Are you crafting beautiful emails but not seeing the results? It may all be a matter of time…
Many businesses spend a lot of amount of time creating great email campaigns. But too few spend the time thinking about when to send them.
Successful email campaigns are a delicate thing. There are so many factors that contribute to whether your email campaign converts or whether it ends up heading straight to your recipients’ trash. And the time at which you send your campaign is one of the most-crucial factors.
While it’s easy to get lost in hundreds of data-heavy studies on the topic of sending email campaigns, a lot of it comes down to common sense, trial and error, and figuring out what works best for your business and your audience.
Let’s take a look at the best (and worst) times to send an email campaign.
The best day to send an email campaign
When you start thinking about the best time to send an email campaign, a little bit of self-reflection is as good a place as any to start. We’re not talking about sitting on the floor in lotus pose and searching for some kind of inner peace. We’re talking about thinking about when you like to receive emails yourself. When do you sit down to tackle your inbox? When do you think others do it? At what time do you think the majority of people check their inbox?
Now, it’s important to keep in mind that we’re talking about campaigns here, not work-related emails. Marketing or promotional emails are much different to work emails, because people don’t have to open them.
A study from Omnisend found Thursday (followed closely by Tuesday) to be the best days of the week to send promotional emails. And when you think about it, it makes a whole lot of sense. We all know how busy and difficult Mondays can be, so you’re best not trying to capture people’s attention when they’re flatout at work, and the same goes for Friday. By waiting until Thursday to send your email campaign, you’re allowing your recipients to get the bulk of their weekly tasks out of the way.
We’re willing to bet these days probably align with how you like to receive email campaigns, too.
The worst days to send an email campaign
Based on now knowing the best day to send an email campaign, you may have already figured the worst day out. Yes, the worst day of the week to send an email campaign goes to everyone’s favourite day of the week: Monday.
If your open rates look like they’ve got a case of the Mondays, it’s probably because they do. For people who work traditional hours, like Monday to Friday, the start of the working week can be a challenge. Mondays are typically pretty busy days, and many people have far less energy at the start of the week.
For many, an extra email popping up in their inbox on a Monday morning can be a real cause of stress, and you don’t want people to associate that stressed-out feeling to your business. Let people get settled into their working week before you try and sell them something.
While we’re on the topic of terrible days to send email campaigns, make sure you avoid weekends, specifically Saturdays. People like to enjoy themselves on the weekend, with some not checking their inboxes at all, especially if they work in an office.
The best time to send an email campaign
So, we’ve nailed down the best days to send your email campaign, but what about the best time of day? This should be a no-brainer, but let’s quickly rule out any time after 5pm. When most people clock off for the day, they really clock off. If you bother your subscribers after hours, you’ll run the risk of losing them.
Omnisend found 8am or 4pm to be the best time to send email campaigns. And it makes so much sense. Most people check their inboxes first thing in the morning, and they’ll likely do another sweep towards the end of the day.
Keep in mind that the best time of day to send an email campaign will also be heavily impacted by what you’re sending.
Test your email campaigns
While you may already be A/B testing your campaigns based on subject line and audiences, have you considered doing some testing based on time and day of the week? While we can tell you what the best time and days are, it doesn’t mean it will be the best for your business or your recipients.
All this testing may seem like hard work, but putting in that extra effort up front will save you in the long run.
Other email campaign considerations
In addition to the time and day at which you send out your email campaigns, here are a few things to consider:
- The strength of your email list – don’t waste time and energy sending emails to addresses that are unlikely to engage with them.
- Keep frequency in mind – this is a big one. Just like annoying your recipients with after-hours emails, sending them too many emails can just as easily turn them away.
- Check your subject lines – bad subject lines can make or break an email. Make sure you test multiple versions.
Email campaigns can be tricky. While one strategy may work great for one business, it may fail miserably for another. At the end of the day, you need to find out what works best for you. And much of that starts with nailing down the best time to send your email campaigns.
Follow the steps above, and you’ll be on your way to higher click-through rates and conversions in no time.
