Email Marketing: How often should you contact your mailing list?

How often is too often when it comes to contacting the folks on your mailing list? That’s a question posed by reader Gail:

Is there a recommended limit to the number of times that you should contact people who have signed up to receive newsletters or other information from you? Do you know if there is a wide variation between customers on how often they like to be contacted? For example,I am on the lower end of the spectrum when it comes to the number of e-mails I like to receive from any company, but am I in the minority?

- Gail

Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to how much email they’re willing to tolerate. So how do you balance that out? Here’s what I wrote to Gail:

Hi Gail,

There is no “recommended” limit that I know of when in comes to how often is “too” often. A lot of it depends on who you’re marketing to. Some folks are more tolerant of frequent emails than others and how much they’re willing to tolerate it depends on a variety of factors including age, gender, occupation, and the amount computer skills and experience a person has. In general, most email marketing experts recommend that you contact your list at least once a month so that your subscribers don’t forget who you are.

What’s more important is to decide at the beginning what you’re going to be using your mailing list for and then design your program around that goal. How frequently you’re going to email your subscribers will depend on what your goals are for your email list.

For example, if you do a lot of shows and you want to use your email list to notify your subscribers when you’re going to be appearing at a particular show, then that’s how often you’ll be contacting your list. If you have a show every week, then you’ll probably be emailing your list once a week. If you have a show once every couple of months, then your subscribers can expect to receive an email once every couple of months.

On the other hand, if you want to use your list to promote your Etsy store and decide that a monthly newsletter with occasional short email updates is the best way to accomplish this then that’s going to be your frequency.

Once you’ve decided how you are going to design your email marketing, you then allow your subscribers to decide whether they want to hear from you that often by providing information on how often you’re going to contact them, when, and what kind of information they’re going to receive. Provide this information both on the sign up page of your mailing list and in the welcome email they’ll receive after they sign up. This way, they know what they’re signing up for and it sets up the expectation in their minds.

Don’t fall into the trap of not emailing your list because you’re afraid that you’re “bothering” your subscribers. Some artists are so terrified that someone is going to unsubscribe from their mailing list that they don’t email them as often as they should. Don’t be! Remember that these folks signed themselves up because they’re interested in what you have to offer. As long as you tell them up front what you’re going to deliver and then actually give it to them, you’re not bothering them.

And also, don’t be scared of unsubscribes. People are going to unsubscribe from your list for a variety of different reasons that may or may not have anything to do with you. That’s the nature of running an email list. I get unsubscribes every so often and once in a blue moon I’ll get a complaint that I’m “marketing too much” from a subscriber. But marketing myself is why I built the list in the first place and if they don’t like the occasional promotional message, then it’s best for both of us if they unsubscribe from my list.

As long as your list is growing steadily and the majority of your subscribers appear to be happy, don’t sweat the unsubscribes too much!

If you want more tips on how to start and manage an email list, sign up for my FREE article series “How to Plan and Start a Great Email Newsletter“.