One of the biggest concerns a list owner has is determining how often one should e-mail their list. You know the power there is in the follow-up and you know that having the right email strategy is key to building a good rapport and strong relationship with your subscribers… So the only thing you don’t want to do is cause them to leave your list because you’re e-mailing them a little too much.

So When Is It Okay To E-Mail Your List?

Before I answer this question, let me just put your mind to ease with this: Your subscribers are on your list to begin with because they are interested in reading the value you have to offer them. They’re on your list because they WANT to be on your list. Don’t shy away from them or be too skittish because you don’t want to come off spammy. The only time you may come off spammy is if (A) All you do is promote products while offering no value whatsoever, and (B) You e-mail your list literally every hour… on the hour!

So when is it okay?

When you have something to share with them!

The question comes down to what do you have to offer your list? What are their interests? And that again points us back to understanding your target or niche audience.

My methodology is this when it comes to when you should e-mail your list: If you have something of value that you know your subscribers will be interested in, e-mail them.

So does this mean that anytime you have something of value, it’s all right to shoot your peeps an e-mail? In my experience, yes.

Now, a couple things about this to clarify. For one, this suggestion I just made goes completely against what most companies say when it comes to e-mail marketing. Most companies abide by e-mailing their lists once per week to maybe a couple times per month.

The other thing is, although I say feel free to e-mail your list… there are restrictions. You don’t want to e-mail your list multiple times per day, otherwise your subs will just consider it spam and remove you from their inbox.

So there’s a sweet spot you have to find and it’s based on who your audience is and what value you can drive to them.

How Often Should I E-Mail My List?

Provided you understood how I laid it down a moment ago and assuming you have a list of hungry subscribers ready for your content, well, how often should your e-mail your list per day? Per week? Per month?

I’ll just tell you what I do and you can determine what’s right for you. There is no wrong answer to be honest. Like I said, most companies wouldn’t dream to e-mail their list any more than once a week and in fact, doing more is almost committing e-mail suicide… if you’re in that particular market.

You don’t need more than one e-mail per week from Best Buy to know about their latest deals… unless they have a special limited time deal. Realistically though, you don’t expect them to e-mail you as frequently as a blogger or home business coach.

What I do is I shoot an e-mail to my list at least once in the morning. After a few hours, I re-send that same e-mail to the segment of subscribers who didn’t open it (I’ll play with the subject title to see if it gets a higher open rate)… then I’ll send it once more a few hours later to those who didn’t open the second time.

So theoretically, I have one e-mail I send per day but I send it out a total of three times, each time sending it to the group of people who didn’t open my previous e-mail.

Now, I’m not opposed to sending additional e-mails if the occasion should arise. I manage multiple lists and some subscribers are on more than one of my list, therefore some may get a few different e-mails from me based on the different interests we’re connected with.

I will also address that most days, I get people unsubscribing from me. I used to be scared of that until I was told from my mentor not to be afraid of people unsubbing me – you don’t want those people anyway.

Granted, if you’re being stupid and getting people unsubbing you one by one… You may need to take a hint that you’re doing something wrong.

My unsubscribes usually don’t pass 3 or 4 per day… but the maximum I’ve seen was 8 unsubs in a day. I’m fine with it, it’s better to write to those who are interested in what you have to say then spending endless hours trying to convince people who will only turn you down anyway.

What Days And Time Of Day Should I E-Mail My List?

Are there specific days or times in which the open rates are better? Well, if you don’t have a compelling subject title to jump out at your reader the moment they view their inbox, it doesn’t matter when you send your e-mail – it ain’t getting opened. Work on that first.

Still, there are statistics floating about… and those stats differ based on your market so as always, you’ll need to play around and experiment to see when your open rates are at its highest… but I will say what stats I have collected from my own research (not from my list, just researching online). From said research, it seems the best days are Mon & Wed and the best times are 8am-11am.

Give that a shot and work from there.

How To Tell You’re E-Mailing Your List Too Much

Let’s just touch on the basics: You want to provide value but you don’t want to be annoying. I would say depending on your list, (so e-mail at your own risk) don’t e-mail more than 3 times per day and spread it far between each… so if you do one at 8am, send the other at 3pm… and the final around 8 or 9pm. Play around with this though because ultimately if you find two peak times where you get your highest open rates, focus on those times alone. If you get an excessive amount of unsubscribes, then scale back a bit.

You need to have your attention on your list. It’s a living environment that reacts to your actions. If something’s not working, tweak it. If something is working, focus more on improving it.

Did you find this article helpful?

I’ve been on this e-mail marketing kick for a little bit and we still have more topics to cover on it, so if you don’t want to be out of the loop with us and get some incredible and free training, drop your e-mail info where prompted below!