Findign the correct email cadence for your audience is a powerful way to improve the results you see from your email marketing campaigns. Not only should you design campaigns with rich and engaging content, but you also should pay attention to the timing and patterns you use when you’re sending your emails out to subscribers.
After all, people often unsubscribe from email lists because they receive too many emails. Finding the right cadence ensures this doesn’t happen to you.
What is an email cadence?
In short, email cadence is the process of finding the optimal sending frequency that increases overall engagement from subscribers. Plus, getting the frequency right will reduce the amount of unsubscribes.
It’ll likely also increase your campaigns’ open rates.
There’s no universal rule that applies to email cadence. Deciding when you should send a follow-up email (or an updated product brochure) depends largely on the type of email list you manage and the activity you’ve seen from subscribers.
This is where a preference center and testing your emails will show you what your subscribers prefer.
The desired cadence of email campaigns differs between subscriber segments.
A one-size-fits-all approach isn’t going to be the most effective strategy for identifying the right cadence for your list.
For a successful email campaign, each subscriber on your list will have subtle differences in preference. This will determine how and when recipients choose to engage with the content received.
While 86% of email subscribers would prefer to receive promo emails at least monthly, 15% prefer to receive them daily.
Providing your subscribers with a method to control the frequency of content is vitally important.
If a subscriber is comfortable receiving emails daily, but you’re sending out content bi-weekly, your list will start to shrink. The same will be true if you’re bombarding your list with daily updates. It could overwhelm subscribers who didn’t clearly consent to this kind of cadence.
How to measure email cadence
Finding the perfect balance in regard to your email cadence takes time. It requires you to stay on top of unsubscribes and click-through rates.
You should also be testing different types of content in varying sending patterns. A good level of engagement indicates a triumphant email cadence. While content is still the primary determining factor for list growth and recipient engagement, the pattern at which you send it is just as likely to influence unsubscribe rates.
Getting the timing and sending patterns of your campaign wrong can undo all the hard work that went into growing your lists in the first place.
As marketers know, making small adjustments to your campaigns can produce drastic improvements. This applies just as much to the cadence of your emails as any of the other key factors.
Does it really matter?
If you’re sending content too frequently, your subscribers will be more likely to opt-out of future communications.
While not sending frequently enough could lead to competitors closing a lead that should’ve been yours.
Paying attention to the trends of your subscribers and adjusting your strategy regularly will play a large part in the campaign’s success or failure.
The sooner you segment your lists according to subscriber preferences, the better your engagement will be.
Additionally, designing different engagement models (such as employing lifecycle emails) will build trust between you and your readers. As 60% of subscribers still list the frequency of emails as a major determining factor in deciding to unsubscribe, the email cadence you choose to use is critical.
What now?
Knowing how vital the scheduling of content is for running a successful email marketing campaign, why not read this blog post about sending at the right frequency? Your list remains one of the most valuable resources in your marketing toolkit, ensuring you get the cadence of content just right will ensure it keeps growing.