Timing is crucial when it comes to connecting with email subscribers. Even the most relevant and well-written message can fall flat if it's delivered at the wrong time.
Finding the ideal time to land in your audience's inbox can feel like a guessing game. This guide explores the perfect time to send an email blast, including the time and day of the week. Learn how timing can affect the success of your email marketing campaign and what to consider when scheduling promotional email blasts.
When is the best time to send an email blast?
For optimal deliverability, send your email in the middle of the week and the middle of the day —s a rule of thumb, the best time to send an email blast is on weekdays like Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Business emails can achieve higher open rates if delivered between the peak work hours of 10 am to 3 pm.
That said, the day of the week and the time of the day only play a small role in determining the best time to send sales emails. Optimal timing is also influenced by the content of your email blast and your subscribers' demographics.
For example, an email marketing campaign for a new product often requires multiple messages, potentially sent at different times. Advertising the release with an email blast two weeks before, one week before, three days before, and one day before can build hype.
When is the worst time to send an email blast?
The worst time to send an email blast in on weekends, particularly on Sundays. Avoid sending emails between 7 pm and 2 am on Saturday and Sunday nights.
When scheduling email blasts, it's best to balance urgency with providing readers enough time to perform your desired action. Although the fear of missing out (FOMO) can be a valuable e-commerce tactic, failing to provide adequate notice can result in more unsubscribes than conversions.
How to measure email blast success
Track engagement metrics to understand the value of your campaigns and refine your email marketing strategies.
Review the following benchmarks to weigh the best time of day to send your email blast.
Open rates
Depending on your industry, a good email open rate is between 17% and 28%. The best email timing will result in high open rates and more conversions.
Click-through rates
Customers who open your emails and click through to your website are traveling further down the sales funnel. Review your click rates to determine how many subscribers acted on your CTA and the strategies that contributed to your success.
Conversion rates
An email marketing campaign is often measured by its conversion rate, which details how many subscribers not only opened your message and clicked through to your website but took your desired action. This action can be anything, like purchasing a product or subscribing to a service.
Bounce rates
Low bounce rates indicate a healthy email list. An increase in your bounce rate can signal that it's time to review your customer data or reapproach your segmentation.
Unsubscribe rates
Similar to bounce rates, unsubscribe rates can highlight ineffectiveness.. While most email blasts spur a few unsubscribes, don't overlook the clear message of a high unsubscribe rate.
Optimizing these email engagement metrics can increase your reach and target your audience. Every email blast is a starting point — a new opportunity to elevate your brand and connect with customers.
What to consider when timing an email blast
The timing of your blast holds the same weight as the email subject line and the content found within. Brainstorm with your team to determine the best time to send out your marketing blast based on the following factors:
Target audience
Consider your subscribers' demographics, including their workdays, time zones, income, occupation, and age. When will your target audience most likely check their email and see your message?
Call-to-action (CTA)
Effective email strategies incorporate a call to action as compelling as the subject line. However, you should also consider the timing of your desired action to ensure subscribers can actually complete it.
Campaign goals
The goal of any email marketing campaign — even if it consists of a single email blast — is to increase engagement and drive sales. Given the timeframe you're considering, will your blast have enough time to reach those goals?
As you can see, an email blast is much more than a message sent to your subscribers. The techniques and strategies you implement can influence how your customers respond and will shape the success of your marketing efforts.
How to integrate timing into your email marketing strategy
Sending out email blasts during the middle of the day on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays may help boost your conversion rate. But the truth is that there's no one-size-fits-all approach. Rather, finding the ideal time requires extensive testing.
If you want to integrate timing into your email marketing strategy, consider A/B testing. Timing can be the variable you test, such as sending messages at 7 am vs. 7 pm or at different times of day. However you test your theory, measure your results. Then, use your findings to inform future email marketing campaigns.
Automation can also help you find the best day of the week with the highest open rates. For example, you could set your email send time for an email newsletter to early in the work week — these types of emails help subscribers get back into the groove, so an automated Monday delivery might be best.
The main takeaway
With so many factors affecting the best time to send an email blast, wouldn't it be nice if there was a tool that could help determine the best time for you?
Superhuman is the most productive email app ever made, and with Smart Send, you can reach prospects at the perfect time, every time. Just hit Cmd+Shift+L (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+L (Windows), and we'll deliver your email when it's most likely to be opened.
With Superhuman, you can fly through your inbox twice as fast, reply two days sooner, and save more than four hours every single week. Sign up for Superhuman today.
