best time to send emails

The Best Time to Send an Email

Suppose you’ve gathered a good amount of new subscribers. Also, you’ve made the effort to validate your email list and you’ve crafted your best email yet. It’s time to share it with your audience! Now comes the tricky question: what is the best time to send out your email? Does it really matter when you send it, as long as it lands in your customer’s inbox anyway?

There are numerous studies out there on this topic. While a detailed analysis may call for different approaches, these studies all seem to agree on one concise, helpful answer. Are you ready to find out what it is?

Stay with us and read on!

Choosing the best time to send an email

send email

According to the several studies we’ve read, there are three best days to hit “Send”:

  • Tuesday: the majority of the researchers agrees that this is the very best day
  • Thursday: the second best time, advised as the day to choose if you send two newsletters a week
  • Wednesday: follows Tuesday and Thursday as the day with really good email open rates

As you can see, we have a pretty clear idea on what the ideal day is to send an email. Recent years studies prove that Tuesday gets the highest email open and click-through rates.

Of course, there’s an explanation for that: on Mondays, people are overwhelmed with obligations. So they’re most likely not going to spend time reading a marketing email.

Tuesdays, though, bring a sense of relief. Because they accomplished many of the week’s urgent tasks, your customers feel like they can take a few moments to relax and look at those great offers you sent them.

Wednesdays tend to be dedicated to more professional deadlines.

Then, Thursdays are right before Fridays, so people already enter the “weekend mode” and are more likely to be distracted from their daily schedule.

A good email list hygiene improves your deliverability and reduces your email bounce rate with up to 98 %!

validate email list

Now let’s look at what the best hours are to send your email:

10 A.M.: it’s a winner, statistics show, followed by 11 A.M. People have arrived at the office and, around this time, they’re probably having a quick coffee break. Perfect moment to check their email.

8 P.M.: and later, until midnight. They finished their work and house chores, and are watching T.V. and checking their email one more time.

2 P.M.: apparently, it’s one of the hours with the highest open rates. Your customers may be on their lunch break, or just coming back from it, and still have enough time to click on your email.

6 A.M.: millions of people are starting their day. Guess what’s the first thing they do, while drinking their coffee? That’s right: they check their email.

Studies show that 23% of subscribers open an email within an hour after you send it. Remember this next time you schedule your campaign and send it 30 minutes before peak time.

email marketing tips

Conduct your own email study

All this information is very helpful, but nothing will bring better results than conducting your own study.

Use Google Analytics and take the time to observe your stats.

If you haven’t been consistent with the days and times you send your emails, pick a day and set it as a deadline when you plan your campaigns. See how they perform, then send your newsletter on a different day and compare the results.

Keep testing until you get to know your audience and find that sweet spot.

An important fact to keep in mind when choosing the best time to click “Send:” email open rates depend very much on your industry. More specifically, your content. If you own a practical business, stick with the work days. On the other hand, if you run a magazine, a blog or you’re sending a great paragraph from your latest book, Sunday stands out as the day when people consume the most recreational info.

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The sources used in this article were studies conducted or quoted by MailChimp, HubSpot, Experian, Coschedule and Customer.io.