It’s a simple question: “How often should I send my marketing emails?”

Do a quick Internet search and you’ll see a lot of simple answers—once a week, once a month, etc.

Problem is, it’s not a simple answer. The first thing you need to ask is whether these emails are going to prospects, leads or customers. You’ll want a different communication strategy for each.

For prospects, you can certainly hit them multiple times over weeks or months. In fact, in this article, tEkk3 explains why frequency matters more than reach. In other words, mailing the same prospects multiple times can be more beneficial than mailing one larger mailing list once. But that doesn’t mean you can mail the same list forever. As pointed out in this MailChimp article, frequency and engagement are negatively correlated.

Now let’s think about leads. Someone has responded to you and provided their email and wants to know more. Perfect. Because this person has just asked you for more information, they are expecting it. In fact, you may have already informed them they you would be sending several follow-up emails at the time they opted in. So for this type of contact, communicating frequently in the short-term is okay, and expected.

There are actually many forms of lead nurturing, from a “drip campaign” to a “lifecycle campaign.” Marketo has a good Marketing Cheat Sheet about lead nurturing that goes into more detail on definitions, tracks and strategies. Take a look.

Depending on the type of product or service you offer, you may set up a lead nurturing track that communicates every few hours, days or weeks. You may have a 30-day nurture strategy, or a 180-day nurture strategy. Remember, with lead nurturing you can usually email frequently, especially in the first few days or weeks after they opt in.

Finally, you have your current customers. With this group, you may also have individual communication strategies for each segment of customers (new, active, win back, etc.). But overall, you’ll want to keep in contact with them as frequently as they would like you to. Once or twice a month may be appropriate.

Benchmark also has some good suggestions on how often to send email, as well as when to send it. Once every week or two is the most common. For high frequency emailers, your customers may be okay with two or three emails a week.

Remember: Keep your type of recipient in mind, build a contact strategy for each type, and then be consistent.

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