Once you have a newsletter it can be really easy to get into it…or to lose interest completely. Most people find themselves squarely on one side of this fence or the other. So it’s worth asking the question: how often do you need to send your newsletter to be successful?

If you’re unsure of frequency, here are some things to consider to help you determine if your frequency is “just right”. Here are some feelings your newsletters might be making your customers feel.

3 Ways to Tell When you Should Send your Newsletter

1. Annoyed There is a national clothing retailer that emails me literally every single day. I regularly consider unsubscribing from their emails. Every day! Every day, no exaggeration. That is a lot of time for them to expect me to be giving to them. It’s like having someone just show up on your doorstep every single day to ask if you’d like to get coffee even though you only ever say yes seasonally. So why DONT I unsubscribe? Simple: every single day they email me about a new sale. Or, at the least, they put a new spin on a sale that’s going on. On the off chance that something I need might be at a steep discount, I stay subscribed. If you can’t offer a new sale every day, consider a lower frequency. And even if you can, expect people to be a bit exasperated even if they’re occasionally converting to sales. Exasperation isn’t always bad – especially if it’s converting to sales – but it’s something you should be aware of.
2. Confused On the other hand, there are brands I get emails from and think “who are you?”. They’re eager to promote a new product and I have no idea what their original product was. Occasionally I dig around and find that, oh yeah, I did buy from them that one time three years ago. If I can’t remember your name when you email, you’re probably not marketing yourself well. Consider reaching out more than just when you have a new product. Of course, you should *also* reach out when you have a new product but if people have no idea who you are, they’re unlikely to purchase anything from you.
3. Abandoned If customers sign up for your newsletter and never receive the things you’ve promised (Insider promotions! Exclusive sales!) they could be turned off that you’ve let them down. The more subscribers you have, the more possible it is that you’ll have people who feel you’re not delivering on the things that you promised in order to get them to subscribe.

So basically, any way you jump, it can feel like people may be upset with you. Which continues to beg the question: how do you know how often to send your newsletter?

The bottom line is: commit to a timeline and stick to it. Be clear in what your newsletter offers then consistently offer that. If you know you don’t have the time or content to send a newsletter more than once a month, then send it once a month. Be clear when people sign up that that’s how often they’ll receive it and then stick to your guns.

That’s all newsletter success comes down to: clear communication and consistent delivery. You’ve got this.