Balancing your mailing frequency can seem daunting, but with the tools in Communications Professional and a little bit of planning, you can maximize your results by finding a mailing "sweet spot."

Before you begin, identify a sample audience for your analysis. This set should be based on two parameters:

• Group Size - Smaller groups (fewer than 20% of the maximum group) can be ignored. You will want to have a large sample size.
• Timeframe - Typically, using one month of data makes for a good sample. If you send fewer mailings, you may want to look at two months of data.

Remember that different groups often receive different mixes of mailings, so be sure to select an appropriate sample based on the mailings that subscribers receive and the cadence at which these mailings are sent.

View the Mailing Summary Report

Use the Mailing Summary Report to determine if you are sending too many mailings.

1. Navigate to Mailings > Mailing Summary Report or Mailing Designer 2.0 > Reports > Mailing Summary Report and select a date range from the mailing filters. We recommend a month, or perhaps a quarter, at a time.

2. Use the Number of Recipients slider to ensure that you are working with a large enough sample size.

3. Click Update Results.
4. Click the View Reports tab.
5. Navigate to the Analyze Subscribers folder and select Email Volume to view the volume report. This report will show two graphs:

• A bar graph that shows how many mailings are received by different subscriber totals.
• A line chart that shows Delivery Rate, Open Rate, and Click Rate.

Note that the two graphs correspond directly to one another. A column on the top bar graph directly aligns to the same column in the bottom line chart. By hovering over a column of data, you can see details about the recipient volume and delivery, open, and click rates.

Open Rate Results

If the open rate increases when subscribers receive greater volumes of mailings, then you are generally not sending too often. However, if the open rate is higher for recipients who receive fewer mailings, you may be sending too many mailings. See the images below for examples.

Open Rate Increases with Additional Mailings

Open Rate Decreases with Additional Mailings

No Changes based on Mailing Frequency