This is the second part of my series on e-mail marketing. Check out the last installment, Email Marketing - The Legal Stuff.
When trying to schedule an email campaign, think about when you check your own inbox and actually click through to things. There’s not really a “magic time” where people are opening all their emails, but it does vary over the course of the day.
A lot of companies try the “first thing in the morning” approach, and when you look at research from MailChimp, this might not really be helping. Email open rates peak between 12PM and 4PM Eastern time. It’s probably because this is when the largest possible population in the US and Canada are awake and at their desks. Emails will be fresh in their inboxes when sent around this time of day. People on the East Coast are taking afternoon breaks, customers in Texas are eating lunch at their desks, and those on the west coast might be in their late morning lull.
The day of the week also matters in terms of open and click-through rates. Wednesdays and Thursdays have the highest open rates of the entire week. Why? Think about it: on Mondays, you might not have looked at your email over the weekend, and there’s probably lots of emails you’re automatically hitting “Delete” on just to get through the pile. By the middle of the week, you’re ready for a little break, and that 50% off sale email that just arrived from your favorite store, or newsletter from your alma mater starts to look really good. When timing your email, think about when is the time you’d be most likely to open it.
If you’re not sure when is best, try dividing your list and doing some delivery-time testing. Split your email list population in half and try sending at two times that are a few hours apart. When you have a clear winner, try the winning time and a time later in the day. Since there is no agreed upon best time to send email, you should find the best time for your own audience through testing.
In my next post I’ll offer insight into the number of emails you should be sending to your lists.
Tags: best practices, communication, e-mail, email, email campaign, email list, email marketing, Marketing
