Is there a time that is best for scheduling emails?

You're sending a marketing campaign and you need to ensure it gets to you intended audience on the 'right' day at the 'right' time so that the likelihood of being read and reacting in your intended way is increased, but what is the best time and furthermore what is the best day.

While there isn't a definitive answer, there is plenty of info out there that talks about the tests and studies that have been performed to figure out this puzzling issue. I'd love to hear what everyone on WF has to say about this.....

Best Day To Send Email Campaigns

I'd personally give Mondays a miss if you can, everyone is catching up on work they didn't complete from the previous week, recuperating from a busy weekend, or generally unable to address any new campaign that arrives in their inbox.

A 2013 study from Get Response outlined that while most days were fairly even for open rates, Tuesdays were more popular as far as the days when the most emails were sent. Take what you want from this, however as a general rule I try and avoid sending until later in the day on a Monday (and only if I must send on that day) and try to avoid Friday email campaigns for more industries (unless you are trying to promote tourism, food and beverage or weekend activities) altogether.

Best Time Of Day To Send An Email Campaign

I'd suggest sending your email campaign middle to later in the work day if you can (all dependent on the habits of your target audience of course), usually people are checking their emails in the morning to kick off the day and by the afternoon are looking to view emails that may be less work-related. Most emails are opened within an hour of sending, providing a bit of an insight into the amount of time people are checking their mobile devices and getting push notifications, so be aware of when you are sending your emails as there can be a correlation between send times and open rates.

Email services such as Mailchimp have a paid feature called Send Time Optimization which allows you to view your subscribers click activity history to see when they are usually online and most engaged in email campaigns. This information allows the sender to calculate when is the best time you are most likely to interact and engage with your audience through campaigns. Most email services will have similar features you can explore so will be paid features others may be included, you'll need to check this out based on who you are using for your service.

While there is no ideal time, it's probably a game of developing an understanding of your target market for each and every campaign you create. Are they millennials, do they work 9 to 5, what are their interests and what time are they most likely to be online and ready to react to your CTA? There are times and days which you can rule out altogether while using paid features of some email programs such as Mailchimp may give you a deeper insight into scheduling campaigns at a time that may be the best response.

Scheduling the perfect time is not possible, however with insights and reporting you can get a deep understanding of your subscribers which may allow you to get closer to more effective open rate and conversion through scheduling success.

Over to everyone out there for their comments.