The Best Time to Send an Email is…

Written by: Chris Donald

Published on: 12-04-2017

Chris is Managing Partner at InboxArmy and has more than 25 years of experience in email marketing
CLICK BAIT ALERT!

Forgive my tongue-in-cheek headline here, but this is a common question I receive. The truth is there is no universal “best” time or day to send an email.

The best time to send an email is the time that your readers and your customers want to receive them. And that time could be completely different for your brand versus another brand in your same industry or category.

(We talked about this in a previous post where I said, “Every email list is different.”)

Do you want to find out that “best” time and “best” day to email your list? Here’s what you can try:

  1. Benchmark your current engagement rates
    You can’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been. Take stock of your metrics and determine your average benchmarks.
  2. Test sending across a few different days
    Do you normally mail on Monday mornings? Take your normal schedule and stretch it out. Split up your list and mail the same creative at your normal time, then 24 hours later, and 48 hours later. See how the metrics size up.
  • If the metrics are the roughly the same:
    Try again with your normal Monday mailing, but try a Wednesday split and a Friday split as well (provided that your content isn’t time-sensitive).
  • If another day is a clear winner:
    Run the same test again to ensure it’s not a fluke. If it’s not a fluke, then mail on that winning day with a large chunk of your list, and if you’d like, go through a similar testing process with new days.
  • If the original day is the clear winner:
    Run the test once more to ensure it’s not a fluke. If it’s not a fluke, congratulations!

There is no “silver bullet” in email marketing. Success takes work, time, and dedication. Let’s get to work!

About Author

Chris sent his first email campaign in 1995. He’s worked directly with Fortune 500 companies, retail giants, nonprofits, SMBs and government agencies in all facets of their email marketing and marketing automation programs. He’s also a BIG baseball fan, loves a good steak, and is mildly obsessed with zombie movies. For more information follow him on linkedin

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