The Daily Carnage

“How often should we send?”

New research suggests the better question is: How relevant is each email to the person receiving it?

The right frequency depends on where someone is in the customer journey, how engaged they are, and what type of email is being sent.

A trial user who just signed up may benefit from frequent onboarding messages, while an established customer may only need occasional updates.

Key takeaways from the research:

• New leads and trial users often receive the highest frequency, with some SaaS companies sending emails daily or multiple times per week during onboarding.
• Established customers typically receive fewer emails, often around 1–3 per week or even monthly depending on the product.
• Disengaged subscribers should usually receive fewer emails, since sending more messages rarely creates interest.
• More than half of respondents monitor engagement and unsubscribe rates when deciding whether to adjust frequency.
• Lifecycle stage matters more than a fixed schedule; triggered emails based on user actions often outperform generic blasts.

Check out Userlist for more.

It’s time to revisit some of those old email-marketing best practices.

Many of the most common subject line rules were built on outdated spam filters, limited datasets, or one-off studies.

Nowadays, mailbox providers care far more about engagement, sender reputation, and whether subscribers actually want your emails than whether you used a certain word or hit a specific character count.

Here are a few subject line myths you can safely retire:

• “Never use the word ‘free.’” Modern spam filters don’t blacklist individual words the way they once did. Context, authentication, and sender reputation matter far more than a single term.
• “Keep every subject line under 50 characters.” There’s no universal ideal length. Mobile devices, desktop clients, audiences, and message types all perform differently, so test what works for your subscribers.
• “Personalization always boosts opens.” Adding a first name isn’t a magic bullet anymore. Behavioral personalization (referencing actions, interests, or purchase history) is often better.
• “Open rate is the ultimate success metric.” IYKYK… because of Apple, opens are less reliable than they used to be. Clicks, conversions, replies, and revenue tell a much more complete story.
• “There’s one perfect formula.” Nope, there isn’t. The best-performing brands constantly A/B test subject lines, audiences, and messaging instead of relying on universal rules.

No more email folklore. Head to MarTech for more.