Spread It Out

More often than not, when I receive messages from a company with multiple brands, I receive messages from all of the brands almost back-to-back. Now, yes, I have opted-in to receive messages from all of the brands, but why do they all have to come within a few hours?

It seems that most Monday mornings when I get my day started I have messages from Gap, Old Navy and Piperlime waiting to be opened. These messages aren’t sent immediately one after another, and there are often messages sent between them, but over the course of an hour or two in the early morning hours, the messages are sent.

The same process tends to repeat itself on Thursday mornings when I receive messages from Abercrombie & Fitch and it’s sister Hollister.

We can assume that not everyone in the Old Navy database is also in the Gap database etc... but I think there is a strong possibility that people who are interested in casual clothes probably shop at both stores and if email is their thing, probably subscribe to both messages.

Perhaps there has been testing in the past and this formula works well for the brands. But why overwhelm subscribers with message after message. I guess it could cause comparison shopping, but if subscribers are buying only on price Old Navy and Hollister win, every time.

It seems more logical to me to spread the sending out, just a little bit. Maybe instead of an hour between messages, wait eight, or even a day.

Or am I missing a bigger part of the puzzle?