To Suppress or Not to Suppress

Your New Subscriber Just Got Two Emails in 15 Minutes. Is That a Problem?

Someone signs up for your email list at 9:00 a.m.

They immediately receive your welcome email.

At 9:15, your regularly scheduled marketing email goes out.

Do you let them receive both, or suppress them from the campaign?

I asked this question on LinkedIn recently. It was a small poll, just 21 responses, but 76% said they would suppress the new subscriber for 24 hours, while 23% said they’d let them receive both.

I didn’t ask because I thought there was one right answer, or because I expected the poll to settle the question. I was more interested in how people thought about the decision.

And in email marketing, this is definitely one of those situations where the answer is: it depends.

So, let’s look at both sides.

Why I Like the Suppression Argument

Someone has just raised their hand and started a relationship with you by signing up for your email list. Your welcome email should acknowledge that moment.

If they immediately receive an unrelated promotional campaign 15 minutes later, the welcome experience can start to feel less intentional and a little too pushy.

You may also be creating an experience where the subscriber feels like they signed up and were immediately dropped into your marketing emails.

But there’s another side to this. Are you potentially missing out on revenue by suppressing them?

Why I Like the Idea of Letting Them Get Both

What if the 9:15 email is announcing a one-day sale or the most important campaign of the month? Your welcome email likely doesn’t mention that.

What if this second email is the email they would have purchased from?

Suddenly, “suppress every new subscriber for 24 hours” doesn’t feel like a good idea.

On the other hand, what if getting two emails within 15 minutes feels like too much?

And that brings us back to the answer we email marketers love:

It depends.

To Suppress or Not to Suppress Isn’t Really a Rule. It’s a Strategy Decision.

Instead of automatically setting your segmentation to suppress new subscribers for 24 hours, ask yourself:

“Who should receive this campaign?”

That shifts the decision away from a blanket rule and toward the strategy and experience you are trying to create.

Before sending both emails, consider:

Relevance: Does this campaign make sense for someone who joined your list 15 minutes ago or even a few hours ago?

Urgency: Would suppressing them mean they miss something genuinely time-sensitive?

Context: What expectations did you establish in your welcome email or series? For example, if you told them they would receive one email a week and then they get two emails within 15 minutes, that experience may not match what they expected.

Volume: Are these the only two messages they’ll receive in the next day or two, or is this the start of them getting three or four messages within a 24-hour period? This is definitely something to consider during peak seasons.

Journey design: Are your automations, campaign schedule, and other channels aware of each other? To me, this is probably one of the most important questions to ask.

Your subscriber doesn’t know which message came from an automation, which one came from your campaign calendar, or how you are segmenting SMS. To them, it’s all communication from your brand.

And that’s why I don’t think the real question is whether everyone should suppress new subscribers for 24 hours.

There may not be one suppression rule that’s right for every business. But there should be an intentional strategic decision behind it.

Before you create a 24-hour suppression rule, or decide everyone should get everything, look at the entire experience from the subscriber’s perspective.

It’s not just about whether they should get another email. It’s about what other messages they may be receiving across channels, too.

The goal is to deliver the right message, to the right person, at the right time, on the right channel.