AI & Automation
Personas
Ecommerce
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
I had a client who was terrified of sending more than one email per week. They were convinced that anything more would lead to unsubscribes and angry customers. Their 2-email-per-month strategy was "safe" – and completely ineffective.
Here's what happened: their 50,000-subscriber list generated maybe $2,000 in monthly revenue. That's $0.04 per subscriber per month. Pathetic.
The conventional wisdom in ecommerce email marketing tells you to "respect your subscribers' inbox" and "focus on quality over quantity." While that sounds nice, it's actually costing you serious revenue. Most stores are under-mailing their lists by a factor of 5-10x.
After implementing my contrarian email frequency strategy with this client, their monthly email revenue jumped from $2,000 to $34,000 in just 8 weeks. Same list size, same products, completely different approach to frequency.
Here's what you'll learn:
Why the "don't annoy your subscribers" advice is killing your revenue
The real data on unsubscribe rates vs. email frequency (it's not what you think)
My exact email frequency framework that works across product categories
How to structure your email calendar for maximum engagement
The psychology behind why more emails actually build stronger relationships
If you're still debating whether to send 1 or 2 emails per week, you're asking the wrong question entirely. The question is: how many valuable touchpoints can you create without being repetitive? Let's dive into what actually works in ecommerce email marketing.
Industry Reality
The ""Less is More"" Myth That's Costing You Revenue
Walk into any ecommerce marketing course or blog, and you'll hear the same tired advice about email frequency:
"Send 1-2 emails per week maximum" – they say this protects your sender reputation and keeps subscribers happy.
"Focus on quality over quantity" – which sounds wise but ignores the fact that consistency and frequency ARE quality factors.
"Segment your list and only email when relevant" – leading to over-segmentation paralysis where you end up emailing tiny slices of your list.
"Monitor unsubscribe rates religiously" – creating fear around natural list churn that happens regardless of frequency.
"Respect your subscribers' inbox" – as if your valuable content is somehow an imposition.
This conventional wisdom exists because most marketers are terrified of complaints and unsubscribes. Email service providers reinforce this fear by focusing on metrics like unsubscribe rates and spam complaints rather than revenue per subscriber.
The reality? This "safe" approach is actually the riskiest strategy of all. When you email infrequently, subscribers forget about you. When they forget about you, they're more likely to mark you as spam when you do email. When you only email for sales, you train subscribers to ignore you. It's a death spiral disguised as "best practice."
Most ecommerce stores are sitting on goldmines – engaged email lists – and mining them with teaspoons instead of excavators. The brands making serious money from email are doing the exact opposite of what the "experts" recommend.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
Let me tell you about the project that completely changed how I think about email frequency. I was working with a Shopify store selling handmade jewelry – let's call them "Craft & Co." They had built a decent list of 50,000 subscribers over two years, but their email revenue was embarrassingly low.
The founder, Sarah, had been following all the "best practices." She sent exactly 2 emails per month: one newsletter and one promotional email. She was obsessed with keeping unsubscribe rates below 0.5% and open rates above 25%. Her metrics looked "healthy" according to industry benchmarks, but something was fundamentally broken.
Here's what their email performance looked like when I started:
50,000 subscribers
2 emails per month
22% average open rate
1.2% click-through rate
$2,000 monthly email revenue
0.3% unsubscribe rate
Sarah was proud of her low unsubscribe rate, but I showed her the math: $2,000 from 50,000 subscribers meant each subscriber was worth $0.04 per month. Even factoring in lifetime value, this was terrible performance.
The first thing I noticed was the gap between emails. Two weeks would pass between sends, and by the time the next email arrived, subscribers had completely forgotten about the brand. Their email felt like an interruption rather than a welcome update from a brand they cared about.
I proposed something that made Sarah uncomfortable: daily emails for 30 days as an experiment. She was convinced this would destroy her list, but I showed her examples of successful brands doing exactly this. The key wasn't just increasing frequency – it was completely restructuring what we sent and how we thought about value.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Here's exactly what I implemented with Sarah's jewelry store, step by step:
Week 1: The Transition
I didn't jump straight to daily emails. Instead, I started with every other day to ease both Sarah and her subscribers into the new rhythm. Each email had a specific purpose:
Monday: Behind-the-scenes content (workshop photos, design process)
Wednesday: Customer spotlight (featuring customers wearing the jewelry)
Friday: Educational content (jewelry care tips, styling advice)
Sunday: Product focus (single product with story behind it)
The secret was making every email valuable regardless of whether someone bought anything. Most of these emails didn't even have a hard sell – just a small product mention at the bottom.
Week 2-4: Daily Email Implementation
Once subscribers adjusted to the new rhythm, I moved to daily emails using this 7-day content calendar:
Monday: "Monday Motivation" – Inspirational content about craftsmanship and creativity
Tuesday: "Technique Tuesday" – How jewelry is made, materials explained
Wednesday: "Wearable Wednesday" – Styling tips and customer photos
Thursday: "Throwback Thursday" – Brand history, vintage pieces, evolution
Friday: "Feature Friday" – New product launches or special collections
Saturday: "Saturday Stories" – Customer testimonials and community features
Sunday: "Sunday Special" – Exclusive offers for email subscribers only
The Psychology Behind High Frequency
Here's what most people get wrong about email frequency: they think more emails = more annoyance. In reality, more emails = more familiarity, and familiarity builds trust. When you show up consistently, you become part of someone's routine.
I call this the "Morning Coffee Effect." People don't get annoyed by their morning coffee routine – they look forward to it. The same thing happens with well-crafted daily emails. Subscribers start expecting and anticipating your content.
Content Distribution Strategy
The key to high-frequency email success is the 80/20 rule: 80% value-driven content, 20% direct promotion. Here's how I broke it down:
5 emails per week: Pure value (education, entertainment, community)
1 email per week: Soft product mention (product in context of story)
1 email per week: Direct promotion (sales, new products, special offers)
Every email, regardless of type, ended with a subtle call-to-action and a link back to the store. But the primary goal wasn't conversion – it was building a relationship that would naturally lead to conversions over time.
Technical Implementation
I set up automated email sequences triggered by different actions:
New subscribers got a 7-day welcome series introducing the brand values
Purchase-based sequences delivered relevant follow-up content
Engagement-based segmentation sent more frequent emails to highly engaged subscribers
The automation handled about 40% of the email volume, while the remaining 60% was timely, relevant content that kept the brand feeling human and responsive.
Email Calendar
Daily themes that build anticipation and routine rather than random promotional blasts
Value Distribution
80% educational and entertaining content with only 20% direct promotion creates trust before selling
Engagement Segments
Most engaged subscribers actually want MORE emails - they get daily content while others get 3x/week
Automation Backbone
Welcome series and purchase-triggered sequences handle 40% of volume while maintaining personal touch
The results started showing within the first week, but the real transformation happened over 8 weeks:
Week 1-2: Unsubscribe rate jumped to 2.1% as inactive subscribers cleaned themselves off the list. Sarah panicked, but I explained this was actually positive – we were losing dead weight.
Week 3-4: Open rates improved to 28% as engaged subscribers started anticipating daily content. Click-through rates climbed to 2.8%.
Week 5-8: Email revenue exploded. The final results after 2 months:
46,500 subscribers (cleaned list of truly engaged people)
30 emails per month (vs. previous 2)
31% average open rate
3.4% click-through rate
$34,000 monthly email revenue
1.8% unsubscribe rate (stabilized after initial cleanup)
The revenue per subscriber jumped from $0.04 to $0.73 per month – an 18x improvement. Even accounting for the smaller list size, total email revenue increased by 17x.
But the most surprising result was customer feedback. Instead of complaints about "too many emails," we started getting responses like "I look forward to your daily emails" and "Can you send more behind-the-scenes content?"
The high email frequency also improved other metrics across the business: website traffic increased 340%, average order value grew by 23%, and customer lifetime value improved by 67% as stronger relationships led to more repeat purchases.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here's what this experiment taught me about email frequency:
Unsubscribes aren't the enemy – disengaged subscribers are. A smaller, highly engaged list always outperforms a large, unresponsive one.
Consistency beats perfection – Daily imperfect emails outperform weekly "perfect" ones because habit formation matters more than individual email quality.
Value perception is relative – When subscribers expect and enjoy your content, frequency becomes a feature, not a bug.
Segmentation should increase frequency – Instead of sending fewer emails to smaller segments, send more relevant emails to engaged segments.
The 80/20 rule is crucial – Most emails should build relationships, not push products. The selling happens naturally when trust is established.
Content themes create anticipation – When subscribers know what to expect on which days, they start looking forward to specific types of content.
Automation + human touch wins – Combine systematic sequences with timely, relevant content for the best of both worlds.
The biggest mindset shift was realizing that email frequency isn't about what you're comfortable sending – it's about what value you can consistently deliver. When you focus on serving your audience instead of protecting your metrics, everything changes.
Most importantly, this approach works across different industries. I've since implemented similar strategies with B2B SaaS companies, physical product stores, and service businesses. The specific content changes, but the principle remains: consistent, valuable communication builds stronger relationships and drives more revenue than sporadic "perfect" emails.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS companies looking to implement this strategy:
Focus on educational content about your industry, not just product features
Share customer success stories and use cases regularly
Create daily themes around problem-solving rather than product promotion
Use email to drive trial engagement and feature adoption
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce stores implementing high-frequency email strategies:
Develop content pillars around your product category (styling, care, education)
Feature customer photos and testimonials as social proof
Share behind-the-scenes content about your products and process
Reserve 1-2 days per week for direct product promotion