What Is The Best Time To Send An Email

What is the best time to send out your email campaigns?

According to Hubspot: In general, the highest click-to-open rates are 10 AM at 21%, 1 PM at 22%, and spike near 6 PM.

The answer is not as simple as picking up a time slot. It is because email marketing in itself is a complex ecosystem that changes dynamically. Results you see today may not continue to the next week, and a good result can improve to have a better outcome and vice versa.

It is, for this reason, email marketing is a tough nut to crack, hard to pin down, and art exceptionally difficult to master.

Timing charts are no more relevant. Why?

There is no one standard practice that we can follow when it comes to timing email campaigns. As with any complex system, it depends heavily on various factors.

Getting an aggregate time by taking the average rate at which time respondents are most active may give you a substantial number. However, it doesn’t mean ‘your’ recipients will react similarly.

Every single email marketing campaign is unique. The list may be the same that you used last time, the content may not be, the offers may not be, and the CTAs might differ. It makes the email campaign dynamic.

This graph clearly explains the concept of the first-hour glory that your email campaign sees. Keeping up the tempo is not an easy task, and there are very few brands that can show you a positive number as the hours go. These are the unicorn brands that get massive engagement regardless of the email.

It is usually how the graph of open rates looks like for a standard marketing campaign sent out during various days of the week. It does look like mid-week winning the open rate trophy, and it does apply to the large section of the email marketing sector.

Saturday and Sunday are not the best time to send emails since these days are most probably holidays for most over the world.

There is no standard time to send your email campaigns. Globally, with the collected data over billions of email campaigns, Wednesday and Thursday seem to be the global best times. This may be because it is the middle of the week, people are bored, or they have nothing better to do!

The timings matter to email marketers and should be taken into consideration if you are short on time. You do not have the necessary resources to execute testing and other such requirements.

How to find the best time for your email campaigns?

It all boils down to your email campaign, the list, the product or service, and the engagement you generate. The power to find the sweet spot is totally in your hands, and we mean quite literally. Email campaigns need to have A/B testing done every time so that you understand how your prospects are reacting.

1. Test to understand- Testing your email campaigns gives you an indication as to when your viewers are inclined to open and engage with your content. Take into consideration the content type, offers, and other such dynamic properties that influence open and CTRs.
2. Mobile usage- Mobile-friendly emails are a must today. People behave differently on desktops versus mobile. With 54% of emails opened on mobiles, there is a shift in channel focus. It also brings us to the point that the traditional 9–5 open timings are obsolete as of now.
3. Content-type- Promotional emails have opened the maximum during Saturdays and the least on Wednesdays. Traditional newsletters see higher open rates during the mid-week and towards the morning sessions
4. Timed offers- These need to be timed to perfection. They are on a different level of relevance. Time-bound offers need to promote more. It would help if you made sure that the timing set according to the time zone of your readers.

Various factors determine the best timing for your email campaigns. Here are some aspects that can help you in nailing that elusive timing to sweet perfection.

1. Brand loyalty- This is an essential aspect of open rates. A new campaign will surely show you poor results. Making your subscribers happy is what gets you their commitment, and in this world, engagement is worth more than gold. Engage your subscribers in the best way possible, and you will get to see higher numbers faster and consistently.
2. Content matters- Understand what type of content have more open rates, and then segment based on these choices. Create similar content for these segments. You will see higher opens, and you can also get to understand when they are beginning. It’s a double win.
3. Segment for better engagement- Segmentation increases your open rates exponentially. Testing these segments makes things better. Understanding customer behavior improves the chances of meeting. The best email marketers have variable timings for different stages of the funnel of subscribers based on their behavior.
4. Global delivery- This is a crucial factor for email marketers. It would help if you used software that is aware of setting the right time, irrespective of the time zone. With over 24 hour’s difference between the farthest continents, you need to look into this aspect closely and then adjust the time of delivery, if you are sending mails to a global audience.
5. Email list strength- All the testing and segmentation are worth naught if your email list is not up to date. The data will be misleading and will show negative results if your database is not worthy of good results. Cleansing and appending are essential aspects of database hygiene.
6. Subject lines- These are the enablers of your email campaigns. A good subject line gets your mail opened. That is the first battle won. Your FROM address also makes a considerable difference to deliverability. Testing various types will give you a clear idea of what works. Fine-tune them and let it coincide with the best time.

Send automated emails triggered by subscriber behavior. It’s even worth doing for simple messages like RSS emails sent when you publish a new blog post. Newsletters and one-off emails still work.

However, triggered emails bring the best results.

Why?

Timing and relevance.

When someone gets a message straight after taking action, they’re more likely ready to read and respond to it. The same is true if they find it exciting and relevant. So it would help if you know your audience (precisely their information needs and preferences.)

Timing isn’t everything. It is an integral part of the process, but it does not have a single answer or a magical best time. It needs to be figured out through analysis, testing, and a thorough understanding of your clients and their needs.

There is no one best time to send emails. It differs based on the factors mentioned above. Your product and service matter too.

Originally published at https://www.ampliz.com on March 20, 2022.