How frequently should you contact customers?
Determine that fine line between reminding consumers you exist and wearing out your welcome
By Diana Nelson
Marketing Director, D Custom
Humans are creatures of habit. The garbage is collected the same day of the week. The mortgage is due the same day of the month. Knowing what to expect makes life easier. But marketers must scrutinize how often to deliver information to their audience, careful to achieve that balance of being received as a welcomed regular rather than a pest.
Do it too infrequently and they barely remember you exist. Do it too often and they want to forget you ever existed! So how do you find that proverbial sweet spot before you lose the initial audience you’ll muster?
It’s important to consider:
1. The medium. Ever sign up for a daily e-Newsletter and regret it? (Us too.) Generally, think daily for social media, weekly or monthly for an e-Newsletter or online update, and monthly, bimonthly or quarterly for that magazine. Don’t put your audience through a guilt trip of ignoring or unsubscribing if you deliver content too often. But if you are a social-media regular, it’s not as intrusive, right? Or has anyone ever thought that a quarterly magazine arrived too frequently? That said, don’t let them forget you either.
2. The message. Relevancy determines how frequent the content should be delivered as well. A weekly video recap with a custom production team could be a welcome addition if your company genuinely has important news to share each week. However, if you know that time-sensitive information is few and far between, don’t stretch for attention. Nothing worse than the marketer who cried wolf …
3. The market. Occasionally throw in a “bonus entry” outside of the normal routine. How many readers choose to opt out of receiving further communications when you check in a little more often? If you see your audience holding steady or even increasing, it’s a telltale sign there is a need for greater frequency. You can also be so bold as to—that’s right—ask them. A minor survey at the end of custom material about frequency, especially with a small gift as inducement, can often get a large enough sample size to let you know where you stand.
Frequency isn’t inflexible
No matter what, the most damaging thing you could do is remain indecisive while competitors gain market share through greater branding. You can always scale back or step up as your audience indicates how much and how often they want to see your content. Nonetheless, it takes time, consistency and flexibility to build—and retain—a custom audience. The payoff is once they join, you’re no longer just a product—you’re a community.
Get the community and conversation started by working with our team of content strategy experts to help you achieve your marketing objectives.
Diana Nelson, marketing director of D Custom, can be contacted at diana.nelson@dcustom.com or join the conversation at twitter.com/DCustomMedia.