When is The Ideal Time to Send an Email For Maximum Results

Simple factors like when your subscribers receive your email can make or break your email marketing performance. When one-fifth of all emails are read within an hour, it is critical to determine the best hour of the day to send your emails.

So, how can you bulletproof your email marketing campaign's send-out time so that your audience engages with emails? 

By deciding when your audience or community will respond the best to your email campaign.

This article will show you how timing affects email marketing outcomes and provide insights on the best time for you to send emails for maximum engagement and conversion rates.

Are you ready to get your timing right?

Let’s dive right in!

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The Best Day to Send Emails 

Mark your calendars!

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are the three ideal days for email sending.

Check out the diagram below with the estimated average daily email opens.

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In summary, and based on ten independent studies, Tuesday is the best day for sending out marketing emails.

The highest open rates for emails are experienced on Tuesday, which improves CTR and increases site traffic. The second best ideal day to maximize open rates is Thursday.

Does this indicate that Tuesday is now the best?

Well…

Even though we'd like to suggest Tuesday, the answer depends on various variables, including the volume of emails you sent, the subject line you used, and the level of engagement your subscribers showed that day.

But based on the statistics, we can make only one inference: sending emails in the middle of the week will result in the highest open rates.

Which one of them might be wondering? 

So, to provide you with a dependable response, the following need to be the one with the biggest revenue per recipient:

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As you can see, Thursday had a 33.5% greater revenue per recipient rate than Tuesday and Wednesday, even though Tuesday had the strongest opens.

Therefore, it is safe to claim that Thursday continues to be the workday with the best open-to-conversion rate.

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Worst Day to Send Emails

Why do most email marketing companies avoid sending emails on Tuesdays (working days), Sundays, and Saturdays?

To start, Tuesday's emails have demonstrated the lowest click-to-open rate of the week.

Secondly, Saturday registers the lowest email open rate (17.3%) and the lowest click-through rate (2.4%), making it the worst time to send emails. (See  the diagram below)

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Surprisingly, the click-to-open rate is higher on Sundays than on some weekdays (Mondays and Tuesdays), but this is possible for emails sent in the evening.

Why?

Because just like Saturday, Sundays fall on weekends when people are out of the office doing their life activities and relaxing.

What is the conclusion of the worst day to send an email?

Saturday is the worst day to send out a campaign due to the poor open and click-through rates.

But if you absolutely must send out a campaign over the weekend, what should you do?

The best time to send it should be Sunday evening.

You could target subscribers at home getting ready for Monday by doing this.

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The Best Time to Send Emails

Now that we've found the best day, what about the best time?

When emails are sent at the correct times, subscribers become devoted customers, whereas unsubscribe rates increase when sent incorrectly.

A survey conducted by Hubspot showed that the highest email engagement rate occurred from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.

The figures demonstrate when most audiences start their day and continue into the afternoon.

Whenever you send out emails to your audience containing a sale or promotion, you should strive to send them when your audience often takes their lunch breaks.

This is simply because they are likelier to check their emails during this time.

Check out the diagram below to understand it better.

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Marketers were asked in the same poll (by Hubspot) what day of the week receives the highest interaction from their marketing emails.

22.6% of American marketers mentioned Monday, 24.9% Tuesday, and 21.3% Wednesday.

When asked about the time of day that their emails receive the most interaction, 34.9% of marketers said between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m., and 27.6% said between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.

According to these statistics, the best days for engagement are the first three days of the workweek, especially between 9 am and 3 pm.

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Worst Time To Send Emails

Knowing which times have the worst open rates can help you avoid them. This will give you an advantage and prevent you from paying unneeded, low open rates.

Data reveals that the following are the worst times to send:

• 7 pm to 5 am
• 6 pm to 5 am
• 6 pm to 3 am
• 4 pm to 4 am

In summary, the worst time to send emails is at night, between 6 p.m. and 5 a.m.

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Why?

After a long day at work, people aren’t interested in reading emails or making purchases, which is one explanation for this result.

If you want your email subscribers to engage with you, avoid sending emails after business hours and late at night.

Timing is crucial, particularly in the realm of emails. 

Like a well-timed punchline, knowing when to hit "send" can mean the difference between a triumphant inbox and a virtual tumbleweed blowing through cyberspace. 

Now, let's spill the tea on perfect email timing, shall we?

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Why Timing Matters for Email Marketing 

There aren't any strict guidelines regarding the best time to send an email. It depends on when your particular audience is most responsive. 

Each email is directed to a particular group of recipients with unique online preferences.

In other words, your company's ideal email-sending timing might not coincide with another marketer's.

In fact, 85% of emails go into spam folders, but 58% of users check them daily, which is great news, right?

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Also, it’s worth noting that 23% of all emails are opened in the first hour following delivery.

But,
The likelihood of an email being opened falls below 1% after 24 hours.

As a result, if your subscribers have not opened your emails within the first day of delivery, they likely won't do so in the future.

Moreover, those emails do not include any that their email service provider's spam filters have deleted.

It's also a good idea to research average email open rates and get more advice.

So why does timing matter?

Improves Open Rates

Your recipients might open or immediately delete your email, depending on when you send it.

The receiver will likely open your email if you send it at the right time.

Maximizes Click-Through Rates

Most emails, especially those used for sales and marketing, contain links to the business' website.

If someone opens your email, the chance that they will click through to learn more about your offering increases.

Statistics show that for the highest click-through rates, 5 pm works best.

Increases Website Visits

The likelihood of generating an online transaction will increase if you persuade your email reader to read it and click on one of the links you have included.

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Email Benchmarks For Different Industries

You may be interested in knowing how your statistics stack up against others in the same field. 

What open rates should businesses like yours anticipate? 

How much bounce is too much?

What kind of data are content marketers using to raise engagement rates?

Knowing the typical metrics for your area is crucial before sending out emails.

First things first!

The open rate is the percentage of total campaign recipients who opened the email.

The table below illustrates how drastically the average food and pharmacy email open rates differ.

And this is directly tied to each target audience's behavior and demographics.

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Guidelines For When To Send Emails

Getting the timing of your business emails right can greatly impact the number of recipients who read them and eventually use the information you include to make a purchase.

It all comes down to finding that perfect spot when your recipients are fully awake, energized, and prepared to take on the world—or, at the very least, their inbox.

You can use these tips to determine a suitable time for your company:

Send During Daytime Hours

If you're sending an email to a business or professional colleague, send it within regular work hours to increase the likelihood that they'll see it.

But here's the twist: 

Even if you don't have a personal connection with the recipient, don't fret! Sending emails throughout the day is still a successful tactic. 

Why? 

Chances are, they already have a routine of checking their inbox regularly. They will gladly open your email if you contact them at the right time.

Avoid Mondays

Here's a valuable tip: 

Avoid Mondays like the plague if you want your emails to stand out!

Why, you ask? 

Consider this: When your subscribers return to work, their inboxes are flooded with emails from Friday night and the weekend. It's a busy start to the week, and the chaos may obscure your carefully written message.

Mondays are all about making up lost time and completing tasks from the prior week. 

People put urgency first. 

Therefore, they have limited time to open and read your email. Amid the barrage of messages and unfinished business, it is difficult to stand out.

So, be strategic and avoid Monday mayhem.  

Use Business Hours

Sending emails so they are read during business hours is often the best course of action.

This could entail setting up a pre-written message to send at 5 am, waiting in the recipient's inbox when they log in to their email.

It could also entail sending the email late in the morning when most people have settled into their routine and may have time to open incoming emails as they arrive.

Emails sent throughout the day with the assumption that the recipient will read them perform better than those sent later in the day or night.

Remember, timing is everything. 

Send emails throughout the day to ensure rapid readership and reduce their chance of getting lost in the shuffle.

Give Advance Notice

When emailing about a particular event, it is best to allow the receiver plenty of time to answer.

For instance, if you send the invitation beforehand, some recipients may be unable to attend the event because they only check their non-personal contact emails every few days.

Therefore, consider sending this kind of message about a week in advance.

Consider The Middle of The Week

Here's a secret: 

If you want to grab your recipients' attention, aim for the middle of the week—Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are where the magic happens!

On Fridays, we all start daydreaming about the upcoming weekend. It's tough to capture anyone's full attention, so save your Friday communications for leisure.

If you want to really make an impact, look at those lovely midweek days. This is the sweet spot where your messages will be enthusiastically received, and open rates will soar. 

It's the secret of getting people's attention when it matters.

Look At the Time

You've heard the standard advice about sending emails during business hours. It's a good place to start, but let's take it up a notch, shall we? 

Research to determine the optimum time to email your audience.

Try sending the same email at various times of the day to recipients in the same demographic category.

Check out the groups with the best open rates, and use that data to guide your decisions on when to send emails in the future.

Know Your Audience

Your database contains many email recipients, each with distinct habits and preferences. Some are consummate professionals tethered to their PCs, while others are ardent mobile users devoted to their handheld gadgets. 

How can you break the code and improve the performance of your emails?

However, if your emails are primarily destined for other firms or professional partners, a different strategy comes into play. Your secret weapon is the tried-and-true midweek, high noon format, which guarantees that your messages are delivered at just the right moment to capture the interest of your business-minded receivers.

Ah, but how can you decipher these intricate details about your audience? 

Simple! 

Learn everything there is to know about them. Explore their preferences in-depth, observe their behavior, and utilize this useful information to guide your sending timings. 

It's similar to possessing a secret decoder ring that allows you to unlock the path towards achieving success in your emails.

Analyze Your Competition

The other companies are sending their messages at the exact times you are because email timing best practices, such as sending emails during business hours on a weekday, are well known.

Subscribe to your competitors' lists to learn when they send emails. Use that knowledge to help your business gain a timing advantage.

Now, let's discuss the factors to consider when choosing the best moment to push the send button.

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Factors to Consider When Choosing the Best Time to Send Emails

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Are you aware that different times are appropriate for emailing depending on your industry and target market?

When determining when to send your emails, keep the following considerations in mind:

1. Audience Behavior and Demographics

When thinking about sending an email, it is essential to understand your audience and their demographics.

The best time to email one group of readers might not be great for another group.

Marketers must closely monitor the behavioral patterns of their target audiences in various geographical locations. For example, sending emails on Sundays is generally not advisable, as they have lower open rates. 

However, in Arab countries, Sundays are considered working days, so sending emails on that day can be advantageous. Therefore, it is important to conduct thorough research and analysis of the target audience's behavior to increase the effectiveness of marketing efforts.

2. Products and Services You Offer

When to send your emails depends on this and other important factors.

If you provide B2B solutions, Tuesday is the best day.

In contrast, Friday or the weekend is a better choice if you work in the entertainment industry.

3. Subject Lines

When an email arrives in your mailbox, the first thing you notice is, undoubtedly, the subject line.

But are you aware that poor subject lines can result in you losing your marketing battle to your competitors?

Sometimes, the decision to open or not open an email is just based on the subject line.

4. Email Frequency

While sending too few emails can prevent them from having the desired effect, sending too many can annoy your readers.

Choose the most effective email frequency for your company when planning your emails.

According to research by Marketingsherpa, subscribers like to get marketing emails at least once a week, as shown in the figure below.

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Pro tip: Use trial and error to determine your sector's best frequency.

5. Seasonal Changes

Seasons have a significant impact on your open rates as well, which may surprise you.

Usually, marketers avoid sending email blasts on the weekends.

For instance, if you discover that a particular part of the world experiences snowfall or monsoons, you can still try your luck.

Since many people will be stuck at home after their weekend plans are canceled, there is a good chance that they will open and read your email.

6. User Experience

The first time a user opens and reads your email, it will also affect whether or not he does so again.

The email should have attractive graphics and simple, understandable language and be created with the user in mind.

Since over 42% of emails are opened and read on mobile devices, they should also be mobile-friendly.

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7. A/B Test Email Sending Times

The best time to email someone may change. As a result, it's essential to occasionally A/B test your email schedule to find the best time to send emails to your desired audience.

Conduct an A/B test on email timing by sending one email at a time and selecting different times to send new emails.

Comparing metrics like open rate and conversions will help identify the email that is performing the best overall.

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How To Get Higher Email Open Rates

When developing your email-sending strategy, aiming for higher email open rates is advisable.

Your audience may have varied interaction habits; thus, determining the optimum time for your business is your personal decision.

Below, we'll look at how to discover your best sending time and how to get greater open rates to help you out.

Let’s get into it!

Use Advanced Reporting And Analytics Tools

You must track your data and come to your own conclusions to determine the ideal time to send emails.

The following are the top considerations you need to make:

• Email open rate
• Click-through rate
• Conversion rate
• Email bounce rate

Email marketing tools will provide cutting-edge data and analytics to help you accomplish that.

A good tool should help you monitor your email campaign and track your campaign's performance, openings, clicks, and unsubscribes.

Other specific metrics that your email marketing tool should track include:

• Recipient activity
• Link performance 
• Email client and mobile device tracking
• Activity by location

Leverage Email Marketing Automation

Consider this: Comparing your email marketing statistics can help you gain insights that guide your choices. It's like seeing into a crystal ball, giving you newfound power to improve performance.

Here is a little test for you: Schedule a few emails for Thursday at 9 a.m. to test the waters. Watch the magic happen as you monitor the effect on open rates, click-throughs, and conversions. 

But don't stop there! 

Email automation allows you to streamline this process, ensuring consistent engagement without the manual effort.

Now, I won't sugarcoat it—this process takes time. 

Understanding your audience, interpreting their actions, and creating emails that have a real impact is an investment. However, I can assure you that the quest is worthwhile. Solving the puzzles behind your audience's preferences may increase email engagement and conversion rates dramatically.

Refine Your Subject Lines

The significance of a strong subject line cannot be emphasized enough!

A simple subject line will increase your open rate and be your best first-impression weapon.

Just consider your inbox. Would you ever click on a spammy-looking link?

Certainly not!

Therefore, be sure to have a clear message that will get through spam filters when you write subject lines for your audience.

Here are some hacks for writing effective subject lines that can increase open rates:

• Keep them brief and to the point
• Take into account the sizes of mobile devices’ screens
• Highlight the immediate benefit
• Use emojis to stand but appropriate ones
• Add a sense of urgency

Your subject lines will be more memorable in your subscribers' inboxes if you use the tips above.

Take a look at the example below.

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Remember that your rivals will also use similar strategies to woo your subscribers.

Use whatever additional performance-enhancing tools you may have to stay one step ahead of them.

Use an AI-powered email subject line tester to evaluate the effectiveness of your subject line.

Your tester should display ideas to improve it to meet the industry standard.

Run A/B Testing Campaigns On Everything

A/B testing is one of the best B2B email marketing toolkit strategies for increasing engagement.

This test helps you find out what your audience enjoys seeing the most.

Every small aspect, from your subject lines to the color of your CTA, could either increase or decrease open rates.

Even if you believe you have the ideal mixture, you should still test all components to determine your winning recipe.

Remember that consumer preferences and behaviors constantly shift, making staying on top of them imperative.

In addition, as soon as you have a winner, you may begin experimenting with the day and time of your campaign.

To achieve better outcomes, you must, of course, have a more extensive email list.

However, even if your email list doesn't have a million subscribers, conducting any kind of test will be beneficial and get you one step closer to understanding your target market!

For a more detailed guide on how to increase email open rate, read our +40 tips article.

Wrapping It Up

So, we've reached the end of our journey into mastering email timing for maximum results.

We've gone over the ins and outs of finding that elusive, perfect moment to hit that send button.

But before we part ways, let's discuss a game-changer in email marketing: AI bees.

It’s an AI-powered platform that takes the guesswork out of email timing.

It's like having a personal timing wizard who analyzes data and provides actionable insights.

By leveraging its advanced algorithms, AI bees help you determine the best time to send your emails, ensuring they stand out in your recipients' crowded inboxes.

Schedule a demo with us today to learn more about our AI solutions.

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