What is the optimal time to send emails?
If you’re sending out an email to your customer database, how can you ensure they read it? Truthfully, you can’t possibly guarantee they’ll read it… BUT, there are a number of guidelines you can apply to improve your chances.
One of the most common questions we get from clients is regarding the optimal time and day of the week to send out mass emails. Below we provide a little insight to help you with future email campaigns.
Mobile: The Big Game Changer
The popularity of Smartphones has drastically changed email “best practices” from a few years ago. Emails are now checked first thing in the morning as well as just before going to bed, which makes it hard to determine the best time for ensuring a good open-rate.
Still, there are statistics available to give you the best chance of having your email viewed.
When is the best time of day to send an email?
It still seems that the theory of “midday, mid-week” is the best guideline when it comes to mass email send-outs. Research across various industries has revealed that over half of emails are still opened between 9am and 5pm, not including the time between 1pm and 2pm for lunch.
Aside from these peak work hours, more Australians open emails during after work hours as opposed to before arriving at work.
Another survey also revealed that between 9am and 10am is when consumers are most receptive to special offers. While towards the end of the day they are more likely to browse informational emails, including property and finance advice.
What is the best day of week to send an email?
The best day to send an email has never really changed, even with the introduction of mobile and tablet devices. It’s been widely known that email campaigns launched on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday generally have more success.
One survey in particular, which was conducted by a software company called Responsys, discovered the following information:
- Emails sent on Tuesday have the highest click-through rate, while Friday delivers the lowest;
- Emails sent on Thursday have the highest open rates while both Monday and Friday have the lowest.
Does the best delivery time differ for various industries?
Email campaigns are no different to marketing on any other medium, in what works best for one industry will not always work for another.
As with all online strategies, the most important thing you can do when planning an email campaign is to take the time to research your own customers. Gather data from previous campaigns and find out what worked best for you.
Information is available on Google to find out when customers are most active on your website and what devices they are mostly using. Use this to your advantage and tailor your email campaigns to match.
So what does this mean for your next email campaign?
While it’s important to have a good understanding of industry “best practices”, they should not be the sole basis for your next campaign. As we said before, what works for one industry will not necessarily work for another.
While optimising the time and day you send emails may improve your results, there are many other factors that will have a greater influence, including:
- Engagement and appeal of the subject line
- Cleanliness of your email design
- Spelling and grammar
- Whether your audience is open to marketing or not
If you have already taken the time to consider the points above, then using the optimal send rates might improve your results even further.
