Email Campaigns: Timing is Everything

When planning an email campaign, there are a lot of different factors to consider such as audience, email design, layout and copy. Often times within this planning process, the single most important factor is overlooked: the best time to send your email campaign.

Timing is everything, and we’re not just referring to morning, afternoon, or evening – days of the week also play a huge role in the success of your campaign. Because these options are seemingly endless, planning for the “best” time might be overwhelming.

Here are some general guidelines to keep in mind:*

• Monday
  • Highest ROI
  • Best day to send out email surveys
• Tuesday & Thursday
  • High volume days to send emails
  • Tuesday had the highest open and click-through rates
• Wednesday
  • “Middle ground” – neither the best day, nor the worst day to send emails
• Friday
  • Good day to send emails for retailers
  • Conversation rate only 2% behind Tuesday, which had the highest conversion rate of all days
• Saturday & Sunday
  • Open rates are the highest on the weekend – 44% on Saturday
  • Higher click rates – 10% on Saturday
  • Highest bounce rates

Additionally, time of day is one of the “make-or-break” email campaign planning aspects.

• Early morning (before 9am)
  • Highest click rates, highest bounce rates
• Mid-morning (10am-Noon)
  • Best email open rate = 10am
• Lunch time (Noon hour)
  • One of the worst times to send email – lunch break
• Early afternoon (1-3pm)
  • One of the worst times to send email – “work zone”
• Late afternoon (3-5pm)
  • Most email activity happening overall from 2-5pm
• Evening (5-7pm)
  • 26.4% of recipients opened B2B promotions
  • 17.9% opened holiday promotions
  • People are more likely to open emails on their own time rather than at work
• Late night (7-10pm)
  • Open rates reached 15.1% for messages between 8-11pm
• Late LATE night (Midnight-4am)
  • Lowest email volume, highest response rate
  • Open rates peaked at 20.4% for messages at 12am

Remember to take these factors about your audience into consideration as well:

• Mobile Email
  • Accounts for 15-70% of email opens
  • Friday through Sunday render the most opens
  • Special offers, vouchers, real-time tracking, and newsletters are the most preferred type of mobile emails
• B2B & B2C Audience
  • Wednesday & Tuesday tied for most effective email days
  • B2B marketers ranked Tuesday as best sending day

All in all, it’s important to test your campaigns to see which ones are the most successful.

*Source: Pinpointe.com

For email campaigns and other integrated marketing services, please contact Sagefrog Marketing Group at 215.230.9024 or visit www.sagefrog.com.