Why You're Probably Not Sending Enough Emails

I’m sure you’ve asked yourself, “How often should I send email?” Weekly? Monthly? Any time sales are low?

Start with this question: How many times do you have to ask kids to do something?

Usually, more than once. It’s often the same with email marketing. It’s not that people on your email list are children, it’s that they’re busy and your business isn’t their top priority. If you don’t ask multiple times, you might miss out on sales. Are you missing out on sales because you’re not sending enough email?

When it comes to email, there are three things you probably want to do more of: Segment, Simplify, and Send.

• Segment: Separate your contacts into different lists based on their interests.
• Simplify: Don’t try to say too much in your emails. Stay focused on one main action.
• Send: Send a series of emails to remind subscribers to take action.

Approaching email marketing this way means you’re not relying on one message to do all the heavy lifting. You’re focused on getting the right messages to the right people at the right times.

Why do multiple emails work?

Think about this scenario: Have you ever started one task, but then got pulled in another direction? It’s often the same for your customers. Even if they want to take advantage of an email offer you send them, they can get pulled into something else before they can take action. And then your offer is forgotten.

That's why we recommend sending a 3-part email series about a time-based promotion.

A time-based promotion has a time associated with it, like a sale or event. Your email series would look like this:

• Announcement
• Reminder
• Last chance

The three-email series gives you three opportunities to move people to action. Here’s an example of a three-part email series you could send to promote a Valentine’s Day sale:

Start with an announcement of the sale a couple of weeks in advance. Remind them a week later. And give them one final chance to act a day or two before the sale ends.

Pay attention to when people make a purchase in relation to the emails you send.

Opens and clicks alone can be deceiving. Instead, try to tie your emails to a specific business result. You may also find that opens and clicks don’t always coincide with sales. For example, your last-chance email may receive the lowest open and click rate but results in the most sales.

Don't use the excuse, "I don't want to bug people!"

You may hesitate to send more email because you think you’re going to bug people. But a survey from Marketing Sherpa found that over 60 percent of customers prefer to receive emails from brands at least weekly.

Yes, you need to send more email than you think.

Don’t rely on one email to bring in all your sales. Just like kids, adults need to be asked more than once too!