Why repetitive email reminders fail with customers

Stop spamming your best customers with the same offer. I nearly unsubscribed from one of my favourite spas last month. And this is a place I actually love, I go twice a year, without fail. But every single week my inbox was hit with the exact same thing: ➡️ “FLASH SALE 50% OFF MIDWEEK” ➡️ “FLASH SALE 50% OFF MIDWEEK” ➡️ “FLASH SALE 50% OFF MIDWEEK” Same design. Same offer. Same email. Here’s the problem: If I’m already a loyal customer, I don’t need endless reminders.  I don’t need to be treated like I’ve never been before. I need to feel valued. That’s where so many hospitality brands go wrong with their email marketing. They send the same blanket message to everyone instead of recognising the difference between: → A new customer they’re trying to win. → A loyal customer who already comes back. → A VIP guest who spends the most with them. Each of those people needs a different message, a different experience. Email isn’t just a sales blast, it’s a system for loyalty, retention, and advocacy. If you reduce it to the same generic offer every week,  You don’t just lose sales.  You lose trust. Your best customers deserve more than a discount code. They deserve loyalty.

This eCom lie needs to be addressed: “Replenishment emails are effective at driving repeat purchases”. They’re not if you don’t pair them with other strategies. Your repeat purchase rate also depends on other factors:  - Timing and need for the product  - Resonant pricing  - Product quality, results, social proof Most importantly? Product usage. If your customers aren’t regularly using the product? No amount of reminders will convince them to buy again. I even see this gap in the 7-8 figure brands that I audit. Their strategies are overly focused on reminding customers to repurchase without ensuring:  - Product activation (the customer actually uses the product)  - Consistent consumption (regular and ongoing use)  - Value maximization (customers get the most benefit possible) One way to ensure all of the above? A rock-solid onboarding flow that:  - Helps customers use the product  - Educates customers on all possible use-cases  - Informs customers on the best way to use the product This is more likely to boost repurchase rate than email reminders. Positive product experiences are what *actually* increases repurchase rate. Much better than trying to incentivise repurchases with discounts.

Nobody: I’d love to get more emails. CS Teams: Let’s send the customer one more email. I fall into the same trap. Because email feels… ✅ Easy ✅ Trackable ✅ Scalable But people get hundreds of emails every week. Most go unread. And even the ones that are read often don’t land. Here’s a story that made me rethink how and how often we email customers: A customer reached out, furious about a price increase. She felt blindsided. She told me bluntly: “It felt like a bait-and-switch.” But here’s the thing, we had told her. Over six months, we sent: ✔️ A pre-announcement ✔️ A launch email with new pricing ✔️ A personalised note from her CSM ✔️ A renewal reminder with the change ✔️ A follow-up from her Renewal Rep Five emails. Six months. So it wasn't a lack of letting her know... But here’s the nuance: Her team was active. They were seeing value. She was the decision-maker, not the everyday user. She was happy to auto-renew, stay hands-off, and focus on her own work. During our call, she searched her inbox. She found the emails and said: “I saw these. But honestly, I thought it was just more fluff. You guys email me all the time. I got over 50 emails from you in the last 6 months.” Ouch. She was right. That’s too many emails for one person. (and we’re just one vendor.) When everything is an email and every email goes to the same person… Nothing stands out. It wasn’t a failure of intent. It was a failure of delivery. If we’d emailed her less, and only sent what was relevant... She probably would have opened it. But we didn’t. And it became noise. That's why the best CS teams are evolving: 💡 In-app prompts, delivered in context 💡 Usage-driven nudges, when they matter most 💡 Persona-based segmentation, reaching the right POC 💡 Product-embedded updates, where decisions are made 💡 Visibility into what’s actually been seen and acted on It’s not about cutting email entirely. It’s about being impossible to miss. To the right person, in the right way, at the right moment. 📩 Like this and want more takes on the future of CS? Join 17k CS pros and sign up to Unconventional Growth! [link in comments] #CustomerSuccess #SaaS #CustomerExperience #CSM #RevOps

“We don’t want to annoy people…” That’s what a founder told me when I asked her why they weren’t sending more emails. Totally fair concern. They sell a gifting product for kids. Not something people need every week. But here’s what they didn’t realize… It’s not how often you email. It’s how relevant the emails are. Because when the content actually resonates with the reader? You can email way more than you think… and get more clicks, more sales, and fewer unsubscribes. Here’s how to make that happen: 1. Segment by scenario. Sending a birthday reminder to a grandparent? Different tone than a “congrats on the new baby” email. Different again from “hey, school’s starting, don’t forget a back-to-school gift.” Same product. Different angles. More relevance. 2. Stop talking about the product. Start talking about the moment. What it means. How it feels. What the gift represents. People don’t want a toy or a box. They want to feel like a gift-giving rockstar. (Your copy should reflect that.) 3. Rotate soft sells + hard sells. Some emails should sell. Some should make people feel seen. Some should build anticipation. Some should start a story and pay it off later. You don’t need a discount to drive action, just a reason that matters to the reader. Here’s the deal: If your emails feel repetitive, irrelevant, or kind of awkward… It’s not because you’re “emailing too much.” It’s because you’re not making it about them. And that’s GOOD news. Because once you fix that? → More opens → More clicks → More sales → Less stress about “over-emailing” And the best part? You don’t need 17 flows, 92 segments, or a Pixar-quality brand story to do this. You just need to know what to say, when to say it, and how to tie it to what you sell. If that’s something you want help with, I do this all day. Lemme know and I’ll show you how it works.

It takes a lifetime to build a reputation but only seconds to destroy it… And I constantly see this destruction in one specific industry… The industry that relies most on reputation and brand affinity is the consumer products space — especially if the company has a strong eCommerce presence. If a consumer brand is online only, then digital communication is one of their only touchpoints with previous customers. If they mess that up, they’ll lose that customer for life. When I think about my own experiences, there’s one brand that comes to mind that repeatedly makes the same mistakes. There’s this clothing brand that used to be one of my favorites — They had great style and an easy price point. Even though I don’t buy new clothes as often, I’m still getting all these emails from them. ERROR 1: A Lack of Personalization This brand sends me an inordinate number of emails trying to get me to buy one of their wallets. I don’t own a wallet and have never engaged with any of these emails. This tells me that they don’t pay much attention to personalization based on previous purchases. ERROR 2: Poorly Executed Personalization I’ve bought a few belts from this brand in the past. Now, half the emails I receive from them are about belts. This brand is attempting to create a personalized offering based on my shopping habits. But, it’s a bad strategy for this product category. Most men only own 1-2 belts and usually buy one every few years. Repeated exposure to terrible, impersonal emails can really alienate a customer. Every touch point is an opportunity to improve the relationship with a customer. And the key to success is effective personalization.