I’ve been asked repeatedly when helping an agency start
an email marketing campaign, “Is timing really THAT important? Can’t I just send these whenever?” If creating a
successful email campaign was as easy as writing a sales pitch, using a few
graphics to catch someone’s eye, formulating the perfect subject line, and
sending your message there would be no use for this blog. Unfortunately, like
most things, it’s never that easy. The day and time you choose to send your
email is as important as your subject line, spelling your client’s name
correctly or making sure your agency name is mentioned in your email.
So, yes, timing really is that important. And, no, you
can’t send your emails whenever you want if you expect to get a positive result.
Dilemma of the Day -- I will let you know that a percentage of your readers
will open your email no matter what day you send it on or what time. It is,
however, not true for the majority of your readership and you should keep in
mind the habits of most internet users during the day when calculating the
right timing for your message.
Most people will hit social networking sites in the
morning as opposed to checking their inbox because Facebook, Twitter and
LinkedIn require less of a time commitment than checking their email. If your
readers do check their inbox in the morning, they are usually working, and are
checking their inbox for the first time that day. While on the job and in an
attempt to de-clutter their inbox, you readers may delete your message labeling
it unimportant at the time.
Just as some people read their email as soon as they get
them, there are a vast majority of your readers who will not see or open your
email for several days once it’s been sent. At one time there was a commonly
accepted statistic that a newsletter or marketing email had an open tail of
three days. In recent years, this metric has changed though and most email
marketers will allow up to five days after sending a mailing for stragglers to receive
and open their mailings. You should keep this in mind while testing your open
rates as well as the day and time you send it on. This is also important if you’re sending a
mailing that relates to a specific event or offer. At a minimum, try to send
your email three days before your target event date. If you have the lead time,
increase that to five days just to be sure all of your contacts are able to see
your mailing prior to an event or offer expiration.
Below are some guidelines that I’ve created based on my
experience in email marketing. These are just a few fast and easy generalized tips
to help you choose the best day to send mailings. By sharing these tips with you, it does not
mean you should stop testing your mailings to find out if these rules hold true
for your agency.
- Internet activity in general
reduces on weekends. This means Friday, Saturday and Sunday may not be as
successful as other days to send your mailings. On Friday, people tend to check
out before the end of the work day and will put your email off until next week,
which really means, it’s been forgotten as soon as it’s come through their
inbox. On Saturday and Sunday, it could be that folks spend more time with
their family, have things to do around the yard, or they are burnt out from
working on a computer all week. Almost every online metric category goes south
on the weekend, and that includes email open rates.
- Now that the weekend is over and we’re all back to work, you may think everyone if refreshed and ready to check out your email. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Never send a marketing email on Monday. The fact is your readers spend most of their inbox time at work. When you come into work on Monday, if you’re like me, you start deleting anything that appears to be junk or non-essential so your inbox isn’t as overwhelming. Unless, through your testing, you’ve noticed that your readers exhibit a different pattern, avoid sends on Monday.
- When you take out Monday, and the weekend, it boils down to sending emails on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday to yield the best results.
Morning, Noon, or Night? -- Early morning email sends have the lowest open rates. This
makes sense when we look back at the patterns of most internet users who begin
clearing out emails they deem unnecessary or unimportant as soon as they open
their inbox.
While metrics are different for different groups, as a
general rule, the best open rates tend to come with emails sent around lunch
time (noon or 1:00pm). People tend to relax a bit over lunch and are on the
downhill of the day when they return from their break. In turn, emails sent in
the afternoon do not have the same overwhelming feeling they may have in the
morning.
If you’re going to send your mailings in the evening,
when your readers have settled in from work, be sure they are optimized for
mobile devices. Studies show that most people check email and social networking
on their phone or tablet during commercials as opposed to firing up their
laptop while watching TV.
The only way to know for sure which day and time works for your audience
is to run various tests and then select the best day and time based on your
readerships response. Following the midweek – midday rule of thumb will yield a
good result, but through your testing you may find a time and day that yields a
greater response.
