Does facing a flooded email inbox ever feel like a Herculean task? Welcome to email fatigue. As a small business owner, understanding what email fatigue means and how it affects your subscribers is critical to effective marketing communication.
With 63% of email marketers reporting that their volume of emails is increasing, the constant stream of marketing emails may feel more like a deluge than a drip system to subscribers. Email fatigue is real, and so is the damage it does to your marketing strategy. Here you’ll learn how to stay alert to the signs, so you can ensure your messages stay relevant, effective, and on top of your subscribers’ inboxes.
What is email fatigue?
Email fatigue is a feeling that occurs when subscribers become exhausted by the sheer volume of messages in their inbox. They receive too many messages without enough time or interest to address them. Simply managing emails becomes difficult. Email fatigue can affect how recipients perceive your brand. If fatigue persists, your emails—and, by nature, your engagement—will become less effective. Reading marketing emails shouldn’t feel like a stressful chore for customers.
Causes of email fatigue
Of course, you’re not responsible for the overwhelming number of emails in a typical user’s inbox. But you can be aware of how your email campaigns contribute to overall email overload. Use email effectively by thinking from a subscriber’s point of view. Common factors that could drop once-loyal subscribers from your audience include:
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Too many emails. Take a look at the email frequency of your campaigns. Are your subscribers receiving too many messages from you?
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Redundant content. If you’re sending the same content email after email, subscribers will know what to expect from your campaigns and may lose motivation to open new messages.
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Generic messaging. Sending rote messages with no email personalization doesn’t account for individual preferences. It can be hit or miss whether the content resonates, and customers will take notice—and lose interest.
Negative impacts of email fatigue
Before addressing ways to prevent email fatigue, learn how it affects your marketing campaigns:
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Decreased open rates. If subscribers are overwhelmed by their emails, they may delete unread messages en masse without even opening them.
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Dip in click-through rates. Disinterested email recipients can lead to a decrease in click-through rates, contributing to the decreased productivity of your campaign.
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Inactive subscribers. Sure, some accounts may be inactive, but disinterest from a once-engaged subscriber is a clear sign your emails are no longer hitting their target.
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Increased unsubscribe rates. When someone unsubscribes from your email list, they are actively detaching from your email campaigns and may be signaling potential issues with your brand as a whole.
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Spam complaints. Another way subscribers can adversely interact with your emails is by reporting them as spam. This action harms your sender reputation and email deliverability (whether your email lands in an inbox rather than the spam folder).
How to combat email fatigue
- Monitor metrics
- Refine your audience
- Segment strategically
- Allow more customized preferences
- Personalize email campaigns
- Send only captivating content
Although email fatigue does negatively impact your brand marketing, effective solutions are easy and accessible. Here’s how to wake up subscribers and boost the well-being of your campaigns:
1. Monitor metrics
Track your engagement metrics for changes in trends:
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Open rates
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Click-through rates
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Inactive subscribers
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Unsubscribe rates
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Spam reports
The sooner you see sudden, sharp negative impacts on your numbers, the faster and more effectively you can respond.
2. Refine your email marketing audience
Prioritize quality over quantity with a clean and relevant email list. Ask inactive subscribers if they still want emails from you, or entice them back with a special offer. For the sake of email list hygiene, consider removing those who still haven’t engaged after this campaign.
3. Segment strategically
Segmenting boosts email performance, according to 90% of email marketing professionals. Delivering relevant emails to different target audiences can address individual needs and interests. Some ways to segment to optimize targeted content are by demographics, purchase frequency, favorite products, and engagement patterns.
4. Allow more customized preferences
Most companies provide a simplified landing page where users can unsubscribe. Consider a more advanced preference center, where subscribers can also control the frequency and content of your emails. A more individualized experience for them means more effective targeting for you.
5. Personalize email campaigns
Hike engagement by sending personalized emails. Paying attention to your subscribers’ specific interests and preferences is a simple way to set your company apart. In fact, in 2023, 65% of email marketing professionals said they used this strategy in more than half of their email campaigns. Use personalized marketing automation to tailor emails to consumer preferences and behavior. For example, consider birthday campaigns, or use post-purchase emails suggesting products that complement the customer’s last order.
6. Send only captivating content
Keep content fresh. Besides promotional content or a special offer, consider sending product recommendations, tips, and educational how-tos—or even a regular newsletter with deeply interesting, curated content. No need to overdo it: Open rates for email marketing newsletters are highest for those sent weekly, with an average of 48%.
Email fatigue FAQ
What is email fatigue?
Email fatigue is the sense of being overwhelmed by a high volume of messages in one’s inbox. It often leads to a lack of engagement and potential issues with email deliverability.
What is the 12-second rule for emails?
Twelve seconds is how long the average email user spends reviewing a message before moving on. In other words, you, as a marketer, have 12 seconds to catch your customers’ attention. From your subject line to body paragraphs, your message needs to be clear, succinct, engaging, and informative.
What is the 60/40 rule in email?
This standard recommendation applies to the ratio of text to images. You should try to make your text make up a minimum of 60% of your email and your images a maximum of 40%.
