Email send frequency is one of the main reasons people unsubscribe, and at the same time one of the most common disputes within marketing teams. Messages that are too frequent lead to fatigue, being ignored and eventually unsubscribing; messages that are too rare lead to the subscriber forgetting where they know the company from and marking the message as unwanted. What matters is not a specific figure but what the company can consistently fill with content that has value in the long run. A regular monthly rhythm outperforms bursty series. A practical way to settle the dispute is to let the subscriber decide through a preference centre and monitor how unsubscribes and complaints develop after a change in frequency. For seasonal campaigns, higher intensity is tolerated if it is clear why it lasts only a limited time.
See also: Preference centre, Unsubscribe and complaint rate, Editorial calendar.
