How Often to Send Marketing Emails for eCommerce (And Other Beginner Tips)
Business owners like yourself know the power of email marketing for eCommerce brands. You also know people are utterly slammed with emails every day. Plus, nearly 59% of all emails are accessed and viewed on a mobile device[1], not including tablets.
So, what’s the happy medium in terms of how often to send your actionable and engaging emails?
While the long answer is it depends, the shorter answer is it depends on what your email data says. Here we’ll dive into best practices that help you determine the right number of sends for your company and answer common questions about email marketing frequency.
Email Marketing Frequency Best Practices
As eCommerce continues to surge across products and services, understanding the best practices affecting email marketing frequency is key to getting them in front of your readers.
How to Email Market Without Spamming
Sending a lot of eCommerce emails from your company isn’t good manners, but it’s not the only factor in whether you’re spamming. In fact, email frequency has a low impact on whether your emails are flagged as spam compared to others.
Don’t Have Recipient Permission
Not having the person’s permission to send them emails is a huge factor in spamming. It generally happens if you buy an email list, as many people have no idea they’re on the list in the first place.
You also risk significant fines for violating anti-spam regulations, like the CAN-SPAM Act.[2] Most email marketing platforms have policies against unsolicited email addresses and ban companies that violate the policy.
Make sure your website and social media have clear opt-in forms if you use these channels for email signups.
You’re Unknown To Subscribers
We understand how busy small to medium size businesses can be. Maybe your monthly email newsletter went out in a regular cadence for a while but fell by the wayside. The email silence from you, plus the email noise from other senders, causes recipients to forget who you are — even if they signed up.
Send out a reminder or reactivation email to your list if there’s been a gap. Make sure your branding is visible, along with the company name, and use a recognizable ‘from’ address. It should be enough to remind your subscribers who you are and that the email is legitimate.
Low Engagement Rates
Unfortunately, your email provider begins flagging messages as spam if enough subscribers don’t open and delete them, or your mailings have a low open rate. Prevent this issue by using actionable subject lines and personalization and sending messages when your subscribers are most likely to open them. Use the metrics and data collected by your email provider to find specifics to put these items into action.
No Physical Address In The Email
The CAN-SPAM Act legally requires every email your eCommerce business sends to include a physical mailing address. If you have a physical store location, the address can be the store address. Or, if you work out of your home, it can be a PO Box. Most eCommerce emails list the address at the bottom above the unsubscribe message and link.
Incorrect “From” Name Or Information
The information or name you use in the “From,” “Reply-To”, and “To” lines is crucial to not triggering a spam alert. Use a name your readers know, such as the company name or a prominent individual within the company.
How Many Marketing Emails Is “Too Many?”
Most people spend 10 seconds reading a brand email. [3] So, sending more is better, right? Not necessarily. Again, this is where constantly reviewing your user data and adjusting email campaigns based on the numbers is so important. (Learn more about email marketing KPIs here.) How many subscribers you have is the primary number to start with.
Every return-on-investment for every email you send to your list or segments has attrition; roughly 10% to 20% bounce, unsubscribe, or otherwise leave the list. eCommerce businesses like yours have a bit of leeway for send frequency, given how a sales funnel works. We’ll go over how to find your “magic number” later in the blog.
But, keep in mind larger eCommerce businesses can get away with sending what seems like too many emails. It’s because they send in a regular cadence, offer value to the targeted segment, and their customers expect a large volume. Smaller businesses don’t have this luxury — for the most part.
How Often Should Email Marketing Be Sent?
The target ROI for eCommerce is $45 for every $1 spent.[4] The sheer reality of these kinds of numbers could tempt you to send four emails daily, but stand firm. The rate of send that ultimately works for you and your customers depends on what the data says. Here are four ways to determine how often you should send out marketing emails.
1. Use Customer Life Cycle For Send Rate
Base your send rate on the purchase cycle of a typical customer. Let’s say this customer makes a purchase every three to four months. Sending a follow-up email a week after their purchase and then a new or improved product alert email two months later isn’t too many. Spacing emails for this type of customer won’t inundate them to the point of unsubscribing from the noise.
2. Adjust The Sent Rate On Your Bigger Marketing Goals
Every email campaign or program must have goals in order to measure effectiveness. How often you send messages should be planned around these goals. If you want to drum up intrigue around a new product launch, a higher but reasonable frequency is appropriate.
3. Send Based On Engagement
We’ve touched on this already, but it’s worth going into a bit more. Look at your different customer segments. Do some open a higher percentage of emails than others but have a lower click-through rate? Is the opposite true of another segment?
People who only shop around the holidays are likely shopping for gifts and are not interested in monthly updates. Regular readers could be interested in a midsummer secret sale. Dig into the data from the last few months and personalize your readers’ emails even further.
4. Give your readers the option to set their frequency
Yes, it sounds counter to what we’ve discussed, but by giving your readers a say in how often they receive your eCommerce emails, they might be more engaged than before. Adding an update preferences option lets them opt in or out on their terms rather than what you may have determined from the data. A lot of companies provide this option when someone signs up, on the unsubscribe page, or as part of a re-engagement email.
When to Send Marketing Emails
True, certain days and times of day can have a higher open and engagement rate than others. But it usually varies by company, email provider, industry, and moon phase. (We’re kidding about the last part. Sort of.)
What Is the Best Day to Send Marketing Emails?
The best day for one eCommerce company won’t be the best day for another like yours. That said, several research pieces found that eCommerce had the highest open rates on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Wednesday was the best day for click-through rates.
To find out the best day for you and your readers, use the data to find these metrics:
Open rate: How many emails were opened divided by total emails sent.
Click-through rate (CTR): Total clicks divided by total emails sent.
Percentage of open volume: Percentage of total email opens sent during a specified period.
Percentage of click volume: Percentage of total click volume from emails sent during a specified period.
What Is the Best Time to Send a Marketing Email?
9 a.m. to 12 p.m. has been cited as an optimal time to send business-to-consumer (B2C) emails. This time of day makes sense as it's when millions of people are starting their work day or going to lunch. But, other research has shown late afternoon to early evening is a good time, as people are leaving work or unwinding at home.
So, what’s the answer? You can try either of these time slots, but it’s best to check your data and find out when your readers are opening and engaging with your emails. Remember to account for time zone differences.
Does Email Frequency Change During The Holidays?
Yes and no. Major shopping times, such as back-to-school and Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM), can change the frequency depending on your niche and your revenue goals.
Black Friday/Cyber Monday Email Frequency Best Practices
Though the lead time to BFCM has increased in recent years, using best practices is still the best way to see results from your eCommerce email campaign.
Prep Your Subscriber List
If you’ve been meaning to segment your subscriber list into smaller, more specific ones, now is the time. Resist sending out discounts in the two to three weeks leading up to BFCM; it’s one way to build anticipation for your sales.
Also, keep an eye on your open and unsubscribe rates in the weeks before. If you notice a sudden surge in unsubscribe or spam reports, take care of any possible issues now.
Make A Good First Impression
A lot of people sign up for emails before Black Friday/Cyber Monday looking for possible deals, even if they’ve never bought from your eCommerce company before. Make sure any welcome emails they receive are professional but friendly. It’s a good opportunity to explain who your company is, the value your product(s) offer, and introduce the product lineup.
Bundle & Upsell
Take advantage of this time to bundle like products together and let your readers know why the bundle is a better value than buying individually. Conversely, use previous data from your emails to present targeted upsell opportunities.
But don’t present the new/improved product without context and supporting data. Consumers are savvy enough to recognize a straight upsell and instead want to know why they should buy it. How will it improve their life compared to an existing product?
Think Mobile First For All Emails
Thirty-nine percent of all eCommerce sales took place on a mobile device, like smartphones and tablets, during BFCM 2019. These devices accounted for 65% of all eCommerce activity. Don’t overlook these smaller but critical sales screens. Make sure every email going out for your BFCM campaign is easy to view and use on mobile.[5]
How to Know If Your Email Frequency Is Working
Similar to testing an entire campaign, you can — and should — run tests to see if the current email send frequency is working.
A/B Test, Then Test, And Test Again
Even if your opens, click-throughs, and conversions go up, it’s always worth the time and insights to run A/B tests. Sometimes these tests are simple — change a photo from horizontal to vertical or adjust your button text on the main call-to-action. Or you can go in-depth and make wholesale changes to your next eCommerce email for part of a segment while the others receive the same format.
One way to start A/B testing is to split your most engaged list into two sub-lists. Send one part on the day with the highest open rate while the other part receives it on the second-highest day. Compare the data, monitor the subsequent data, and make changes accordingly.
Look At Open And Unsubscribe Rates
Another easy A/B test is increasing or decreasing the email frequency to subscribers. Decide how many messages you want to send before reviewing the data. If you’re on a weekly cadence with one email a week, five to six weeks should be enough to identify a trend. Try increasing to two emails a week, then look at the open and unsubscribe rates, along with CTR.
Monitor Conversions
As you sort through A/B tests, keep an eye on conversions and overall sales. Are they increasing or declining? Sales are what keep you in business, and are able to send out emails to new and existing subscribers.
Need Help With Your Email Marketing Strategy?
Starting email marketing for eCommerce can be overwhelming at times. But the Winbox team takes the mystery and stress out of the process to set you up for successful campaigns. We take the time to learn about your eCommerce business and goals, then offer actionable steps to help you begin. Contact us today to get started!
Sources:
[1]https://www.statista.com/statistics/277125/share-of-website-traffic-coming-from-mobile-devices/
[2]https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business
[3]https://www.statista.com/statistics/1273288/time-spent-brand-emails/
[4]https://www.statista.com/statistics/804656/email-roi-perception/
[5]https://www.retaildive.com/news/the-winners-and-losers-of-black-friday-2019/568214/