Return Path Study Reveals Recipient Patience for Email

Jonathan Yefet

Email marketing is not dead, and we promise you that it won’t be dying anytime soon. In fact, consumers love receiving email marketing messages – we’re not just saying that – it’s been proven…

A new study by the folks at Return Path looked into data frequency and optimization. It took place over a three month period, analyzing the most optimal sending frequency (based on consumer engagement). The results were fascinating: They found that optimal frequencies are different among consumers of different brands – furthermore, they also vary based on a consumer’s account type. In total Return Path looked at 199 million messages that were delivered to 600,000 plus account holders from December 2014 to February 2015. Here are a couple highlights that you should certainly take into consideration…

Consumers tolerate high frequencies very well!!

With an increase in email frequency comes an increase in spam complaints – plus a lower read rate. But that shouldn’t necessarily discourage marketers from emailing. Return Path studied how highly active email users responded when bombarded with emails from 5 different commercial senders during a given week – and they found that they tolerate an average of up to 5 emails/week before getting agitated and complaining. This part of Return Path’s study expresses how important it is for email marketers to test the limits of their recipients patience.

Primary Accounts vs Secondary accounts

Primary accounts are defined as email accounts that are most/checked/used by users (24% of the time), that said – they represent about 83% of messages read! Return Path found that Primary accounts are used most to make email spam complaints. This suggests that email marketers need to key in on the actions that primary account users take, and work with them, instead of against them – by making sure that they receive the optimal amount of emails. This is extremely important because once a spam complaint is made, their relationship with that user ends. Secondary accounts held by users were half as likely to make spam complaints – but they also received a lower frequency of emails though.

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