Many years ago before I started daily emails I did quite a bit of research on how frequent and when to send emails.
At the time the advice was at least once per month or once a week if you could produce the content. Then for sales emails it was to send them around major buying holidays and then often but not too often.
Not super scientific right?
I settled on once a week for educational emails and every now an then for a more promotional email. Maybe a series of emails over a few days for a new product launch.
The advice hasn't really changed at all, even with the rise of smartphones and email being available everywhere.
Which always struck me as odd. Shouldn't easier access to email mean emailing more frequently would be acceptable and wanted by your best customers?
I since switched to daily emails so very little of that matters anymore to me. New weekday? Time to email.
I have been noticing how often I'd get emails from some larger stores though. Some send two or three emails every day with big sale events having even more. While others rarely send an email and when they do, it felt like they were phoning it in.
There's even more research out showing sending multiple times per week leads to more orders (and these tend to be promotion emails too, not just education or entertainment emails). Omnisend Return Path (PDF).
What it comes down to is expectations.
How often are your subscribers and customers expecting to hear from you?
You can influence that all the way at the opt-in (e.g. mention how frequently you email) but you can also give subscribers options. Do they only want an email once a week, once a month, or the fire-hose of everything you publish?
Getting subscribers not just accustomed to more emails, but actually welcoming them when they come, that can unlock a powerful growth channel.
Timing sales emails... that's more tricky. Each email should include some way for the reader to buy from you, it just be a simple call to action or aside mention. Or the whole email could be an ad.
In Repeat Customer Insights I've found that measuring how often someone buys can be a good indicator for when you should begin the sales process again. Using the overall Average Latency is good option, though the Order Sequencing analysis goes deeper to see how longer term customers order differently.
Given the cost and convertibility of email marketing, it's something that should be used more heavily.
Eric Davis
Market to your customer's timing
Figure out how long customers wait in-between purchases and you have a key component for your marketing timing. This is the basis of the Average Latency metric and Order Sequence Report in Repeat Customer Insights.