The conventional wisdom is 12 emails in 30 days. We thought that was too many. We were right, but not for the reasons we expected.
The hypothesis
Fewer, longer emails signal quality. They get read. The 12-email drip trains people to ignore you.
The test
A/B across 3,200 subscribers. Control: 12 emails in 30 days. Variant: 7 emails in 30 days, each 40% longer, with a single clear CTA.
What we found
The 7-email flow had 31% higher open rate, 44% higher click rate, and 22% better conversion to paid. Fewer emails, better results.
"Every email should earn the next one. If it doesn't, cut it."