How Often Should Shopify Stores Send Email Campaigns?

The #1 question Shopify merchants ask about email marketing: how often is too often? This data-driven guide reveals the optimal campaign frequency for ecommerce stores.

The Frequency Question

How often should you send email campaigns to your Shopify customers?

It's the most common question in ecommerce email marketing. And the answer most brands arrive at—"not too often"—is costing them money.

The Data: Most Brands Under-Send

Here's a pattern we see repeatedly: Shopify stores with healthy email lists (10,000+ subscribers) send 2-4 campaigns per month. Sometimes less.

When asked why, the answers are consistent:

  • "We don't want to annoy our subscribers"
  • "We don't have enough content"
  • "We don't have time to create more"

Meanwhile, the best-performing email programs send 8-12+ campaigns per month—sometimes daily.

The Optimal Frequency for Shopify Stores

Minimum: 2 campaigns per week (8/month)

This is the floor. Below this, you're leaving significant revenue on the table and risking list decay.

Sweet spot: 3-4 campaigns per week (12-16/month)

Most Shopify stores can sustain this frequency without negative engagement impact. This is where we see the best revenue-to-effort ratio.

Aggressive: Daily or near-daily

Some brands send daily. This works if you have a highly engaged list and your content is genuinely valuable.

Why You're Probably Not Sending Enough

The math is simple: if each campaign generates $500-2,000 in revenue, and you're only sending 4 campaigns per month when you could send 12, you're leaving $4,000-16,000 per month on the table.

That's $48,000-192,000 per year. For most Shopify stores, that's a full-time employee's worth of value—from just sending more email.

But What About Unsubscribes?

This is the fear. Here's the reality:

  • Healthy unsubscribe rate: Under 0.2% per campaign
  • Warning sign: Over 0.5% per campaign consistently

Most stores see minimal unsubscribe increases when they double send frequency—if the content is relevant.

People unsubscribe because of:

  1. Irrelevant content (fix with segmentation)
  2. Pure promotional content (fix with content mix)
  3. They were never going to buy (not your problem)

How to Scale Your Send Frequency

Month 1: Go from 4 to 6-8

Add 1 campaign per week. Monitor unsubscribe rates and engagement.

Month 2: Go from 8 to 10-12

Add another campaign per week. Start segmenting more aggressively.

Month 3: Stabilize and optimize

Find your sustainable rhythm. Optimize content mix based on performance.

Getting Started

Here's your action plan:

  1. Calculate your current frequency
  2. Set a modest increase goal
  3. Build your calendar
  4. Create content categories
  5. Monitor and adjust

Need help building a sustainable system? Eltie generates campaign calendars and email drafts so you can increase frequency without increasing workload.