I’m often asked; how do I create a successful targeted email marketing campaign?  More specifically; how often do I send out my emails to the same list?

Every situation as it pertains to targeted email marketing is slightly different.  Depending on the demographics of the list in question, the size of the list, what is the content of the email and what does it promote; that will tell me how often to repeat the emails.

For example; let’s say I’m promoting a live event such as a seminar.  When would I send out the first targeted email marketing email and how many follow up emails would I send?

Let’s take a look at a typical Training Business Pros’ event and the email campaign leading up to the event.   I believe this example illustrates the point very well.

Usually my first email blast invitation will go out 2 weeks before the actual event.  There are good days and bad days to send out emails but I usually stick to weekdays because my seminars are targeted at a business audience.

Typically, we receive about 150 registrations per event.  So let’s break that down and see exactly what the percentages are per email and how often they are sent out.

While each campaign gets slightly different results, the numbers I’m about to give are fairly accurate.  The first invitation which as I said goes out 2 weeks before an event gets about 25% of the total registrations.

There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is; people don’t generally know what they’re doing in 2 weeks and do not want to commit to it, not to mention the number of people that just don’t see it or read it.  Normally, if we didn’t send out another email we’d only get about 35 to 40 registrations which is around 25%.

The second email which goes out a week before the event gets another 25%.  The third which goes out 4 days before the event gets 35% and the final email the day before gets the remaining 15%.

So, the question you might ask is; why did the third email get the majority of signups?  Because, by that time they’d heard about it 2 or 3 times, decided that they had no conflicting events and finally committed to the date in question and signed up.

Is there a lesson to be learned from this?  Yes.

1. If you only send out one email or do one direct mailing you’ll only get a fraction of the total response rate.
2. Increasing the frequency as you get closer to the date will increase the effectiveness of the campaign
3. There is little negative effect to your subscriber list and most often will create the opposite effect which is; more business.

Direct mail or targeted email marketing or whatever direct mail response campaign that you use will work much better if repeated several times.  Think of television commercials and how often they repeat; sometimes within a few seconds of each other.

It’s important to realize that people are not always focused on every email that goes out so the more you send it, the greater the chance it will be read.  And finally, don’t worry about unsubscribers.  For every person that unsubscribes, several more will take their place.

Good luck with your targeted email marketing campaigns 🙂