We all want to get the most out of our email campaigns. This leads to a desire to optimise every component of our mailings. Headlines, calls to action, templates, and in this list as well we can also include send times. So what is the best time to send your emails? Well…there are no hard and fast answers, because every list is different, and every segment within your list is different. There are some best practises out there however that will give you a starting point, showing what a lot of other marketers have observed. The golden rule though is to test test test, and then test some more. So let’s see what ourselves and other marketers have observed as to the best days of the week to send your emails, and the best times of the day to send your email.

Day of the week

B2B marketers have observed very large differences in open rates depending on the day of the week they send their emails. Weekends are different from weekdays, and certain days of the working week can be dramatically different.

Mondays: Often observed as the worst day of the week to send marketing communications. This has been put down to the fact that on a Monday most people checking their inboxes are not looking for the latest and greatest deals. They are trying to organize their week instead, and are often in ‘inbox cleanup’ mode, prioritizing their week and getting things that matter out of the way.

Tuesdays: Considered by many marketers to be the BEST day to send business and marketing emails. ‘Mondayitis’ is over, and people are able to consider other things (including your email).

Wednesdays/Thursdays: Wednesdays and Thursday show very similar data, with Thursday’s typically edging ahead in a a lot of B2B markets, but often there is nothing in it. So again, make sure you test for your list as YMMV.

Fridays: The top and tail of the work week tend to be the worst performers, so like Monday’s you may see a dip in performance compared to the middle of the week. Some people have put this down to both Friday and Monday being days when people are in meetings, but subjectively we could understand people not being as receptive on a Friday as they are focused on the coming weekend.

Saturday/Sunday: On one hand the weekend is a great time to send email as it is less competitive, but on the other hand if you are in a B2B market your prospect could potentially be ‘switched off’ from work, and emails related to business may not get the attention they deserve. On the flipside if your list are consumer based then the weekend can work out really well as your offers are more aligned with that time of the week, and there is less competition for eyeballs in the inbox.

Time of the day

So now we have a bit of a guideline as to when during the week we should be sending you mailings. How do we get the most out of that day?
Again, your list may be different from mine, but we have some observed data to form some best practises, and then from these we can test and optimise.
Mornings are typically a shocker around the board. Like Monday often is to a week, early morning can be to the rest of the day. Most users again go into cleanup and planning mode each morning, prioritizing their day, and your mail can get caught up in the friendly fire. If it isn’t of a high priority to the user, then the chances are they will be looking over it while they are planning out what’s important to the remainder of that day. This eases up a bit at lunch time, and coincidentally midday to early afternoon is shown to be one of the best times for online retail as well. People are checking their mail on their smart phones, and like to do a bit of purchasing over their lunch breaks. So this is often a much better time to get your message in front of your subscribers.
Leave it too late into the evening and you may get pushed over to tomorrow’s mail, which is not an ideal scenario.

In Summary
It may seem simple, pick the best time and pick the best day So a Tuesday lunch time may be optimal, and for many users it is. However it isn;t a hard and fast rule, and your mantra should be to: Test. Analyze. Optimize. Maximize. Repeat. This also leads us to thinking about list segmentation a little. If you have Geo data on your list, segment it into timezones, that way you can make sure each user is in fact getting your mail at the right time of day.