Email Overload Explained – And What You Can Do About It

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This article explores the risks and considerations associated with sending too many marketing emails. It also showcases the Marketo Communication Limits feature and outlines three methods for tracking email send data, helping you set the right limits for your instance.

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In today’s ever-changing digital landscape, email marketing is still one of the most cost-effective marketing channels out there. When paired with the power of a robust marketing automation platform like Marketo Engage, organizations can send targeted, personalized communications that can enhance customer relationships, expand brand outreach, and boost conversions/sales.

But as with any other marketing channel, strategy is key. And as marketers, we know the foundation of a strong email marketing strategy is getting the right message to the right audience at the right time. We also know it’s equally important to be mindful of the frequency at which we’re sending these messages.

What Is Email Overload?

Email overload – or sending too many emails to your marketing database – can have several negative consequences, including email fatigue, higher unsubscribe rates, and increased spam complaints.

Fortunately, there are things we can do to avoid overcommunication:

1. Assess our email marketing strategy: Leverage segmentation and personalization, establish clear objectives, and implement ongoing testing and tracking to optimize performance.
2. Follow email marketing best practices: Use compelling and concise messaging that adds to the customer experience. And don’t forget to provide clear unsubscribe options!
3. Use Communication Limits: In terms of OOTB features, Marketo’s Communication Limits is a great guardrail to help protect your instance and prevent your organization from sending too many emails. If you’re unsure about how to use this feature, keep reading!

More About Marketo Communication Limits

Communication Limits is a configuration setting that controls the number of emails each record in your Marketo database can receive per day and per week. Once they reach the threshold, Marketo will block any non-operational emails from being sent.

Marketo admins can modify this setting from within the Admin Panel by selecting the Communication Limits tab on the left rail. To enable this feature, input the desired per day/per week limits (Note: The default setting for Communication Limits is 2 emails per day and 5 emails per week) and make sure to check the box next to “Block non-operational emails” to ensure all marketing emails are blocked once the limit is reached:

The default setting may work for some, but it's best to adjust it to fit your organization’s email strategy. If you're unsure, review your Marketo email send activity – specifically how many emails each record receives – to help set appropriate limits.

How Do I Find Email Send Data in Marketo?

Let’s walk through several ways to view this data...

Option 1: Revenue Explorer Email Analysis Report

If you have access to Revenue Explorer*, you can very easily run a report to show the number of sent emails per record within a set period of time.

*What is Revenue Explorer? Revenue Explorer is part of Advanced BI Analytics, an add-on reporting tool that is built on top of Marketo Engage people and program data that enables marketers to build more complex reports. Learn more here.

Here’s how to set up this report:

Step 1:

Let’s start by accessing Revenue Explorer:

Step 2:

Create a new report by selecting the “Email Analysis” option:

Step 3:

Using the fields search, locate Email Address (yellow circle icon) and drag it into “Rows” within the Layout options. Then locate Sent (blue circle icon) and drag it into “Measures” within the Layout options. You should also include a filter for the date range you want to look at. In the example below we are looking at data from the previous month:

Great job – you’re all set! Now you can use this data to make a more informed decision about your Communication Limit settings.

Option 2: Email Counter Operational Program

If you do not have access to Revenue Explorer, not to worry! There are plenty of other ways to view this data in Marketo. For our more intermediate/advanced Marketo users, I recommend creating an operational program that uses custom fields to track and store the number of emails sent per day and per week for all records in our Marketo database.

Here’s how to set up this program:

Step 1:

Before we can create the program, we need to create the fields required to track the number of emails sent. To do this, navigate to Field Management located within the Admin panel and select “New Custom Field” in the top middle/left. (Note: You must have Admin-level access to create new fields.)

Step 2:

Next, let’s create two fields – one to track the number of emails sent per day and one to track the number of emails sent per week. Click on New Custom Field and select “Person” as the Object and “Score” as the Type. Next, input a name for your field and click Create.

💡 PRO TIP: Be sure to use a naming convention for your Marketo custom fields. I like to use “mkto_”!

Awesome job! Now let’s create the operational program…

Step 3:

In Marketing Activities, right click on the appropriate folder and select Create New Program. Be sure to use the Default program type and your Operational channel.

💡 PRO TIP: Don't forget to use a naming convention for your Marketo programs, too!

Step 4:

Next, let’s create a Smart Campaign to track the number of emails sent per week. In the Smart List tab, find and select the “Email is Delivered” trigger and change the setting to “is any” to ensure we’re capturing all email sends.

Step 5:

In the Flow tab, select “Change Data Value” and select the new field you created to track weekly sends as the attribute. Remember, this is a score field! We’re going to change the value to “+1” so that we are adding 1 each time an email is sent:

Step 6:

Next, let’s go to the Schedule tab so we can edit our qualification rules. We want to make sure records can go through this campaign each time they get sent an email. Click Edit to change the Smart Campaign Settings. Then select “every time” and click Save.

Step 7:

Awesome job! Now repeat Steps 4-6 to create a second smart campaign to track the number of emails sent per day. At this point, your program should look something like this:

Step 8:

Next, let’s create a smart campaign to reset the weekly email counter field to zero. In the Smart List, select the weekly email counter field as the filter and set it to greater than 0.

Step 9:

In the Flow tab, drag over “Change Score” and set it to “=0”.

Step 10:

When you’re ready to schedule, go to the Schedule tab. First, make sure the qualification rules allow records to go through this campaign each time (as shown in Step 6). Then select Schedule Recurrence:

Step 11:

Set the proper schedule based on your desired approach and click Save. In the example below, we are resetting weekly scores every Monday at 6am ET / 3am PT.

Step 12:

Repeat Steps 8-11 to create another smart campaign to reset the daily email counter field to zero.

Step 13:

Go back to the smart campaigns you set up in Steps 4-7. Navigate to the Schedule tab and click Activate.

Great work! Now you can use this operational program to start keeping better track of your email send data. This can help you make better, more informed decisions regarding your Communication Limits, leading to a healthier, happier Marketo database.

Option 3: Marketo Smart Lists

For Marketo beginners who do not have access to Revenue Explorer, you can use Marketo’s native Smart List feature to look at historic email send data.

Here's how to do this:

Step 1:

Create a new Smart List in your Marketo Database using the ‘Was Sent Email’ filter to define the audience criteria. Change the filter logic to ‘Email is any’ and input the proper date range in ‘Date of Activity’.

Step 2:

Next, click Add Constraint and select ‘Min. Number of Times’.

Step 3:

Here’s sample filter logic for reference. In this example, we’re generating a list of all records who received 5 or more emails in the past week.

So simple, right?! Now you can take a deeper look at email send data before deciding on your Communication Limits. You can customize/modify the smart list as needed or create multiple smart lists based on your specific data needs. Just be sure to consider the Data Retention Policy for sent/delivered email activities.

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Are you currently using Marketo Communication Limits? Are you tracking email send data in Marketo? Feel free to leave your own ideas in the comments section below.