Frequency / Cadence
Email MarketingAlso: Send Frequency · Email Cadence · Sending Frequency
Quick definition
Frequency (also called cadence) is how often you send emails to your subscriber list, whether that's daily, weekly or monthly. It's a deliberate choice that balances staying visible against wearing out your welcome, and the right frequency depends on your audience, content and list segmentation rather than a universal rule.
How it varies across Australia
Australian email cadences vary widely by industry and list maturity. Ecommerce brands running frequent promotional sends tend to sit at the higher end, while B2B and services businesses that email less often generally hold steadier open rates but slower list growth. There's no single correct cadence, the right one depends on content quality and segmentation, not volume alone.
See email marketing benchmarks across Australian industries →What it actually means
Frequency is the rhythm of a relationship. Email too rarely and subscribers forget why they signed up. Email too often and they start treating your name in the inbox as noise to be swept away.
The mistake most businesses make is treating cadence as a fixed policy rather than a live signal. A weekly newsletter that gets ignored isn't succeeding because it's weekly, it's failing because the content doesn't earn the slot. Meanwhile a daily cadence that consistently delivers value can outperform a monthly one that doesn't.
Cadence interacts directly with deliverability. Internet service providers and mailbox providers watch engagement patterns closely. A sudden spike in send frequency without a matching spike in opens and clicks is exactly the kind of signal that damages sender reputation and pushes future emails into spam folders.
Good cadence also depends on segmentation. A single frequency for your entire list ignores the fact that a first-time buyer and a five-year loyal customer want different things from you at different intervals. Bounce rate, open rate and click-through rate, sitting inside your email service provider, tell you when cadence has drifted out of step with what your audience will tolerate.
Frequency isn't a dial you set once. It's a conversation your list is constantly having with you through opens, clicks and unsubscribes.
How it shows up
Cadence problems show up first as a slow decline in open rate over several sends, not a single bad email. Unsubscribe rate creeping upward alongside stagnant or falling click-through rate is the clearest signal that frequency has outpaced content value. On the other end, a list that goes quiet for months and then gets hit with a sudden campaign often produces a spike in spam complaints, because subscribers have forgotten the relationship existed.
The Australian context
Australian inboxes are subject to the Spam Act 2003, which requires clear unsubscribe mechanisms and consent for every commercial email. That legal backdrop makes cadence decisions slightly more consequential locally than in markets with looser rules, because a frustrated subscriber who can't easily opt out is a compliance risk, not just a churn risk. Australian mailbox providers also weight engagement heavily when deciding whether to route mail to the inbox or the spam folder, so cadence missteps carry a real deliverability cost here.
Where people get this wrong
Related terms
Common questions
How often should I email my list in Australia?
There's no fixed number. Start with a cadence you can sustain with genuinely useful content, then watch open rate and unsubscribe rate over several sends. If engagement holds steady, you can test increasing frequency. If it drops, pull back before it compounds.
Does sending more emails always hurt engagement?
Not always. Lists that receive frequent, relevant content can maintain strong open rates. The damage comes from frequency outpacing relevance, not from frequency itself. Quality and cadence have to move together.
Should every segment of my list get the same cadence?
No. Highly engaged subscribers can usually handle more frequent contact, while dormant or new subscribers often need a lighter touch. Segmentation lets you set cadence by behaviour rather than applying one rule to everyone.
What's the first sign my cadence is too high?
A gradual decline in open rate across consecutive sends, paired with a rising unsubscribe rate, is the clearest early warning. Spam complaints are a lagging, more serious signal that usually means the problem has already been building for a while.
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About New Rebellion
New Rebellion is a marketing intelligence consultancy. We build tools, score Australian businesses on how their marketing actually performs, and publish Debrief every day. This dictionary is part of how we work in the open.
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