Subscribers Will Welcome Your Emails - If They're Informative

by Tom Ruwitch

When people ask me, “How often should I send marketing emails?” I tell them about my pal Adam Kreitman.

Adam writes marketing emails that aren’t too pitchy. They are informative, funny, provocative, surprising and always worthwhile to read.

Sure, Adam mentions his services and encourages prospects to contact him. But the pitch doesn’t dominate the email. The informative, entertaining content dominates.

That’s why I read Adam’s emails -- every weekday, Monday through Friday, 52 weeks per year.

Yep, he sends emails every weekday without fail. And I read them without fail.
Adam inspired me to send better emails to my list and to send them more frequently. I used to send a newsletter to my list once per month. Now I send two emails to my list every week.

Since making that change, opt-out rates have decreased and response-rates (opens, clicks, sales) have increased. I also hear directly from more readers who tell me they like the emails and look forward to reading them every week.
Like Adam, I send emails that aren’t overly pitchy. On Mondays, I send a “Mash-Up” of marketing tips, recommended resources and other useful content.

On Wednesdays, I tell a story with a marketing lesson.

I also tell readers about our services and encourage them to contact me if they’re interested. But the pitch is not the central point. The valuable information is.

That’s why readers have responded. That’s why sending more emails has worked for me.

A client recently sent me a study that said 43% of subscribers would like businesses to email them less frequently.

“That’s a pretty good argument against sending weekly or daily emails,” he said.

No doubt, my inbox is full of emails from businesses I wish would send less frequently. I don’t read those emails. They’re useless clutter.

But there’s a difference between those emails and the ones Adam sends me. Adam’s are informative and entertaining. The useless ones are...well...useless.

They’re not informative. They’re not entertaining. They’re the same old pitch, time after time after time. Sure, the product they feature may be different. The offer may be different. But they’re really all the same: Here’s what we sell. Here’s why you should buy. Here’s how to buy.

That study my client cited put this in perspective: 48% of subscribers would like email content to be more informative.

How many of those among the 48% are also in the group that complained businesses send too many emails. I suspect the overlap is great.

So if you make the emails more informative, are those people still going to complain that they get too many emails?

If you send entertaining, informative emails, subscribers will read them (and your business will benefit). Sending more emails won’t change that.

If you send boring, overly-pitchy emails, subscribers will tune out. Sending fewer emails won’t change that.

Tom Ruwitch is the president and founder of MarketVolt, an interactive marketing firm. For more business-building marketing resources by Tom Ruwitch, go to MarketVolt.com/resources.