Two shops on the same high street, both running a WhatsApp newsletter. The first fires out offers almost daily. A few weeks in, its list is melting away because contacts are unsubscribing out of sheer irritation. The second gets in touch maybe once every two months. By the third message, its contacts have forgotten they ever signed up and are wondering who is writing to them.
Both have the same problem, approached from opposite ends: no frequency strategy. They send whenever something occurs to them, or they do not send at all.
That is why “how often should I send?” is the wrong question. The better one is: what rhythm can I promise and keep up long term? This article gives you a model for answering exactly that.
Expectation beats frequency
Start with the most important idea. People do not judge the number of your messages as pleasant or annoying. They judge the gap between what arrived and what they were expecting. A weekly lunch menu bothers nobody, because that is precisely what they signed up for. The same frequency filled with random promotional messages would drive those same contacts away.
What that means for you: do not settle your frequency quietly in your own head. Say it out loud at sign-up. “Our offers once a week” or “tips and news twice a month”. Anyone who accepts that has consented, not just formally through the double opt-in but in their own mind as well.
Contacts do not opt out because you write too often. They opt out because you write too often without a reason.
The base rhythm: the one you can genuinely keep
Every good frequency strategy stands on a foundation, and that foundation is your base rhythm. It is the rhythm you can hold in a normal week: not in your most motivated week, but in your busiest one.
As a rough guide, most local businesses land somewhere between once a week and twice a month. The exact number matters less than the regularity. A fixed weekday helps twice over: your contacts get used to it, and you get a built-in deadline that keeps you from putting it off.
One thing to be clear about: the base rhythm applies to your WhatsApp newsletter, meaning the messages that go out to a lot of people at once. Service messages such as appointment reminders or a note that an order is ready to collect do not count towards it. Those can and should go out whenever they are due, because nobody ever reads them as advertising.
Seasonal peaks: when sending more is fine
On top of the foundation you put deliberate peaks. There are stretches when your contacts want to hear more from you, because something is genuinely going on: the run-up to Christmas in retail, the tyre-change season at a garage, the week before your anniversary, a countdown to a big promotion.
In phases like that you can double or even triple the rhythm, as long as you stick to two rules. First, the peak has a real reason behind it, one your contacts can see too. Second, it has an end. Once the promotion week is over, you visibly go back to the base rhythm. A peak that never ends is not a peak. It is a creeping increase in frequency, and that is exactly what costs you opt-outs.
The warning signs: how to spot that you have got it wrong
Your contacts vote on your frequency all the time. You only have to look. Both mistakes show up plainly in your statistics.
Too much: opt-outs cluster right after a send, replies dry up and click rates fall from one message to the next. Your audience is telling you: less, but better.
Too little: after a long gap, one single send brings an unusual number of opt-outs. That is the classic sign that contacts had forgotten you and read the message as an intrusion. Lukewarm responses to offers that ought to land point the same way. The relationship has cooled off.
As a rule of thumb, the odd opt-out is normal and even healthy, because it keeps your list clean. A pattern across several sends is a signal. When that happens you adjust the rhythm, not the channel.
A short plan: your next four weeks
Here is how the model turns into practice:
- Set the base rhythm. Pick the frequency you can reliably keep, and a fixed weekday. For example: every Thursday at 5 p.m.
- Line up four messages. Week one a tip from your field, week two an offer, week three a look behind the scenes, week four something seasonal. That way you switch automatically between giving and selling.
- Plan one peak. Mark the next stretch in your calendar that has a real reason behind it, and pencil in one or two extra messages there, with a clear end point.
- Review after four weeks. Look at opt-outs, replies and clicks per message, then move the rhythm one step up or one step down.
After two or three cycles like that, your rhythm is no longer a guess. It is measured.
The bottom line
The right frequency is no secret. It is a system: a reliable base rhythm, deliberate seasonal peaks and a regular look at the signals. With a 98% open rate, WhatsApp forgives nothing that feels arbitrary, but it rewards anyone who finds their rhythm. SmartChat takes the work behind it off your hands: the AI builds newsletters and follow-ups from your website, and you are ready in under 60 seconds - see all the plans.