been a month now and what I observe is that i do get people unsubscribing but at the same time, my open & click through rate increases.

The rule of the thumb is, I try to add value & build relationship with my list when I am not selling/promoting a product.

I've been doing this for a month & it's too early to conclude anything. But i will definitely share with you guys the outcome in my blog in time to come.

-Muhsin

I like getting emails every 5/6/7 days.

Anymore and I get sick of it.

I picked up a good tip from Pat Flynn about making sure you keep a day free where people don't get emails. This is because if you want to send out a broadcast, people don't get both emails.

When I email my list I'm going to be giving them actionable information. I think this is great because instead of just giving them info, they will actually see results and be more interested in opening the next one.

Because of this, I think you need to give someone a good amount of days to put your information into action. Any less and everything might start piling up and they say "stuff it."

Really depends.

I have one newsletter where sometimes I e-mail 2-3x per DAY. And it's fine. (I get usually 20-25% open rates for that).

So it depends.

Johnathan

Some interesting views on this, and an excellent post from Alexa.

I completely agree with your point on misleading subject lines. Subjects such as "You have earned commission" and then the email starts like... "Don't you wish your received emails with that subject every day". Very deceiving and the quickest way to lose subscribers. Instant loss of trust right there.

I always though that more than twice per week was too much, and even then only if you have something good to offer. But some people with a very good reputation in email marketing do recommend daily emails - Ben Settle being the most obvious. I'm on his list, and I have to say that I do open and read the emails he sends every day.

I think it probably depends how good your emails are - either as an entertaining read or consistently giving something of real value.

Speaking as the person getting the emails rather than sending them, whether I choose to read or delete an email is really all about my expectations - and these are based on who the email is from, not how often I hear from them, nor the subject line (which I usually read last).

I send daily, and have ok open/conversion rates... a challenge is when you have a lot of jv partners to cross promote with, in addition to internal launches, it requires more frequent overall mailing, compared to the early days of 2-3x/week midweek mornings that worked back in the mid 2000s.

I've found that in split testing headlines; it makes a big difference in open rates for what you're offering, eg free webinar vs new video vs product launch; it varies a lot

i have follow up emails in place but i never email everyday

i usually space my emails out in bite sized chunks, theres nothing worse than trying to process a tonne of information at the same time

im only on about 3 peoples email list now, i unsubscribed months ago to all the others

one of the lists im on i stay on just to see how they market because they are fairly popular here on the wf

so far out of about 20 emails all of them had the option of my buying something lol

dont know how they sleep at night!

paul

It so depends. At the moment I email when I've got something to say via broadcasts to my IM niche. My other sites are set up for every 2nd day for the first week (so they remember me) and weekly there-after.

I want to try and email daily. See what happens and judge it on both longevity and sales.

Plenty of folk email daily, successfully. Alexa's usually right and I think spot on when she says . Especially if you want to keep on the right side of your auto-responder company.

Incidentally I've opted into several of Agora's lists. Bizarrely enough "The Daily Reckoning" is... er... daily and their "Penny Sleuth" emails alternate between two emails per day and one per day.

I'm waffling now but imagine if you were a day trader. Bet you'd be interested in multiple emails in a single day if it was up-to-the-minute information.

I do 4-5 times per week and do very well with email. It all depends on the relationship with your list.

Yeah; for most of 2009 I tried the email every day. I still made money and my open rates weren't really affected.

But I found that I was getting burned out on coming up with unique topics for each message. Even telling stories and adding my personality didn't seem to get me out of a rut.

I commend you for being able to keep up a consistent level of emailing. Must be tough on a daily basis.

I think it varies between people. I like to email promotional emails at least twice a week. My list get email updates for new posts which is 3 times a week. The more regular you stay in contact with your list the better the chances are of making money from them. Its just determining the fine line between keeping in contact and being annoying with too many emails.

Cheers
Lloyd
Make The Money Online Dot Com

Bombarding your subs is a very bad idea, cos you know you're not the only one they opt-in to. Imagine you're on a vacation for a week, get back home, open your mail and get a lovely notification " You've got 76 new emails" you're like " Screw You !!! "

Rule #1, IMHO, NEVER overwhelm your list. I mail twice a month MAX. It has worked for me like a charm for years. I never want to piss off a good list that took me months and sometimes years to build. Once you start overwhelming your list, the unsubs will start popping in and the "surprise factor" and "importance" of your emails to them will significantly decrease. I'd rather my lists wait and wait to get a solid message from me instead of getting bombarded and getting tired of seeing my name pop-up consistently in their inbox.

I normally email my list 1-2 times a week.
I have a buyers only list so it converts very well when I send new offers or discounts.

I find that this is not overkill. I am not getting un subscribes and making aprox $1 per person on my list.

I've found that once every 2 days is a good balance. The list knows you and hears from you regularly, but not too much. Tested all the combinations and 3-4 times a week is good.

If I look the past decade I have been emailing from 1 time to 5 per week the average 3 times. Not saying that is the best or optimal just what I did looking back. I think if you have good stuff nothing wrong with daily which I often do.

I send every day or two for the first couple of weeks and I clearly explain that to me list in my first email.
The reason for this is because I send a lot of value at first to get them on track with my program.

Then I scale it back to about once a week to keep them going.

The business models i am working dont really require many email activities..but i still need to email a few times a week nonetheless :-)

Dan J

It depends on what type of list you have built and how you built it. If it is a newsletter list you would email them as little as only a 1 to 4 times a month.

If your list is a free report or download list you could email them more frequently, maybe 3 to 4 times a week with offers related to the free report or download.

I've emailed as much as 3x a week, but that's not very often. Mostly just once a week unless I have some awesome stuff to share with them building up to a promotion.

Every 3-4 days sounds good to me, and is what i use to email my backend customers.

Oddly, I go for daily emailing. It seems my way conflicts with all the rest of you here, but I usually email my subscribers with daily happenings around me, maybe traveling pictures , different food I tried today, that sort . I just send them emails as I do my friends, and add a little something behind promoting products, otherwise , just another buddy email. It works for me though...

Hey Guys,

I have been sending out email almost everyday to my list, sometime even twice a day. Do you think it will be too much for it? Any Advise?

It depends what they have opted in for. If it is for a 3 day course or something like that I email the following 3 days.

Generally after that I email when I have something of value to the niche but try to keep in contact once a week.

Chris

For me, it's once- twice a week.

In this way, I get a very low unsubscribe and pretty high open rate

i don't like to send a lot of e-mail to my lists, i do it once twice a month, but it converts well.

Some very well known marketers mail out daily even twice heck even 3 times a day?
Some content, some is promo and the majority is Content/Promo " pre-selling"
I am assuming those marketers rely heavily on their Brand to carry out such activities.


KaL.

I mail one segment of my list once a day, as long as your not pitching offers everyday you should be fine, keep them engaged in what you are doing and realize that you are trying to become their friend.

So if you don't mail them one day they ask "I haven't heard from (yourname) I wonder where he is"

i dont email anyone because i currently dont have a list.. kinda foolish now a days if i do say so myself with the new goodgle updates messing with rankings

IM email is so unprofessional. I buy a plug-in and have to subscribe to get update notices. Well to get update notices I have to suffer through one or more emails a day of being offered other stuff. If I unsubscribe, I don't get notices of the updates. That's not fair, in fact it is pure manipulation.

People sellling prdoucts that get updates should have two lists one for the actual product that doesn't bombard people with other offers, and one that does. If people unsubscribe from the one selling other stuff they still get update info and you still have them on your product list anyway, so VERY OCCASSIONALY you can offer a different product that is complimentary to yours, or one of your new product when it launches, but nothing else.

This is the approach I take, i never spam people with other stuff. I always maintain a list of the original product and use that for update information.

If more people did this, they'd keep their list of buyers longer.

Very subjective question as depends on many factors...

The most important factor being the niche you are in...

The second most important factor is CONSISTENCY!

You have to condition your list! You do this by being consistent. If you are emailing daily then you better be prepared to have an email ready at least 5 days of the week... Any less and you start to lose connection with your list (or piss them off when the frequency increases again)...

Also, we all have different businesses - so email marketing is hardly a "one size fits all"...

Some folks are doing ad swaps or selling solos daily, while some like to only promote products... Some do weekly emails, some have membership sites and only email for new content or training sessions...

Some folks are product creators so may only need to send one or two emails a week, while others are affiliates and make send one or more emails a day...

So the bottom line is finding a good fit for YOUR style and YOUR business. I tell my coaching students all the time to not worry about what "everyone else" is doing. When it comes to email marketing there is no one size fits all plan just do what feels "right" to you.

Hope this helps

Cheers,
Coby

P.S. I send 2-5 emails a week to my buyers and 5-10 a week to my "freebies"

I am in several niches.

My autoreponders on some of them is once a day, you do not want to lose a lead, you need to keep them hot.

once they have gone through my autoR, then once every 2 weeks or something.

Found emailing on a TUES or WED in the mornign the best, so they see it in their inbox firs thing, works really well. But again, it shouldnt matter, you should be getting sales if you opting in targeted traffic.

Once a week and on the same day can work well. If you provide quality content or good offers your subscribers will write and ask for the newsletter if it is not on time :-)

I think once in 3-4 days time is a good idea. Or sometimes it depends on the situation. Sometimes, you made an unexpected broadcast to your list.