How often to email customers without wearing them out.
There is no single right number of emails per week for your whole list. It depends on each customer, and on how often they buy.
Oftenflow does this per customer, every morning.
Join the waitlistSet a contact limit per customer
A contact limit caps how many marketing messages one customer gets in a period, whatever triggers them. Newsletters, flows and reminders all count.
Start low, for example 2 per 7 days and 6 per 30 days, and adjust from there. Order and shipping updates don’t count; they are service.
Before each send: messages to this customer in the last 7 days + this one ≤ weekly limit. Do the same check for 30 days.
Time by rhythm, not by calendar
A weekly newsletter reaches everyone at once, ready or not. A customer who buys every six weeks hears from you six times between orders.
Let each customer’s own interval set the pace. Write when there is a reason: a delivery, a product likely running out, something new that fits what they bought.
A customer reorders about every 42 days. A weekly newsletter means 6 messages per cycle. One monthly newsletter plus a reminder near day 40 means 2 or 3.
Read the signals
Unsubscribes and spam complaints tell you when it’s too much. Track them per message type and per send, not only as a monthly total.
- A rising unsubscribe rate on one type of message: that type is too frequent, or not useful.
- Any spam complaints: take them seriously. They can hurt delivery for your whole list.
- Fewer clicks from your most engaged customers: they are getting too much.
- Customers who haven’t clicked in months: send them less, or ask if they still want to hear from you.
One limit across channels
Email, SMS and messages from different tools all reach the same person. If every tool has its own limit, the customer gets the sum.
Keep one count per customer that every channel checks. When two messages compete, the one with the clearest reason goes first. The other waits or drops.
- First: service messages and things the customer asked for.
- Then: reminders tied to their own rhythm.
- Last: campaigns and newsletters.
Test your limit
Unsure where the limit should be? Give a random half of your list a lower limit for 8 weeks.
1,000 subscribers keep 3 emails a week, 1,000 get 1 plus their reminders. Compare orders per customer, unsubscribes and complaints. If orders barely differ, the extra emails mostly cost attention.
Oftenflow is being built with one contact limit per customer, shared by flows and daily proposals, and timing that follows each customer’s rhythm.
Oftenflow is in development. This describes what we’re building.
