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Jacob Morrow

2024-05-29 11:30:18

1266 Views, 5 min read

Every marketer, businessperson, and professional puzzles over the question: what is the best time to send email? Don't worry, you are not alone in this struggle to get the right timing.

That is exactly what this guide is going to help you achieve. Going forward, you will discover the best times to send particular types of emails, crafted according to your specific subscriber audience type and the nature of your business.

Part 1: Best time to send an email

You know, figuring out when the best time to send emails can help you increase engagements, and new research adds some great information for timing strategies.

Based on a study of 2024, it is the general view that midweek sends, such as on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, gain the best open rates for emails.

Also, the time of the day matters a lot with the mornings from 8-11 a.m. and the afternoons between 4-6 p.m. being treated as the most prime times during which the receivers could open your emails.

However, this is very general, as the best timing can vary depending on the people you are targeting and your business characteristics.

Why Is There a Need for Email Delivery Timing?

Your email marketing lives or dies in that sense of timing.

More Email Opens: Emails sent at the right time are more likely to see an open email and, consequently, be opened. If your email arrives while your audience is checking his inbox, you are already one step ahead.

Increased Level of Engagement:After all, it is not about the opens; emails need to be read and engaged with. Sending an email at peak hours translates into higher engagement rates with the email.

Fewer Unsubscribes:Flooding inboxes at the wrong time can be very annoying on the part of the recipients and results in their having a high probability of unsubscribing. Giving them respect for their time shows that, indeed, you appreciate their attention.

Better Deliverability:By sending emails when the majority of your audience is online, you can improve your sender reputation. High open rates and engagement indicate to email service providers that your emails are valuable, thereby decreasing the likelihood that such emails are marked as spam.

So you need to understand this and take action on the best times to send your emails. You will be able to see the effectiveness of your campaigns shoot up.

Now let's discuss the best time to send an email in a detailed manner.

Part 2: Ideal Time to Send an Email by Category

Considering email marketing, one best time to send an email does not fit all. The time will drastically vary, depending on the kind of email you are sending out and to whom.

Let's discuss this in detail:

1. Promotional Emails

Promotional emails are sent to increase sales, inform about special offers, and point out new products. The timing of such newsletters can play a huge role in their increasing effectiveness.

Best time to send an email-promotional email

Best Days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Best Time: Late morning around 10 AM or early afternoon around 2 PM

Thursday and the second half of Wednesday work well because your receivers are already in their work cycle and are likely more receptive to promotional-based content, with no distraction by weekend plans or the rush of Monday.

2. Welcome Emails

Timing of welcome emails is very important; it is typically the first impression you make on new subscribers or customers. It should be almost immediately when one shows interest by just signing up to your website.

Best time to send an email-welcome email

Best Time: As soon as you have registered

Immediate gratification ensures that the excitement and level of involvement of a new subscriber are high, thus increasing the chances for interaction with your welcome content and any introductory offers you may have included.

3. Transactional Emails

Transactional emails are nothing more than order confirmations, shipping notifications, and password resets. These are one-off triggered emails that should strive to be sent immediately.

Best Time: Directly after the transaction or interaction

They are expected to be sent with excellent punctuality since transactional emails usually contain information that the receiver expects right away; timely delivery enhances user experience and builds trust.

4. B2B Emails

The right timing is harder still for B2B email campaigns because most of the people you send your emails to are professionals and have very little time.

Best time to send an email-b2b email

Best Days: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday

Most Ideal Time/Best Time: 8 in the morning or 4 in the afternoon

Most professionals check their business email early in the morning, as they start work, and late in the afternoon. Not lunchtime and not a little before the office working hours formally end.

5. B2C Emails

B2C emails target individual consumers and often need to fit into their schedules.

Best Days: Early in the morning on Saturday and Sunday

Best Time: Early morning around 9 AM or evening around 8 PM

Consumers are more likely to engage with emails during their leisure time, which includes weekends and outside of working hours.

6. Other Types of Emails

Email Newsletters: These work best if you send them between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.

Surveys and Request Feedback: The best time to send these out is either on Monday or Friday afternoons because the receivers may have more time to think of an appropriate response.

Re-engagement Emails: These are usually best sent at the weekend, or by the time when receivers have enough time to engage with you.

Now let's discuss the best time to send an email according to the different business types.

Part 3: Best Time To Send Emails by Your Business Type

The type of business is very important to consider when finding the best time to send emails. Seeing that there are distinct industries and mechanisms in which different business models interact with the audience, it, therefore, becomes a must to tailor an email timing strategy.

Now let's discuss how different kinds of businesses can implement their email campaigns more effectively:

1. E-commerce

E-commerce businesses work on timely promotions, product launches, and sales events. The goal is to catch consumers when they are most likely to shop online.

Best time to send an email-ecommerce

Best Days: Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday

Best Time: 10 AM for morning shoppers, 8 PM for the night browsers

A mid-week break or a Sunday evening is usually the only time when shoppers can take a pause and simply browse for purchases, taking into consideration the luxuries of what they're buying.

2. SaaS (Software as a Service)

SaaS companies normally target business clientele or even tech-savvy individuals. The targeting should be done at prime times when the resulting receivers will be both attentive and open to information on technology.

Best Days: Tuesday and Wednesday

Best Time: 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Mid-morning and early afternoon are the best times to send your emails. So you will have to get more active during this time.

3. Hospitality and Travel

Email timing could play an important role in bookings and customer engagement in the hospitality and travel industry. Typically, people make travel plans at certain times.

Best Days: Monday and Tuesday

Best Time: 8 AM and 9 PM

This is because most people travel in the mornings at the beginning of the week and in the evenings after work.

4. Non-Profit Organizations

Non-profits have to emotionally connect with their audience, hence the timing of engagement and giving is very important.

Best time to send an email-nonprofit-organization

Best Days: Tuesday and Thursday

Most Optimistic Hours: 10:00 AM and 6

E-mails sent mid-morning and early evening are more likely to gain the attention of people to react to meaningful content and determine whether to donate.

5. Retail

Both online and offline retail companies benefit from focusing on shoppers when buying is at its peak.

Best Days: Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday

Best Time: 10 AM, 8 PM

These times align with typical shopping behaviors, with Thursday marking the start of the shopping weekend and evenings being prime times for consumers to browse and purchase.

6. Real Estate

Real estate direct email marketing needs to be able to catch the eye of potential buyers or renters at that moment in time when they are most probably contemplating home and property decisions.

Best time to send an email-real estate

Best Days: Tuesday and Thursday

Best Time: 9 AM and 7 PM

Emails around mid-afternoon and early evening might catch people at the time when they are more likely to think about property purchases and viewings.

Overall, knowing the right time to send your emails for your type of business and understanding the habits of your customers will take your email marketing a notch higher.

Now, let us proceed and see how you can test the performance of your email sends to validate that your timing strategy works.

Part 4: How to Measure the Performance of Your Email Sends

Sending emails at the right time is only half of the battle measuring the performance of email sends can help you optimize your email marketing strategy.

Key metrics analysis of your email marketing campaign will give you insights into what works and what you need to improve.

The following are the key stats to keep in mind whenever you measure your campaigns' performance:

💡 Open Rate

  • What It Is: The percentage of people who open your email.
  • Why It Matters: A high open rate shows that your subject line is effective and email timing is on point.
  • Calculation:(Number of Emails Opened / Number of Emails Sent) x 100

💡 Click-Through Rate (CTR)

  • What It Is: The percentage of recipients that click the link in your email.
  • Why It's Important: Your email click-through rate reflects how engaging your email content is or if your call-to-action sounds appealing.
  • Calculation:(Number of Clicks / Number of Emails Sent) x 100

💡 Conversion Rate

  • What It Is: The percentage of people who have taken some desired action—like making a purchase or accepting an offer to attend a webinar.
  • Why it Matters: That directly correlates the performance of email to business goals.
  • Calculation: (Number of Conversions \ Number of Emails Sent) x 100

💡 Bounce Rate

  • What It Is: The percentage of emails that could not be sent to the inbox of the intended recipient.
  • Why It Matters: High bounce rates can damage your sender's reputation and reduce overall deliverability.
  • Calculation: (bounced emails / total emails sent) x 100

💡 Unsubscribe Rate

  • What It Is: The percentage of people who open your email and then immediately unsubscribe.
  • Why It Matters: It tells you whether your content matters and is valued by your audience.
  • Calculation:(Unsubscribe Count/Amount of Emails Sent) x 100

Using EngageLab to Track and Optimize Email Performance

EngageLab provides all the tools for the execution of the most conclusive and most actionable email campaign.

Best time to send an email-EngageLab1

Here's how you can use EngageLab to facilitate support of email marketing:

· Analytics on the Dashboard

The Analytics Dashboard is designed to provide you with all the metrics in real time. The dashboard will make campaign performance quite easy to follow.

Best time to send an email-EngageLab2

· A/B testing

Use A/B testing capabilities to test varied send times, subject lines, and email content to figure out what works best for your audience.

· Segmentation

Leverage powerful segmentation tools to focus on specific groups within your audience, based on behavior and preference, with email material that is relevant to their needs.

Best time to send an email-EngageLab3

· Automatically Generated Reporting

EngageLab has automated reporting, meaning you get all your important statistics without working for them—just easy-to-read reports.

Best time to send an email-EngageLab4

· Engagement Tracking

Track the involvement of your recipient personally, to see how they continue to interact with your email correspondence. It's also going to help you fine-tune your strategy for the best overall engagement.

Best time to send an email-EngageLab5

With EngageLab, you will have a comprehensive email performance report and the high flexibility to keep fine-tuning your strategy for even better results.

Remember with EngageLab: you get not only metrics but also actionable insights to help you craft better campaigns with shocking efficiency.

Now let's discuss how you can optimize your emails to accelerate subscriber list growth and enhance your conversion rates.

Part 5: Optimise Emails to Accelerate Subscriber List Growth: Takeaways

Increasing your list of subscribers and improving the rate of conversion of emails for marketing are the two key exercises for successful email campaign marketing.

Here are some simple tips for you:

  • Make Engaging Subject Lines: Well, a subject line is the first thing a recipient sees. What if you put in a good subject line that raises open rates?
  • Make Your Emails Personal: Personalized emails help to engage the recipients better.
  • Make It Responsive: Many people read emails on mobile devices. That's when mobile-friendly emails keep them engaged.
  • Include Clear Calls-to-Action (CTAs): Clear CTAs guide a recipient on what to do next for higher conversion.
  • Use Social Proof: Testimonials provide a level of trust and review.
  • Segment Your Audience: Different segments have different requirements. A personalized approach enhances your email effectiveness.
  • You can follow these tips and use EngageLab’s exclusive features to optimize your emails and accelerate subscriber list growth and overall engagement.

    Conclusion

    This leaves you fully knowledgeable of when is the best time to send an email.

    Make your email marketing more powerful and help your business fulfill its dreams with EngageLab's suite of revolutionary tools.

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