One of the questions I am regularly asked is, “how often should you email your list?”
My standard answer is, “Once a week is a good email frequency. Send more nurture emails if you’re willing to put in the time and effort.”
Unfortunately, I find that a lot of business owners really want to email their lists regularly, but they’re afraid to do it. Which is genuinely a shame, because your subscribers want to hear from you! That’s why they signed up for your emails in the first place.
Trust me, I get it. There are a lot of reasons you’re scared to email your list. I’m going to address the top 5 here and give you excellent reasons to overcome your fears.
Take a deep breath, we’re about to dive in…
Reason #1: I Don’t Want to Annoy My Subscribers with Too Many Emails
If I had a nickel for every time I heard this, I would be so wealthy, I wouldn’t need to write emails regularly.
And despite that fact, I’d keep sending emails and encouraging everyone who says they’re worried about offending their subscribers to write regularly too.
Because the people who subscribe to your email list don’t mind hearing from you.
They’ve raised their hands and stated clearly that they’re interested in what you have to offer.
Give the people what they want!
I am subscribed to lists where I receive emails weekly, every other week, every month, some even send emails daily. Sometimes multiple emails in one day, depending on what they’re promoting.
I don’t always read every single one, but I do read many of them, because I enjoy reading what these people write and yes, I buy products and services from them, because of these emails.
I’ve mentioned in other blog posts that I regularly get responses to my emails, telling me how much my readers enjoy them. Some even admit they save them up to read all at once.
I promise you; the majority of your subscribers won’t be angry with you for sending too many emails. In fact, you’ll probably see your open rates go up, because they’ll start looking forward to reading what you’ve got to say.
Will there be a few people who get upset? Probably.
Most of those people unsubscribe and go on their merry way.
If someone does respond to tell you they don’t like your emails, first, yay you, you got a response from your subscriber.
Next, politely tell them you appreciate their input and offer to change how often they receive emails from you, then tag their contact record based on how often they want to receive emails.
You can also let them do it themselves. Create a page on your website that lets people choose their subscription options, such as “once a week” vs “every day” and connect that to your ESP or CRM. Add a link to this page in the footer of your emails, right before the unsubscribe link.
Whenever one of your subscribers makes a change to their subscription, a tag will be added to their record indicating their preference. You can select different segments to send to, based on those tags and their ideal email frequency.
Reason #2: My Subscribers Will Think I’m Too Salesy
I want to look at this from two perspectives:
1. Your Subscribers:
These are people who went to the trouble of downloading your lead magnet (aka opt-in bribe or freebie) and gave you their email address in exchange. They want to hear from you! They literally raised their hand and said “Yes, I’m interested in what you’re selling.”
If you don’t send marketing emails, they don’t find out more about your product or service. They don’t discover how amazing you and your company are. And they don’t have another opportunity to buy. Because one opportunity is never enough. Most people don’t buy right away. It usually takes 7-10 touch points for someone to make a purchase. These days, I suspect it’s even more because of all the information we get bombarded with on a daily basis.
Even if they made that impulse buy the moment they found you, you’re cutting them off from being a repeat customer. You don’t want to do that! You want them to buy from you again and again. Which means you want to email more often, rather than send too few emails.
You, the Business Owner:
We business owners on the whole are bad at tooting our own horns. We know what we do every day, so we don’t find it that remarkable.
Your subscribers do. They think whatever it is you do is amazing! They wouldn’t have signed up for your email list otherwise.
More importantly, they think you may have the answer to their prayers, or at least the solution to their problem.
It is your job, nay your moral imperative, to help them by sending weekly emails! You have the information they need and want. Be kind to your subscribers. Give them what they’ve asked you for.
It’s also a LOT easier to sell them what they want when you send regular nurture emails because your subscribers recognize your name in their inboxes and open your emails to see what you’ve sent. When they’re finally ready to buy, they’ll click that link or button and make their purchase.
Here’s another way to look at being “too salesy.” You “sell” every day.
“Selling” is another word for persuasion.
You persuade your kids, your spouse, or other family members to help out around the house. You persuade your employees to do the work you’ve assigned to them. Most of us spend a lot of our time persuading people to do what we want or need them to do.
We don’t do this to be manipulative, we do it in their best interests (and to be fair, our best interests). It’s the same thing when you send emails.
You’re literally acting in your subscribers’ best interests. You’re helping them solve a problem by persuading them that you have the best solution.
Reason #3: I Don’t Want Them to Unsubscribe
I have a secret to tell you…
You do want people to unsubscribe. As crazy as this sounds, they’re doing you a huge favor.
When they unsubscribe, they are telling you they’re no longer interested. Which is great! Here’s why:
- That’s one less person on your email list who will cost you more money every month: Email service providers (ESPs) charge by the contact, which means if you have a bunch of unengaged people on your list, you’re paying for dead weight.
- Your delivery rate will improve because that person is off your list: This means the internet service providers (ISPs) will see that your engagement levels are good because more people are opening your emails and say, “Hey, this sender is legit. We’ll let their emails through every time.” Your emails aren’t sent to the spam folder and all of your subscribers receive your emails in their inboxes.
- You’ll improve your domain reputation: The more often people open your emails, the more the ISPs recognize you as a quality email marketer and deliver your emails to your subscribers’ inboxes. It’s a circular effect resulting in the ISPs being less likely to ever randomly send your emails to the spam folder.
Plus, you’re still growing your email list, right? Other people will take that person’s place.
You want an email list full of subscribers who are interested in what you’re selling. When someone unsubscribes, take a moment to mourn, release them, then focus on the people who do want what you have to offer.
If your unsubscribe rate does start to increase, you should look at the content you’re sending and ask yourself whether you’re delivering the most value you possibly can.
Reason #4: They’re Ignoring Me, Why Should I Focus On Them?
Your subscribers are not ignoring you. You’re just not their main focus right this very second.
Human beings are incredibly self-centered. We’re also very overwhelmed. Unless the problem your product or service solves is the thing that is on fire right in front of them right this very second… most of your subscribers won’t pay much attention to you.
It’s not personal. It’s a matter of bandwidth. We all have a certain amount of energy and attention to dedicate to life every day. You and your product or service may not be on the top of the list.
When the problem your product or service solves is the thing that’s on fire right in front of your subscriber right this very second, you want to be the one they turn to for help. You want your product or service to be the one they remember and decide they want to buy.
You can’t do that if they don’t remember who you are or know how your product or service will truly help them solve this problem. That’s why you send weekly emails.
With every email you send, you’re nurturing your subscribers toward purchasing your product or service when they’re ready to do so. That’s why weekly emails are also referred to as “nurture emails.”
Reason #5: They’ll Complain About Me To Others and Give Me a Bad Reputation
I appreciate your concern for their feelings, and for your own.
However, sending emails is not high school. As long as you send emails that deliver value and help people solve their problems, no one will complain about you to their friends.
They have the option to unsubscribe if they don’t want to hear from you anymore. The likelihood of anyone filing spam reports against your business is incredibly low, as long as you send quality content and show that you genuinely want to help them solve their problems.
There is a very simple way to deal with any concerns you may have about others talking about you behind your back. That is to set expectations early. Preferably in the first email. Tell your subscribers how often you’ll send emails and keep that promise.
Be honest with them. If you’re going to send emails once a week, do it. If you plan to send monthly emails, do that. Be transparent and tell them sometimes, your email frequency will be higher because you’re having a sale, you’re sharing affiliate information about a complimentary product or service, or you’re launching something new.
The clearer you are at the beginning of your relationship with your subscribers, the more likely they are to respect you and open your emails. Which means you’ll get more sales and make more money.
The 80/20 Rule In Email Marketing
I suspect you’ve heard of the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, which states “Roughly 80% of outcomes come from 20% of causes.”
This is also true in email marketing campaigns, but with the caveat that it’s more like 99/1. Basically, this means out of 100 people, for every one person who purchases your product or service, 99 do not. To be fair, it’s really somewhere between 1 and 5 percent, but for the sake of easy numbers, we’ll use 1.
So… what happens to those other 99 people on your email list?
They said they were interested…
You have their email addresses…
This is exactly why you need a regular email sending frequency. It keeps your business and, your product or service top of mind to those 99 people who haven’t bought anything from you.
Those 99 people are still viable potential customers. You don’t want to desert them in their time of need. They may not be ready to buy quite yet, but they will be. When that happens, you want your business to be the one they turn to and your product or service the one they spend their hard-earned cash on.
Which means you need to send frequent emails.
Sending more emails means you build a relationship with these people and nurture them along their buyer’s journey. This gives you the opportunity to deliver the information they need (and you want them to have), as well as to become that trusted expert who has their best interests at heart.
Because of course you do. That’s why you created your product or service in the first place. To help people solve a specific problem, right?
Sending one, two, five or even seven emails a week shows that you are genuinely invested in helping someone solve their problem.
Ideally, every email answers your subscribers’ questions, gives them possible solutions and guides them toward making a purchase. And you can do it in a non-salesy, non-pushy way, just by being your regular honest, open, and friendly self.
That Other, Secret Reason You’re Scared to Email Your List
To be fair, there is another, incredibly common reason I hear from business owners when I ask them how often they email their lists.
“I don’t know what to say.”
This is a serious problem.
There is nothing worse than staring at a blank document, struggling to figure out what to put on the page. Especially when you have about a billion and 5 other things you should be doing to run your business.
I’ve got another secret to share with you…
One that will help you overcome the “I don’t know what to say” problem every time.
This is something I discovered after 10+ years of writing emails to my own list and for my clients…
Every one of your subscribers has an “Email Type” they’re most likely to open, read, and buy from.
Once you know your subscribers’ Email Type, you can use that formula to easily crank out engaging email after engaging email, so you can build a relationship with them and make more sales.
Knowing what your subscribers want to read gives you insight into how you can
- Structure your email campaigns.
- Decide how often to send promotional emails vs. nurture emails.
- Create calls to action that will dramatically increase your click-through rates.
- Increase your conversion rates.
You can find out which of the three standard Email Types your subscribers are most likely to open, read, and buy from by clicking on the button below and taking my 60-second quiz.
Then you’ll have no problems sending one or more emails a week and you’ll find that sweet spot where you can deliver value to your subscribers and nurture them along to convert them into happy, paying customers.