You have prepared your campaign well by reading several posts on the subject including our “E-mail marketing: Tips for increasing engagement” to get better engagement. Now you are asking yourself, “What is the best time to send your emails?”
-Should I start my campaign on a Monday or Wednesday?
-Should I do it in the morning or in the afternoon?
Many questions are running through your mind, and that’s normal. After searching for the answer for you and consulting several sources, we are happy to share our discovery with you: it depends on several factors. So we suggest you examine some studies to find answers.
Which day should you choose to send emails?
First of all, most studies show that there is no dramatic difference between the days of the week in terms of open rates. Nevertheless, it is found that Tuesday is generally in first place. In second place, various studies show that Wednesday and Thursday are the days of the week with the highest open rates.
As far as click-through rates are concerned, weekend days occupy a good position. This is probably due to a decrease in the number of incoming mails on these days. We suggest that you take this into account if you are addressing people in decision-making positions.
What time of day should you choose to send emails?
To know the best time to send an emailing, the choice of the hour seems essential because there are important differences between the hours of sending as regards the rates of openings and clicks.
You may not be a morning person, but you’ll have to make an effort if you want to launch a mailing campaign. Various sources indicate, across all industries, that the morning, between 9 and 11 a.m., is the best time to send emails. More surprisingly, early morning, between 6 and 7 a.m., is also a good choice depending on the target audience, as more and more people start their day by reading their e-mails. Another important conclusion from various studies is that if e-mails are sent on Wednesdays, the early afternoon, around 2 p.m., is the best time.
Who is your customers?
In which context do you send your emails?
You have just read the most crucial question you need to ask yourself when launching an e-mail campaign. This question will tell you what you need to consider based on what you have read in the first two paragraphs.
An example will help: Let’s imagine the following scenario: you are running an e-mail campaign to a young, tech-savvy population. When it comes to choosing the time of day, you can already forget about what you just read above. Evening hours immediately become a better choice for this population than morning hours. In fact, this population seems to be in front of their computer more often during the evening hours.
If you want to promote a new activity at an amusement park, draw a crowd for a concert, or tell your customers about the new specialty you’ve started cooking at your restaurant, choose Friday afternoon over Tuesday morning.
Also, don’t forget to take into account the time difference of your target audience. It’s 4 a.m. in New York and 5 a.m. in Tokyo while it’s 10 a.m. in Brussels or Paris. Speaking of geography, in the month of March, also take into account that you will find more people in front of their computers on a Sunday afternoon in Sweden than in Spain.
Don't forget to test and optimize your campaigns
You know your target audience best, with their habits and behaviors. In order to choose the best time to send your emails, we strongly suggest that you analyze all your campaigns to optimize them. Thus, after each campaign, it will be very useful to schedule a time to do a detailed analysis with your team and discover the particularities of your target audience.
For a detailed reading, you can consult our sources:
- Why the worst day of the week is the best day to send emails: https://customer.io/blog/timing-week-day-email-sending-schedule/
- Best time to send email report: https://www.hubspot.com/sales/best-time-send-email-report-2015
- Marketing meets inspiration: https://mailchimp.com/resources/
- MailerMailer Releases 2016 Email Marketing Metrics Report: https://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/06/prweb13499577.htm
- Perfect Timing: The Very Best Time to Send Email Newsletters: https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/best-time-to-send-email-campaign
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