I’m sometimes asked ‘when is the best time to send an email campaign?’ followed by ‘an expert somewhere said it should be Tuesday morning/Wednesday afternoon’ (or whatever day the expert says).
In fact, it’s different for every business. Monday mornings and Friday afternoons tend not to be the best times for most, but the only way to be sure is to check your reports over a period of time and look for patterns. This can be data inside your email marketing platform, but also sales data and website stats.
I’ve been working with a client whose sales are significantly better on rainy days. This is because many of their customers are tradespeople who will be out working on sunny weekdays and probably out with their families on sunny weekends. So we’re experimenting with the types and frequency of offers and emails that are sent on weekends to prompt sales for the week ahead, based on the weather.
I would have expected the weather to have an impact on say an ice cream business or visitor attraction, but this came as more of a surprise. And it shows how important it is to know your customers and check your data.
When I posted the above on LinkedIn I had two great examples of knowing your audience and data posted in the comments. Nicola Semple is a career coach who sends her emails on Sunday evenings because that’s when her readers are most likely to be thinking about leaving their jobs. Owner of Brandworks Social, Dan Ince used to work for a well-known food manufacturer and he could could predict monthly soup sales more accurately using the long range weather forecast rather than comparing data for the same month in the previous year.
It’s also worth noting that it’s not as important to send emails at precisely the right time as it is with social media posting. With some social media platforms, your post is only visible on followers’ feeds for a matter of minutes – you have more time than this with email marketing. The ‘window’ you have with email marketing varies, but almost all emails tend to be opened in the first 24 hours they are sent, with most being opened in the first few hours. So while it’s well worth checking your reports to see when your subscribers are most likely to respond, you don’t have to target the timing of your campaign as tightly as with social media.
If you need some help with your email marketing please get in touch. I can do everything from helping you plan out your strategy to setting up and managing your email marketing for you.