December 2, 2021

The Best Days and Times for Email Marketing

The Best Days and Times for Email Marketing

While knowing the best days and times to send emails isn't an exact science, several studies and statistics show there’s good rationale to it. Sending your emails at a time when most people check their inboxes can significantly affect your sales campaign.  

But why does email matter to your business? 

Email is the most straightforward way to connect with your audiences, no matter what device they use. People use it to create an account on different social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many more. 

Email marketing is an effective tool to let your target audience know about unique offers and updates on your products and services. It provides you with an excellent chance to improve sales conversions.  

Sending emails can kickstart your lead generation efforts and turn potential customers into loyal ones with the right timing. 

In this post, we’ll share the best days and times to send emails based on the fourteen studies compiled by CoSchedule.com.   

Please note that although this post discusses the best days and times separately, they coexist.  The best time to send emails depends on the day you send them. And the other way around.

 

The Best Times of the Day to Send Emails

Several studies and statistics show varying results on the best days and times to send emails. But there are commonalities in these studies that sum up the best days to be Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Wednesdays — in order of priority. 

Tuesday is the #1 best day to send emails, while Thursday is the next best day you can send other emails or follow-up emails. Wednesday came in third as it was also mentioned several times in different studies. 

As for the exact times of the day, many of the studies found varying results. But these are the logical hours that you can prioritize your send times: 

6:00 a.m. There are early birds who begin their day by opening emails.

8:00 a.m.  This is a great time to capture those who check emails first thing in the morning.

10:00 a.m. Late morning send times were the most popular in general.  Another notable time is 11:00 a.m.

1:00 p.m.  People also tend to check their emails during or after the lunch break.

2:00 p.m.  You may successfully send your emails when people take a short break from work mode.

4:00 p.m. This is when people are buying time to get through the last hour of the workday.

8:00 p.m. to midnight Surprisingly, emails generally receive more opens and clicks later in the evening before going to bed.

 

The Best Times and Days that Work for Your Business

No two businesses are alike. These best days and times may not work for everyone, and many sources agree that the optimal timing to send emails can vary. It depends on your audience and how you’re measuring success. 

Study your audience to figure out the best time and day to send your emails. If your target audience is professionals working a full-time job, sending emails during work breaks is smarter. But if your target audience is new mothers, sending emails on lunch breaks or early mornings won’t make sense to them. 

To understand your audience better, know why they signed up for your emails, what they do for a living and what they do in their daily lives. 

You can use the best days and times shared here as your starting point for sending emails. Try and test them to see when you received the most traffic. Analyze the data to find out the best email sending times that work best for your business.

Measuring the Success of Your Email Sends

An easier way to gauge the performance of your test is by using Google Analytics and reviewing your referral traffic from email. 

You can schedule sending emails on different days and times during the week and then check analytics to see which emails saw the highest open and click rates. 

An ideal open rate varies from one industry to another. The average open rate of 17.92% across all sectors may not apply to you. For example, if you have a list of 100 people, 17.92% of 100 is only 18 people. 

But, don't despair! This finding only means that your emails' success does not only depend on what days and times you send them but also on the number of contacts you have.

So, set yourself out for another mission—to grow your email list with as many qualified leads as you can.

 

Reply Rates Versus Open Rates

The majority of the studies only focus on email open rates. The problem with this metric is that it doesn’t necessarily mean the recipient is reading your message.  High open rates don’t always yield positive results. Recipients sometimes open emails only to remove that annoying red notification. 

The more important metric is when recipients take action or reply to your emails. 

According to the data shared by Yesware, the best times for sending emails are 1:00 p.m. and 11:00  a.m. Emails sent at 1:00 p.m. receive the highest replies, with 11:00 a.m. as the second-highest reply time. 

For the best days, the study only focuses on weekdays to keep the data accurate. The result is that Mondays and Tuesdays are the most active times when people reply to emails.

 

Getting the Most from Sending Emails

Although the right timing for sending emails is essential, your primary drivers of engagement are your subject line and content. When your subject line stands out the most in your subscribers’ inboxes, it will drive them to read your content. And when your content appeals to their needs, you are guaranteed a reply! 

Check for helpful tips out there to help you write better subject lines and content.

 

Conclusion

Remember these three points: Studies differ, consumers’ behavior constantly changes, and performance varies based on metrics. The only constant thing is to continue trying and testing what works best with your audience. 

Email marketing can be a tricky subject, but many businesses can take advantage of it in their way and make an impact. With patience and much effort, you can do it, too!

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