The short answer: One marketing campaign a week is a sensible starting point for most online stores, plus automated emails that send when a shopper does something, such as subscribing or leaving a cart. Send more often only while clicks hold up and spam complaints stay low, and raise volume gradually: Shopify suggests no more than 30% a week.
How often should you send marketing emails? Most guides answer with survey averages. This one gives you a rule to check against your own numbers: where to start, the signs you're sending too much, how to step up for Black Friday safely, and what extra sends cost on Shopify.
How often should you send marketing emails?
Start by splitting your email into two kinds, because they follow different rules:
- Campaigns are emails you plan and send to a group: a new collection, a sale, a weekly newsletter. This is where you choose a frequency.
- Automations send when a shopper does something: subscribes, leaves checkout, places an order, goes quiet. Each shopper gets them once per trigger, so they follow behaviour rather than a schedule.
For campaigns, these starting points work for most stores:
| Your situation | Campaign frequency to start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| New to email, or a new sending domain | A few well-targeted sends to your most engaged subscribers, then build up | Shopify advises keeping frequency low while providers learn to trust you |
| Small store, owner writes the emails | One a week, or every two weeks if weekly isn't realistic | Consistency matters more than volume |
| Established list with steady engagement | One a week, testing a second weekly send to engaged subscribers | Add sends where clicks prove people want them |
| Peak season (Black Friday, Christmas) | More than usual, built up over the 4 to 6 weeks before | Sudden spikes cause delays and blocks |
| A list you haven't emailed for months | Restart small, with recent buyers and openers first | Long gaps followed by large sends trigger filtering |
The "why" column comes from Shopify's guidance on sending volume and warm-up, which applies whichever email app you use, because Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook judge the pattern, not the tool.
Do automated emails count towards your frequency?
Yes and no. A new subscriber who gets a welcome email, an abandoned cart reminder and your weekly campaign in three days receives three emails from you. But automations are expected, because the shopper just did something that prompted them. What annoys people is campaigns stacked on top without thought.
Two habits keep the total sensible:
- Don't run the same automation in two tools. Shopify warns that two welcome automations mean customers get twice as many emails (Shopify Help Center).
- Leave room for new subscribers. If your welcome series sends several emails in the first week, consider holding that week's campaign back from people who joined in the last few days.
How many marketing emails per week is too many?
There's no fixed number. It's too many when your subscribers tell you so. Watch these signs after each send:
- Spam complaints rising. Google asks senders to keep their spam rate below 0.10% and never reach 0.30% (Gmail sender guidelines). That's one complaint per 1,000 emails as a comfortable level.
- Unsubscribes climbing send after send, rather than one-off spikes after a big campaign.
- Clicks per email falling while you send more. If two emails a week get the same total clicks as one did, the second is only adding fatigue.
- One provider dropping. Shopify lists delays of hours or days and sudden open-rate drops at Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook as signs of a volume problem.
Judge on clicks and orders, not opens. Google says it doesn't track open rates and that low open rates aren't necessarily a sign of deliverability problems.
How to choose your email frequency
1. Pick a rhythm you can keep
Shopify recommends sending on a regular schedule, such as weekly or every two weeks, with similar volumes each time. A weekly email that always goes out beats three in one week and none for a month.
2. Tell people at signup
Yahoo's sender guidance asks you to set expectations when people subscribe: what you'll send and how often (Yahoo Sender Hub). "New arrivals every Friday" on your signup form makes a weekly email feel expected. Yahoo also says not to start sending daily to people who signed up for a weekly or monthly email.
3. Send more to engaged subscribers, less to quiet ones
People who clicked or bought recently can take a second weekly email. People who haven't opened in months should get less, or a win-back email before you stop emailing them. When you warm up or restart sending, Shopify suggests starting with subscribers who opened or clicked in the last 3 months.
4. Change gradually
Shopify recommends increasing send volume by 20 to 30% a week and no more than 30%, even for established senders. It names sending 5 times your normal volume in a single day as a practice that can get you blocked.
5. Review monthly
Once a month, compare clicks, orders, unsubscribes and complaints by email type. Keep what earns clicks, cut what doesn't, then try adding a send.
How often to email around Black Friday and other peaks
Peak season is when stores send most, and when sudden jumps hurt most. Shopify's advice for seasonal campaigns: start increasing volume at least 4 to 6 weeks before, by 20 to 30% a week, so that providers see growth rather than a spike. For a campaign much bigger than usual, spread it across a day or several days instead of sending to everyone at once.
In practice, a store that emails once a week might add a teaser and a mid-week send through November, then send daily across Black Friday weekend to engaged subscribers. Our Black Friday and Cyber Monday email calendar lays out the sends day by day, and the ecommerce email marketing calendar covers the rest of the year's moments.
What sending more often costs on Shopify
If you send with Shopify Messaging, frequency has a direct price. Stores on the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus plans get 10,000 free emails a month, then $1 per 1,000 up to 300,000, and abandoned checkout emails are free and don't count (Shopify Messaging pricing). Emails are counted per recipient:
| Subscribers | Campaigns a month | Emails a month | Cost on Shopify Messaging |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2,500 | 4 (weekly) | 10,000 | $0 |
| 5,000 | 4 (weekly) | 20,000 | $10 |
| 5,000 | 8 (twice weekly) | 40,000 | $30 |
| 10,000 | 8 (twice weekly) | 80,000 | $70 |
Welcome, win-back and other non-checkout automations count towards the 10,000 too. Apps priced by contacts rather than sends don't charge more for a second weekly email, so frequency becomes a question of results only. Our guide to Shopify email marketing costs compares both models.
How tinyAlbert handles frequency
tinyAlbert plans, writes and sends your email marketing, and frequency is a setting you control:
- About one campaign a week by default, on a calendar of campaigns built around your store's category and retail moments.
- You choose how many campaigns go out each week and the send time.
- You choose the audience: subscribers only, or subscribers plus your Shopify contacts.
- Automations run on behaviour: Welcome Series, Abandoned Cart, Thank You For Purchase, Product Review and Win Back Flow send when shoppers trigger them.
- Priced by list size, with no limit on sends within reason, so a second weekly email doesn't change your bill.
See how the AI campaign calendar plans your sends. Plans start at $3 a month for up to 100 contacts, after a 7-day free trial. For the wider picture, read the Shopify email marketing guide, and if you're stepping up volume, check the Gmail and Yahoo sender requirements first.
Frequently asked questions
Is it OK to send marketing emails every day?
Only if your subscribers signed up for daily email, or for short bursts such as Black Friday weekend. Yahoo warns against switching a weekly or monthly list to daily sends. If you want daily emails, build up gradually, send them to your most engaged subscribers, and watch complaints and unsubscribes after every send.
How often should a small business send marketing emails?
Once a week is a good target, and every two weeks is fine if that's what you can keep up. The owner often writes every email, so a rhythm you can sustain beats an ambitious one you abandon. Let automations such as welcome and abandoned cart emails do the frequent, timely work in between.
How often should you email new subscribers?
New subscribers usually get the most email, because a welcome series runs alongside your regular campaigns. Send the welcome email straight away, space any follow-ups a couple of days apart, and consider holding back your campaign for that first week so new subscribers aren't flooded before they know your store.
Should I keep emailing subscribers who never open?
Not at your normal frequency. Send them less, then a win-back or re-permission email, and stop if they still don't respond. Google suggests considering unsubscribing recipients who don't open or read your messages. Sending to people who've lost interest raises complaints and can hurt delivery to your engaged subscribers too.
How often should an online store send a newsletter?
Weekly or every two weeks suits most stores, on the same day each time so subscribers learn when to expect it. A newsletter can share new arrivals, restocks, guides and stories, which lets you keep in touch without a sale every time. Promotional campaigns can then sit alongside it around launches and seasonal moments.
tinyAlbert is an AI email marketing app for Shopify stores, made by tinyCo, the company behind tinyEmail. About tinyAlbert.