How often should you send an email newsletter?

It is the question we get asked more than any other, usually with a slightly guilty look: "How often should I actually be sending these things?"

Here is the short answer: once a month, every month, without fail.

Now for the longer answer, because the "every month, without fail" part matters far more than the "once a month" part.

Consistency beats frequency

Most business owners worry about annoying their customers by emailing too often. In our experience, that is almost never the real problem. The real problem is the opposite: going quiet.

When you send a flurry of emails in March, nothing until August, then a "we're back!" email in spring, your readers forget they ever subscribed. Your next email feels like spam, your unsubscribes spike, and the list you worked hard to build quietly decays.

A monthly rhythm trains your customers to expect you. They might not read every issue, and that is fine. What matters is that your name lands in their inbox like clockwork, so that when they finally need what you sell, you are the business they think of first.

Why monthly is the sweet spot for most businesses

Monthly works because it matches reality:

• You have enough to say. Most small businesses genuinely have one good topic a month: a project worth showing off, a question customers keep asking, a seasonal reminder. Forcing weekly content usually means filler, and readers can smell filler.
• It stays front of mind without wearing out its welcome. Twelve touchpoints a year is enough to keep relationships warm.
• It is sustainable. The best sending schedule is the one you will still be following in two years.

There are exceptions. If you run an online store with regular promotions, fortnightly or even weekly can earn its keep. And if a monthly email feels out of reach, know this: anything less frequent than quarterly is barely worth doing, because each email arrives to an audience that has half forgotten you.

Gone quiet? Here is how to restart

If it has been months (or years) since your last send, do not pretend nothing happened, and do not apologise for three paragraphs either. Send one genuinely useful email, pick a monthly date, and keep it. Your open rates will wobble for an issue or two and then recover, because people respond to usefulness and reliability.

The three bites principle

We named our business Three Bites because getting repeat business from the same customer is like getting three bites of the same cherry. A monthly newsletter is the simplest, cheapest way to earn those extra bites: it educates your customers about what you do, keeps you in their thoughts, and gives them an easy way back to you when they are ready to buy again.

One email a month. Every month. That is the whole secret.