When it comes to email marketing, sending the right message at the right time is only half the equation. The other half is understanding and balancing frequency: how often to send based on the different types of contacts, customer intent, engagement signals, and marketing objectives.
Send too often and you risk complaints, disengagement, and deliverability issues. Send too little and you miss commercial opportunities, and reduce brand recall and loyalty.
This guide outlines:
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Why frequency matters
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How frequency interacts with legal and deliverability requirements
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Frequency frameworks for Ecommerce, Consumer Products (CP), and B2B Sales
Why Frequency Matters
1. Deliverability Impact
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Mailbox providers like Gmail, Microsoft, Yahoo and Apple monitor recipient engagement.
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Too many emails to unengaged contacts trigger spam-folder placement or outright blocking.
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Frequency must adapt to activity: send more to those who interact; less (or none) to those who don’t.
2. Customer Experience
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Over-sending leads to fatigue, unsubscribes and spam complaints.
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Under-sending risks being forgotten or missing windows of interest.
3. Business Alignment
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Ecommerce focuses on direct response and sales, with retention often a secondary objective.
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CP brands aim for brand recall and loyalty over an extended period of time.
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B2B depends on existing contracts which could span years, changing personnel, multiple stakeholders, changing business needs, and a whole range of challenges unique to each business. All of which mean that B2B often sits outside of this type of guidance.
Email Engagement Framework
Your definition of active and inactive will be based on your industry, product, processes and unique customer lifecycle. The following is based on mailbox provider requirements, which should inform your sending frequencies, re-engagement processes and data retention policies
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Active (0-3 months): Engaged via email (clicked), website, app, or CP interaction
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Inactive/Defecting (3-9 months): Last tracked activity 3-9 months ago
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Long-Term Inactive (9+ months):
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Customers: With known purchase history or similar engagement
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Prospects: No purchase or verified value
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1. Ecommerce Email Frequency Benchmarks
In ecommerce, email supports time-sensitive goals like product discovery, flash sales, cart recovery, and retention. Engagement is easily tracked via clicks and conversions, allowing for higher frequency with active contacts. Frequency should taper as engagement drops to preserve sender reputation and avoid overwhelming uninterested recipients.
| Segment | Frequency Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Active (0-3 months) | 2-4 emails per week Potentially daily emails, if expected and appropriate |
| Defecting (3-9 mo) | 1-2 emails per week |
| Inactive Customers (9-18 mo) |
1-2 emails per month High-value customers can also be sent additional premium multi-channel re-engagement content |
| Inactive Prospects (9-18 mo) |
1-2 emails per month max, then evaluate for removal
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| Inactive (18+ mo) |
3–4/year. Maximum: 1 email per month. |
2. Consumer Products (CP) Email Frequency Benchmarks
For CP brands, emails often support brand marketing rather than driving immediate sales. Contacts may sign up for short-term campaigns or promotions (e.g. coupons, events and giveaways), and engagement is harder to track. This means a cautious approach is needed to sending (lower frequency, clear data lifecycle limits, and an alignment with seasonality and media campaigns); and a more pragmatic approach to contact inclusion, suppression and deletion.
| Segment | Frequency Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Active (0-3 mo) | 1-2 emails per week (less than ecommerce) |
| Defecting (3-9 mo) | 1 emails per month, plus seasonal storytelling campaigns |
| Inactive Customers (9-18 mo) | 1-2 emails per quarter, coordinated with media content |
| Inactive Prospects (9-18 mo) | Final reactivation campaign, then suppress/delete |
| Inactive (18+ mo) | Max 2 emails per year or archive unless refreshed via brand interactions |
3. B2B Sales Email Frequency Benchmarks
In B2B, emails are often part of a longer sales cycle. Frequency must respect professional boundaries, especially when communicating with contacts acquired via events, gated content, or cold 1-1 contact. Higher value justifies longer data retention, but messaging should be strategic and purpose-driven. Keep frequency in line with needs and expectations to maintain credibility and prevent complaints.
| Segment | Frequency Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Active (0-3 mo) | 1-2 emails per week when actively engaged with event, sales or marketing processes |
| Defecting (3-9 mo) | 1-2 emails per month, keeping content in line with needs and expectations |
| Inactive Leads (9-18 mo) | 1-2 emails per quarter. Review and refine based on expected purchase lifecycle and existing contract lengths |
| Inactive Contacts (18+ mo) | Suppress from email unless reactivated via new signals or opted-in elsewhere |
Final Notes
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Regardless of the industry and scenario: Frequency must decrease as inactivity increases
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Define a data lifecycle to sunset unengaged contacts in line with legal obligations
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Publish your data lifecycle and retention rules in public Privacy Notice (and adhere to it!)
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Be transparent at sign-up: state email frequency, email content and data use and retention
For CP-specific deliverability guidance, see our companion guide: Deliverability in Consumer Products (CP)