You have probably seen or heard that the best time to send out an email campaign is on either Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays between 10am and 4pm. This is generally seen as best practice across the email marketing sector. The question is though......does the best practice apply to all emails?
The send date and time for an email can vary based on several variables. These are just a few of the key variables.
- The email content. What message are you trying to put across in your email? What is the main CTA of the email? What is your business goal for this email? Is the email tone formal or informal?
- The target audience. What level of job or job titles are you sending to? How focused is your mailing list? Are the recipients on your list still prospects/leads, currently in the sales pipeline or are they already a customer?
- Your companies' industry. The industry you are emailing out to may expect to receive information at specific times of the week.
A company's main email campaigns should be sent during the best practice times. However, if the content is less formal or more thought leadership orientated, the best practices may not be the best time to increase email engagement.
Sending out an email campaign highlighting an employee/team event you recently did, or a link to your latest blog might get increased engagement on Friday's as opposed to the best practice send times.
On the other hand, sending out financial results or information on a Friday may not be a good idea. There is a higher chance of engagement with this content if the email is sent earlier in the week and early in the day.
Decision makers tend to check their emails either early in the morning or in an evening. If you are targeting decision makers, you might want to try sending out your email before the workday starts or towards the end of the day. You could even send out your email on a Sunday evening as CEOs, Presidents, Directors etc may check their emails on a Sunday before the start of the working week.
For a recruitment company a great email send time could be a Sunday evening or early in the work week. On Sunday's people can get the Monday fear, meaning they are not looking forward to another week at work. This is a prime time for when the recipients could be on the hunt for a new job.
Do you want your email to be lost in the millions of emails sent out at 10am on Tuesdays? From the details above you can see that there are many reasons why best practice times may not be the best time to send out an email campaign.
Try sending out emails outside of the best practice guidance. You might find a time that is niche for your company and your recipients which will help to increase your email campaign opens and clicks.
Consider your target audience, your content and which industries you are emailing too.
