Increasing email frequency can feel like an obvious way to boost revenue—more emails mean more opportunities to sell, right? But brands managing email programs day-to-day know it’s more nuanced than that.
At Dispatch, we help brands optimize email and SMS marketing for maximum profitability. A key part of that is knowing when to send more emails—and when to hold back.
Sending more emails without a strategy can lead to high unsubscribe rates, spam complaints, and audience fatigue. But done correctly, increasing email frequency and right timing can drive sustainable revenue growth without damaging list health.
So how do you decide email frequency & timing, when to send more emails?
Let’s break it down.
Step 1: Can Your List Handle More Emails?
Before increasing your e-commerce brand's email frequency, we analyze three critical list health metrics:
✅ Unsubscribe Rates: A small uptick in unsubscribes is normal when increasing frequency, but a sharp spike means you’re sending too much or not providing enough value.
✅ Spam Complaints: If complaints rise, inbox providers may start filtering your emails as spam, reducing overall deliverability.
✅ Engagement Metrics: Are people opening and clicking? A decline in engagement suggests subscribers aren’t interested in additional emails.
If these numbers look good, your list may be able to handle more emails. But that’s only part of the equation.
Step 2: Is the Revenue Worth the Investment?
Increasing email frequency and timing isn’t free. Whether you’re working with an agency or managing emails in-house, every email has a cost—either in dollars spent or time invested.
Before recommending an increased frequency, we consider:
📊 Cost per campaign: If a campaign costs $250 to produce and your contribution margin is 50%, you need at least $500 in revenue just to break even.
📊 Profitability vs. revenue: More emails may bring in more revenue, but if your costs increase proportionally (or engagement drops), it may not be worth it.
📊 Time investment: For in-house teams, every extra email means more copywriting, design, and segmentation work. Will that time be better spent elsewhere?
👉 Key takeaway: If the potential revenue outweighs the costs, testing an increased email frequency makes sense.
Step 3: Testing Your E-Commerce Email Frequency and Timing Without Risk
If you’re unsure whether sending more emails will work, don’t jump in blindly. Instead, start with low-risk tests.
Start With Evergreen Resends
One of the best ways to test frequency without extra costs is by resending top-performing evergreen campaigns from previous months.
Why?
🔹 These emails already performed well, so they have a higher chance of engaging subscribers again.
🔹 They cost nothing to resend.
🔹 They provide early data on how your list reacts to more frequent emails.
Expectation: Resent campaigns will likely generate less revenue than brand-new content, but they help validate whether subscribers will tolerate more emails without unsubscribing.
Monitor Three Key Metrics
Once you start testing increased frequency, watch these three core metrics:
📈 Total Revenue (Not Just Per Campaign): Diminishing returns are natural—the goal isn’t to keep revenue per email the same but to maximize overall revenue.
📈 Engagement Rates (Especially Clicks): Opens are important, but clicks tell you if people actually care about the content.
📈 List Health Metrics (Unsubscribes & Spam Rates): If people start opting out faster than usual, it’s a sign to slow down.
Step 4: Scale Your Email Program Sustainably
If the data looks good after testing resends, it may be time to gradually scale up your email program.
✅ Add one new campaign per month while maintaining your evergreen resends.
✅ Continue monitoring engagement and unsubscribe trends.
✅ Prioritize valuable, engaging content—not just more emails for the sake of it.
Important Reminder: More Emails ≠ More Revenue
Many brands assume that if their list can handle more emails, they should send more emails.
But that’s not the goal.
The goal isn’t sending more emails—it’s driving more revenue while keeping your list healthy.
📩 If your email program is underperforming and you’re unsure how to optimize frequency, let’s talk.
At Dispatch, we help brands maximize revenue from email & SMS without damaging subscriber engagement.
👉 Connect with Dispatch today to optimize your email marketing strategy.
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