Email marketing is a great tool for your business if done correctly. With that said, many people misuse their ability to communicate with prospects and customers through email by sending too many emails, too often.

I recently discovered a member’s only online boutique that requested my email address to let me browse. As someone who appreciates a good deal, I didn’t mind giving my information way in exchange for awesome deals (even if I know they will add me to their email list). Little did I know, this online boutique would not only keep me up to date, but would also flood my inbox each week.

As you can see, my inbox consists of a ton of emails from this particular company (not to mention all the emails I receive from other companies).  How do they ever think I could process all the information that they are sending me when I am receiving 2-5 emails per day? As a side note, I would probably shop  more often with the online boutique if they sent more tailored emails, less often. At this point, I will most likely un-subscribe from their list so I can get my email back to normal.

Email frequency really can vary depending on the type of business, your contact lists, email content, etc. However, with the company above, I was only interested in browsing the website one time. I had not purchased any item with them before or expressed interest in receiving 2-5 daily emails from them after my first visit to their website.

If you want to avoid over sending to your contacts and are unsure if you are, ask yourself these questions:

  • Am I seeing an increase in the number of SPAM complaints & un-subscribes I receive?
  • Am I seeing a decrease in email open rates?
  • Am I finding people are engaging less and less with my emails overtime?
  • Am I sending general emails to all of my contacts vs. targeted emails?
  • Am I providing my contacts with relevant information that fits their needs/stage of the buying process?

How often do you find it appropriate to communicate with your contacts through email? I would love to hear your opinion!