How Often Should You Email Your List?

Much of this advice came from Daegan Smith of DaeganSmith.com.

How often should you email your list – one of the most important money questions you can ask yourself when it comes down to running a home business.

“The money is in the list” or “the money is in your relationship with the list” – we hear it a lot, yet most of us (including me till recently) pay little attention to it; most likely because we don’t really know what it means or how to put it into practice.

Realize that we won’t be talking about HOW to build a list, but rather what to do with it once you have a list, how to convert your email marketing efforts into money – whether it’s 1 subscriber list, 100, or thousands.

The very first mistake business owners make when it comes down to their email traffic conversion is basing their conclusions on “feeling” rather than solid business metrics that are geared towards building a stronger, more profitable business.

In our discussion (which I want your feedback on in the way of your comments), I will share a few things I’ve learned over the years of what works and what does not.

Let’s start by first talking about the email traffic conversion models commonly used in email marketing campaigns.

Email Traffic Conversion Model #1: Autoresponder Only

Some business owners rely exclusively on autoresponders to stay in touch with their lists and never or almost never send out live broadcasts.

The intervals they use vary from once a day to once a week to whatever.

Pros: It’s easy, it’s hands-free, it truly lives up to “this is an automatic business” sales motto.

You may also experience lower unsubscribe rate and fewer complaints that a more aggressive approach to email traffic conversion.

Cons: This is an extremely slow converting model; it will require high lead generation and lots of patience.

Email Traffic Conversion Model #2: Sales Oriented Broadcasts

I am sure you’ve been a receiver (or victim?) of this model; it’s not difficult to spot for its high ratio of sales emails to value driven emails.

Pros: you can definitely make more money upfront and short-term. This model is usually seen in a business with an abundance of leads and a short lead life span.

Cons: this is not a long-term strategy. You’ll go through your list fast, your unsubscribe and complaint rate will be extremely high, and eventually you’ll be blocked by major ISPs.

Email Traffic Conversion Model #3: Autoresponder & Live Broadcast Hybrid

Some business owners have an autoresponder delivering a certain number of messages and certain intervals, plus do occasional live broadcasts.

Pros: This is probably a better model for a beginning entrepreneur where value-based emails are sent through an autoresponder and sales-oriented emails are broadcasted bi-weekly or weekly. Your sales broadcasts should bring in some cash flow, while your list is still happy with you due to the value provided.

Cons: usually, the businesses that use this model do a couple of product launches per month to generate the cash flow they need to recoup their costs to generate leads and keep their business growing.

Email Traffic Conversion Model #4: Live Daily Broadcasts

Per Daegan Smith and some other marketers I know, this is the most effective, profitable, and long-term model of email traffic conversion. You go back and forth between providing value to your list and directing them to take a monetization action.

Done consistently, it will create both short term revenue and long term relationship with your list.

Here is an example of this model at work from the monetary point of view.

Daegan Smith says:

“I just took a 3 week trip where I didn’t follow this advice that illustrates just how powerful what I just shared with you really is.

$84,000 Gross Monthly Revenue Difference Between Emailing Daily And Not
In April (top row above) my business did about $177,000 through our main merchant account, and then in May while I was away and not emailing daily we did about $94,000.
Neither number is anything to scoff at, but the difference between this one singular habit being implemented or not in my business – by the number, was worth $84,000 (as either a pay cut or raise depending on how you think about it).”

I am sure by now you have a lot of objections you just have to share with me (please do it in the comments), but let me address some of the ones that I can think of.

Objection #1: Your list will get sick of you pretty quickly.

As a matter of fact, the opposite is true. If you indeed provide the kind of content that is both entertaining and beneficial to your prospects, and provide it CONSISTENTLY, you’ll become more of a welcomed friend; your list will get used to seeing you on a daily basis and ever look forward to your emails because they see a benefit in them.

Objection #2: What about deliverability and spam complaints?

If you send your email consistently and daily, the major ISPs will get used to you as well and you will actually end up with the higher deliverability rate than if you send them more sporadically.

The same goes for complaint rates: they go up if you email less consistently. People forget about you and next time they get an email, they wonder who the heck you are and how dare you send them something and, bam, they hit the “spam” button.

On the other hand, if you email consistently, your prospects who are not really interested will unsubscribe a little bit at a time, which is always a good thing.

You don’t want any time-wasters and complainers on your list anyway, although I do understand that as you just start building your list, even one unsubscribed lead hurts. In the long run though you do understand that you are going for QUALITY and NOT QUANTITY, right?

Get rid of your “scarcity” mindset!

Abundance mentality is the core concept needed for success.

When you live in abundance, you don’t fear loss or failure.

You believe that there is an endless supply of prospects out there who are truly interested in what you have to share with them and you make it your business of getting them and sharing value with them daily via email.

Then and only then, you will have a solid highly profitable business you are after.

So, what kind of business are YOU building?

Your are right: you don’t have to comment or retweet, but would it help if I told you it would be much appreciated?

This post was brought to you by Ana Hoffman

I am the founder of Traffic Generation Cafe and if you liked the post you just read, then you'll love my email updates. Just click on "Get Instant Access" below to join me:

Ana has written 253 great posts for Traffic Generation Cafe.