A question we regularly get in regards to email marketing is when’s the best time an email should be sent. When your emails are delivered to your subscribers’ inboxes at the optimal time, you could receive more opens and clickthroughs to get more traffic to your website.
Here are some stats that will help you decide when you should send out your emails.
Aim to Emails in the Beginning or Middle of the Week
According to customer.io, MailChimp and HubSpot, based on open rates, Tuesday, Thursday and Wednesday (in that order) were the most successful days to send emails, with Monday being a close fourth. While Wednesday and Thursday were both about equal, Tuesday consistently proved to be by far the best day to send emails.
Why Tuesday? It could be that Mondays are spent catching up with clients or project-related emails, so that promotional emails could be more of a focus for the next day. No matter the case, this is a stat you should take note of.
Late Morning or Late Evening is Optimal Open Time
The studies we looked at had varying results, but for the most part, late morning (around 10:00 or 11:00 a.m.) or late evening (between 8:00 p.m. – midnight) had the best click open and clickthrough rates. Another possible time you should consider would be 6:00 a.m., as almost half of us start our day checking emails in bed.
MailChimp and Campaign Monitor’s studies conclude that most late morning emails are the most successful, while GetResponse notes of a spike in the late morning and increased open rate around 8:00 p.m.
So, with this information, it can be concluded that sending emails on Tuesdays at 10:00 a.m. is the optimal time to send your emails.*
*Not exactly. See the next point.
No Matter What, Test What Works for Your Audience
While some of the studies had a common conclusion of the statement above, all of them said open and clickthrough rates will depend greatly on your audience and industry. For example, SendInBlue has shown that software-related emails are opened more on the weekend than the average user. This is why A/B testing is so crucial for emails, as you can test a small segment of your list and then send the rest of the emails based on those results.
CoSchedule recommends you try sending an email on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. and then try sending the next one on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. They also list out various “peak times” based on their findings, and once you’ve sent enough emails to analyze data, you can target your send times and dates based on that.
Remember, it’s estimated that almost a quarter of your subscribers will open your emails within 60 minutes after they receive them, so you could schedule emails to send 30 minutes before the peak time.
Hopefully, by sending your emails out at statistically-proven peak open time, you can fine-tune your efforts for a more impactful email marketing strategy!
To learn more about email marketing, contact us today and let’s grab some coffee!
