The Frequency Fallacy: Why Your Schedule is Killing Your ROI
For years, the "best practice" advice for Brisbane small businesses has been a predictable lie: "Send once a week to stay top of mind."
In 2026, that advice isn't just outdated—it’s actively destructive. If you are sending emails based on a calendar rather than customer behaviour, you are burning your sender reputation and flushing your marketing budget down the drain. At Local Marketing Group, we’ve analysed the data across hundreds of Australian campaigns, and the results are clear: The frequency of your emails matters significantly less than the relevance of your data.
The Data Shift: Quality vs. Quantity in the Australian Market
Recent shifts in ISP filtering—particularly from Gmail and Outlook—now prioritise engagement over almost everything else. If a segment of your list hasn't opened your last five "weekly updates," your sixth email isn't just ignored; it’s flagged as low-quality, dragging your entire domain’s deliverability into the gutter.
We are seeing a massive pivot where businesses sending fewer emails are generating higher total revenue. This is because they’ve moved away from static campaigns and toward event-triggered messaging.
Prediction: 2026 is the Year of 'Zero-Frequency' Marketing
The concept of a "sending schedule" is dying. The future belongs to "Zero-Frequency" marketing, where an email is only sent when a specific data point is triggered.
1. Behavioural Triggers > Calendars: An email sent because a customer viewed a specific product category three times in 48 hours has a 400% higher conversion rate than a generic Tuesday newsletter. 2. Predictive Churn Alerts: Using AI to identify when a regular customer has missed their typical purchase window and sending a re-engagement offer then—not just because it's the first of the month. 3. Hyper-Personalised Inventory Updates: Notifying a customer that a specific item they browsed is low in stock at your Fortitude Valley or Chermside location.
Stop Begging and Start Solving
One of the biggest mistakes we see Brisbane retailers make is over-sending recovery sequences. If someone leaves a cart, sending four emails in 24 hours isn't "persistence"; it's harassment. You need to understand why recovery fails before you increase the volume of your sends. Often, the issue isn't that they forgot to buy; it's that your checkout process or shipping costs were the friction point. More emails won't fix a bad offer.
The 'Spam' Risk is Real (and Expensive)
Australian business owners often play fast and loose with frequency, forgetting that the ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) doesn't care about your "good intentions." Over-sending to an unengaged list leads to high unsubscribe rates and, more dangerously, spam complaints. If you aren't staying compliant with Australian spam laws, your frequency experiment could result in five-figure fines.
Practical Steps to Optimise Your Send Rate
If you want to move away from the "Weekly Blast" and toward a high-performance model, follow this data-driven framework:
Audit Your Unsubscribe Reasons: If "Too many emails" is your top reason, cut your frequency by 50% immediately and watch your open rates climb. Segment by Engagement: Create a "high-frequency" bucket for your superfans who open everything, and a "monthly-only" bucket for casual browsers. Implement 'Sunset' Policies: If a subscriber hasn't engaged in 90 days, stop the automated frequency. Send one final re-engagement attempt, then purge. A smaller, cleaner list is infinitely more profitable than a bloated one that hits the spam folder. Focus on Transactional Real Estate: Your highest open rates are on receipts and shipping updates. Instead of sending a separate marketing email, bake your offers into these essential communications.
The Bottom Line
Stop asking "How often should I email?" and start asking "What value am I providing that justifies this interruption?" In 2026, the inbox is a crowded, AI-filtered battleground. To win, you don't need to shout more often; you need to speak when it actually matters to the recipient.
If your current email strategy feels like a chore that isn't moving the needle, it’s time for a professional audit. At Local Marketing Group, we help Brisbane businesses turn their email lists into revenue engines through data science, not guesswork.
Ready to stop guessing and start growing? Contact us today to refine your strategy.