There’s a lot of debate in the digital marketing world about the best time to send marketing emails. The timing of your email impacts everything from the open rate to the success of a campaign. So, it makes sense that nailing the timing is on everyone’s mind.
If you’re in the process of developing an email marketing campaign, doing some research on the best time to send is essential. Here are some tips that will help you determine what works best for your business.
Get To Know Your Customer
The time of day that works best is highly dependent on your customer. That means you have to do the research necessary to figure out what works for them.
Unfortunately, no one time of day works for every business. It’s all about sending out tests and reviewing data to know what works and what doesn’t.
So yes, it’s not the answer you were hoping for, but it’s still one that can help you succeed. If you want to rely on data compiled by reliable sources, here are some great places to start:
Look at Day of the Week
It’s more than just the time of day. The day of the week can matter as well. According to a 2019 report by GetResponse, Tuesday tends to perform the highest with open and click-through rates. However, it’s important to keep in mind that this is only relatively more than other weekdays.
The worst day? That would be Saturday, with Sunday at a close second.
Time of Day
If you’re ready to start testing sends, time of day makes a huge difference as well. If you look at the collected data, you’ll see that the window of success is pretty large.
Most of the top-performing emails are sent between 10 AM and 2 PM. However, email opens tend to be the most successful around 11 AM.
So, when you start testing, allow send time to be one of your A/B tests. Take a look at open, click-through rates, and conversions. Where do you see an uptick? Next time around, send at that same time again and choose another time as your B test.
Think About The Typical Work Day
If you look at the various data collected about email sends, you’ll see a pattern start to emerge. Emails tend to be open when it’s more likely that the audience is at their computer, wasting time.
For instance, sending an email in the early AM means getting open by early rises who land in the office before everyone else. At the same time, the lunch hour tends to be popular due to the same thing.
So, think about your audience. Where are they spending their time? What time of day leaves them with enough time to look through their inbox? If you can get the answer to those questions figured out, you can find the perfect send time.
It all comes down to structured experimentation. Set-up your tests, review your data and learn from the metrics. With the right insights, you’ll quickly figure out the best time to send marketing emails.