Subscriber DK writes:

“Bob, I am a fan. I’ve read your copywriting book a dozen times
over the years. Then I found your site and signed up for your
e-newsletter. But I want to tell you that you send it too often.

“I don’t really want to unsubscribe. But I also don’t want to
get things to read several times each month. How can we come to
some middle ground? Do you have some ‘occasional contact’
choice?

“Also, your newsletter often has an air of ‘Desperately Seeking
Susan,’ when it should be relaxed and informative. I mention
that for your benefit, not mine.

“After years and years, I’ve learned to adjust my own ‘level of
significance’ meter that’s equivalent to turning down the radio
when a commercial blares. Others might not do that, but rather
be put off by the blare.”

DK is debating an issue — optimal email frequency — based on
subjective opinion. But actually, the matter can be determined
through simple testing.

Here is the formula….

>> First, start with a modest initial frequency.

If you don’t have much content to share, or have limited time,
you can start with a monthly e-newsletter.

On the other hand, if you do have lots of valuable tips to share
and the time to write them up, start with a weekly email.

>> Measure your opt-out rate, which is the number of subscribers
who unsubscribe to your list with each email distribution.

Ideally, the opt-out rate should be 0.1% or less, meaning for
every 1,000 emails you send, at most just one person
unsubscribes.

At that level, your content is probably good enough that most
readers want to stick with you.

>> Next, gradually increase the frequency of publication.

If you are monthly, go weekly. Already weekly? Go to twice
weekly.

Then watch your opt-out rate. If it does not spike when the
frequency increases, you can now send more emails without eroding
your list.

>> Of your emails, at least half should be content and less than
half sales emails for products, either yours or your affiliates.

If you send too many sales emails, subscribers quickly tire of
being sold all the time and not getting useful tips from the
newsletter — and so they opt-out or stop reading.

>> But keep in mind: the more emails you can send at a frequency
acceptable to your subscribers, the more sales messages you can
distribute.

And the more sales messages you distribute, the more you sell
online — which if you are an internet marketer, is how you make
money from publishing an e-newsletter beyond just giving away
free content.

Regarding subscribers who just take all the free content offered
them, Ben Settle has this to say:

“[Many] freebie-seekers just flit from one free opt-in to
another, and brag about all the free stuff they find but never do
anything with, or ever will do anything with.”

This is based on an old observation: “People value free advice
based on what they pay for it: zero.”

Not always the case, but there is more than a little truth in it.