Email Campaign Frequency

1. Email Campaign Frequency How often should you and do you talk to your customers?

2. Agenda • What is the Minimum? • Frequency Statistics • Work Within Your Resources • Watch for Trends • Frequency Segmentation • Rules of Thumb

3. What is the Minimum Monthly • If you mail less frequently you run the risk of lost mindshare • Keep your brand in front of your readers Quarterly • Not our recommendation for most people, but it does work for some industries and content layouts • Be impactful

4. Industry overall Merchants / Marketers • More than once per week: 17% / 5% • Weekly: 32% / 9% • Bi-Monthly: 26% / 13% • Monthly: 14% / 51% • Quarterly: 4% / 22% Source: Marketing Sherpa’s Email Marketing Benchmark Guide 2006

5. Frequency by Industry • News, Media, Entertainment: 4.0 times month • Retail: 3.5 times per month • Non-profit: 3.0 times per month • Consumer goods: 3.0 times per month • Travel: 2.5 times per month • Financial services: 2.5 times per month • Software/ASP: 2.5 times per month • Government: 2.0 times per month • Publishing: 2.0 times per month • Business/consulting: 1.5 times per month • ISP: 1.5 times per month • Hardware: 1.5 times per month • Education: 1.0 times per month • Manufacturing: 0.5 times per month Source: Marketing Sherpa’s Email Marketing Benchmark Guide 2006

6. Frequency by Purpose • Direct sales lead the way for more frequent mailing • 6% >weekly • 14% weekly • 21% 2-3 times per month • Branding is most common on a monthly basis with 53% of branding email being taking place on this schedule • Lead generation is the least frequent – 43% on a quarterly basis. Source: Marketing Sherpa’s Email Marketing Benchmark Guide 2006

7. Preferred Frequency • There is a disconnect between what people want and what people get. Recipients prefer mailings to be / what they are willing to accept • More than once per week: 5% / 4% • Weekly: 11% / 8% • Bi-Monthly: 11% / 18% • Monthly: 50% / 32% • Quarterly or less: 23% / 39% Source: Marketing Sherpa’s Email Marketing Benchmark Guide 2006

8. Work Within Your Resources • Just because your readers would like a daily email, is it within your means? • A daily e-mail requires many more resources than a monthly. • Don’t skimp, turn out a quality email. • How often can you produce fresh content?

9. What are you emailing about • Ecommerce driven email focusing on sales then to be on a very different schedule than your standard newsletter • Can you put together discount codes? • Do you have the product • Is your copy catchy? • What else do you have going on in the email world?

10. Watch for Trends • Look for declines in response – open and click-through rates – if this is the case it could be due to fatigue. • Though some decrease is normal, watch carefully and cut back frequency if you see a problem. • Unsubscribe rate is a good measure, but don't assume it is everything. The majority delete their email instantly or forward it to the trash folder rather than unsubscribe. • Keep an eye on the industry as a whole, what has worked for other companies in your industry.

11. Frequency Segmentation • Consider mailing to segments at different intervals • Ask at signup - what works for them – daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly. • If you don’t ask, always tell potential readers how often you mail at sign-up, so they can decide if the frequency works for them.

12. Rules of Thumb • Create a master calendar • Appoint a gatekeeper • Watch performance