The Best Day and Time to Send Emails
The question “What day and time is best to send an email?” seems to be one we are asked quite often. And since we are constantly staying on top of the latest email marketing trends and have compiled a lot of research and data on this topic, we thought we would share with you some general email marketing trends that will help have a positive impact on your next email send.
Deciding on What Day to Send Your Email
When deciding which day is best to send your email, it’s important to have the mindset that it is not about when it’s convenient for you, it’s truly about when it’s most convenient to reach your recipients. With that in mind, let’s start with the worst (least convenient) days to send email.
Monday’s come in number one as the least desirable day to send out emails. People usually getting back into work mode from the weekend and most likely their inbox is flooded with emails they’ve collected over the past few days. Needless to say, people are deleting a lot of email on this day! Second, sending emails on the weekend is not a good idea either. This is when people are the least engaged since they are busy running errands and doing stuff rather than looking at their email.
Now that we have gotten the bad news out of the way, let’s move on to the best (and most convenient) days to send email. Coming in at almost a tie -Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday have traditionally been the best days for email. Research has shown that sending emails in (or around) the middle of the week have the highest volume of opens.
Timing Isn’t Everything…But it Does Matter
Many will argue and say that timing has nothing to do with sending emails, but it is all subject because it is different for everybody. However, with all of the research and data that has been conducted on this topic, some good conclusions have been made that can be useful.
So when is the best time to send an email? Studies have shown that emails sent around lunchtime between 12pm – 1pm tend to have the most successful open rates because people are more relaxed and are able to get caught up on checking their personal email. Also, another optimal time to take into consideration is between 9am – 10am, since people are more receptive to opening emails at the start of their workday.
Now of course, there are times that are not so great for sending emails. If you are thinking about sending an email between 10am – 12pm, I would reconsider. During that time frame people are not opening marketing emails because they are mostly focused on work. Additionally, sending email post lunch around 2pm – 3pm is also considered a not so great time to send emails, since people are in the ‘work zone’ and remain focused on work.
The Take Away
While these trends are helpful and provide some good insight for when to send an email, the best advice that I can give is to do your own test.. Many email service providers have the capability to do a/b testing, which allows you to send a campaign to two lists and test different days and times to see which one has the best performance. By doing your own testing, you can get a more clear idea as to when it is most convenient for your subscribers to receive email communication from you
