Optimizing Your Email Frequency

Author:

Ros Hodgekiss

Source:

The "Too many emails?" post in 37signals' excellent 'Signal vs. Noise' blog got us thinking about email frequency. Why don't we see more newsletters that give us the option of specifying how regularly we receive email, instead of simply providing an unsubscribe link? After all, our main reason for unsubscribing from an email often doesn't come down to the relevance of content, but simply receiving too much relevant content.
 
The good news for senders is that it's not too difficult to setup a preference center so your subscribers can state their desired email frequency and change their subscription details. For example, a subscriber may only want to receive email on a weekly basis. If they're a Gmail user, they may also choose to append their email address to have email from you tagged in specific ways by the email client (eg. widgetfan+widgetlist@abcdesign.com). Here's a snappy article on using a preference center to retain subscribers.
 
So, if you're currently sending a weekly newsletter, consider aggregating your best content into a fortnightly, or monthly newsletter, as well. This might sound a little tedious, but in terms of list retention, it sure beats losing your subscribers when all they want is ...