Send x 4 = ?

Sometimes, the frequency of your email campaigns determines how well you can engage a customer, but there are other factors to weigh against the quick interaction, low costs and track-ability.

I recently read how a major cataloger leveraged frequency; during a six month period they would mail four times a day. Their list included over 2.5 million recipients, the entire list would receive their 8:00 AM campaign, then at 1:00 PM the non-openers would receive it a second time. The process was repeated at 6:00 PM and then followed by an encore at 11:00 PM (all times were eastern.)

Their thought process was that if you hadn’t paid attention to their morning campaign, they would get your attention before the day ended. As the weeks wore on, the direct marketer found it cumbersome to exclude openers – so they excluded clickers but retained the same time strategy.

Their measure of success was to compare the cost on a direct mail drop with the costs of an email campaign. They also compared the production time; it typically took three weeks to produce a direct mail piece but less than five hours for an email. With marginal costs and warp speeds – they were able to get increased attention from their recipients and a phenomenal ROI… but it came at a cost.

There were three key issues they failed to address, the first was the number of unsubscribes, a hefty portion as a result of the approach. The second was the issue of aggravation; they upset a number of their prospects and customers with this steady barrage of messages. Finally was the wake created for other email marketers – to eke out a gain, they jeopardized relationships with partner companies and others in the industry.

Their CEO was pleased, but this is just one example of how a marketer needs to look past the instant gratification and build a sustainable marketing strategy.