Question: “Hi Charlie! I’ve got a small retail company and about 1,500 people on my email list, but I never know when the best time is to email them. Can you tell me when is the best time to send an email?” ~ Sarah V. – New Mexico

Thank you for your question, Sarah!

This is a question I hear a lot, and a tough one to answer so please bear with me…

There’s no easy answer, because in reality, the best time to send email is going to be different for every business…

Email marketing depends on a huge variety of factors:

–       when your customers are checking their email

–       what device they are using to check it

–       personal vs. business email addresses

–       the type of product or service you’re selling

–       what day of the week you’re sending your email

First, don’t let the complexity of the matter scare you off…

Email marketing can still create a HUGE advantage for your business… even if you don’t email on the “best” time.

Let’s face it, email still remains one of the best ways to get your message into the hands of both your prospects and established customers.

So, with no steadfast rule, let me give you some of my own experience.

Mondays and Fridays are the worst days for email open rates.

On Mondays, people are usually inundated with email from the weekend, and are in the midst of getting back into their weekly routine… This means they are spending less time with their email accounts, and are being pretty liberal with the delete button.

Fridays are the opposite effect – people are ready to get away from their computers and on with their weekend. Email simply isn’t a priority.

My favorite times are Tuesday and Thursday mornings. They tend to have the highest open rates, since people are settled into their workweek and being a little more mindful of incoming mail.

Noontime emails also tend to do well…

For consumer markets, Saturday mornings (and in some cases, Sunday mornings) tend to do very well. People are using this time to handle personal matters, relaxing, and are less distracted than they are during the workweek.

Now, if I don’t have your head spinning yet, let me toss in a few other nuggets worth thinking about…

Each industry sector is going to have different results with their email marketing…

Emails promoting nightlife type events are best received in the afternoons, when people are beginning to plan their evenings. Emails promoting lunch specials are best received in the late morning, to capitalize on people’s afternoon meal planning.

Email promoting retail stores should be received the day or two prior to that store’s busiest days, usually early in the week when people are planning their shopping.

So what do you do?

To figure out what day/time is best suited for your business, the key is measurement…

Keeping a close eye on the results of your past and present email marketing will offer the most insight into when you will get the best results from your email efforts.

Try multiple days and times to see what works best for your business.

Take what you know of your customers and extrapolate their email habits…

Are you customers typically on the go? Make sure your emails are optimized for mobile devices.

Are your customers working in fast-paced environment? Keep your messages short and to the point.

Remember all of the things in your customers’ lives that keep them away from their inboxes, and use them to rule out times to send emails.

As with all of your marketing, test, test, test!

Keeping a close eye on this stuff will offer huge insights into what’s working and what isn’t.

While there’s really no “right” answer to the question, you can get close with some effort and careful tracking.

You’ve got to get your hands dirty and find out what works best for you.

In your corner,
Charlie

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