The best time to send an email [Research]

Here’s a little exercise for you: check the timestamps on emails you’ve received in the last day. What did you find? For myself, I noticed that most of my emails, especially my subscription emails, were sent between 9-10am or 5-6pm.

This is no coincidence either.

While the answer to “When is the right time to email your customers?” is not an exact science, there are some key findings that we have discovered through extensive research, and those times listed above are in line with what we have found. Continue reading to find out what is the best time to send e -mail according to our findings.

When is the best time to send an email?

We surveyed over 300 email marketers in the US and found that the majority reported that the highest engagement for their marketing emails occurred between 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM and 12:00 PM and 3:00 PM.

The data shows when most audiences start their day and all afternoon.

If you’re sending emails that include a sale or promotion, try to send them at a time when your audience usually takes a lunch break, simply because that’s when they’re likely to check their email.

If you want something more specific when it comes to the time and day you need to send the email, here’s what you need to know:

In our survey, we asked marketers which day of the week their marketing emails get the most engagement. 22.6% of US marketers said on Monday, 24.9% on Tuesday and 21.3% of US marketers on Wednesday.

When we asked these same marketers what time of day their emails get the most attention, we found that 34.9% said 9:00am to 12:00pm, and 27.6% said 12:00pm to 3:00pm.

From this data, it appears that the best days to see a drop in engagement are during the first three days of the work week, especially between 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM.

For example, if you want to send a customer an incentive, such as a gift card from Ribbonit is more likely to be seen during this time.

Keeping your audience in mind is a good tip for timing your emails. If your buyer is a professional with a nine-to-five job, emailing during their ideal downtime is best.

You can also use tools like became.io retain customers and increase leads.

Why email is important to your business

In our research, we found that 85.4% of marketers use automation as part of their email marketing strategy. So, if you’re not taking advantage of automated email marketing, your competition probably is.

Automated email marketing gives you the opportunity to improve sales conversions — perhaps even by 14%. It’s a way to send customers unique offers—like product sales or newsletter updates—with information your reader can’t get anywhere else.

Emails should be tailored to what your customers want to see, allowing you to communicate with them instantly. Your emails should contain information that your customers would like to know more about – such as discount offers, business updates or product or service launches.

HubSpotThe email marketing tool allows users to create and send automated emails for free. It also allows you to schedule emails according to the preferences you have set. Your emails will then be sent to the contact lists you select.

When you come to this option in your automated email tool, you probably spend some time wondering when exactly your audience would like to receive your email, especially if it includes a limited time offer. You want to ensure that your emails are read by the largest possible number of customers.

How to measure email performance

If you are wondering about the best time to send a marketing email, something you need to know first. There is a lot of data on this topic that gives different answers, and one reason is that it depends on your audience and – more importantly – how you measure success.

For example, the best time for people to open your emails may be different from the best time for people to take action. Here’s a breakdown of the most important email metrics:

CTR

CTR refers to the number of people who open a link or image in an email. This number will always be less than the total number of email opens, as some people will open your email but then abandon it without further engagement.

52.2% of the marketers we surveyed reported that increasing the click-through rate is the main goal of their email marketing campaign. When asked to choose up to three strategies most effective at improving CTR, 48.2% of respondents included email personalization, 36.5% included creating effective subject lines, and 38.2% included providing value through marketing emails.

Open rate per click

When we compare the number of people who opened your email to the number who clicked on any link, this data is called the click-to-open rate. This metric helps you determine what information in your emails is important to consumers. CTOR is determined by taking the CTR by the open rate and multiplying it by 100%. For example, if your email receives 200 clicks and 120 opens, your click-to-open rate is 60%.

Open the level

Open rate is therefore the percentage determined from the number of subscribers who opened your email campaign. Emails with high open rates have short and effective subject lines. In addition, they are optimized for previews and pre-header text.

The best time to send B2B emails

It’s important to note that 47.9% of B2B marketers we surveyed reported peak engagement between 9am and 12pm.

To make sure you’re reaching your target audience, you’ll want to further segment your B2B audience—perhaps by job function or seniority—to accommodate different behaviors and ways of working with your email. You may even find that other times are better for your list

The best time to send B2C emails

In our survey, 30.9% of B2C marketers reported peak engagement between 9am and 12pm. Keep in mind that studies vary, consumer behavior is always changing, and performance varies depending on the metric you use as your end goal.

Keep testing to see what works best with your audience. One way to do this is by using an automation tool like The seventh sense which will fine-tune the delivery of your email using artificial intelligence.

Email marketing can be a difficult process. There are so many industries that are leveraging this in their own way and making an impact.

Your subscribers are already interested in your content. They value what you have to offer as a business, and as long as you send them emails that relate to that, you have a good chance of getting great metrics.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2019 and has been updated for completeness.