What time of day should I send my email?

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f this is a question you are currently asking yourself, fear not, you’re not alone.

The honest answer is we cannot accurately tell you when and how often to send messages to your customers or subscribers — there is no “best” time or day to send email. What we can tell you however is that if you capture the right data initially, the time and day that you send your emails will have less importance.

The timing of your emails will be totally dependent on the actions of your subscribers. Subscribers that read your emails, click on links, and convert to customers are the ones you can send emails to more frequently, but only if the emails contain relevant information that is anticipated and/or will be viewed favourably by the recipients.

To determine your optimal frequency, you should analyse your data and carefully monitor the results of each send, not just the emails that get the highest opens and clicks. Also, look for trends in your open and click-through rates as well as the number of unsubscribes as this could be a sign of ‘email fatigue’. While emails that are relevant to the recipient have fewer unsubscribes, an increase in your sending frequency could bump up the numbers if the emails aren’t relevant.

What are the best times to send?

The “ideal sending time” is complex and depends on a variety of factors such as your industry, audience demographics and message. Taking into consideration that more people now check email on mobile devices numerous times throughout the day, it is questionable whether there is a single best time to reach them. Some subscribers may view your email on their mobile device while at work or on the road, but may not act on it until later that evening, or the next day.

How often should you send email?

It’s best not to place too much emphasis on the frequency of your email sends; instead, focus on how often you can send more relevant content. Frequency isn’t just about how often you want to send your messages, but how often your subscribers want to hear from you. Each marketer will find that different rules apply for their prospects and customers. As your approach becomes more targeted, and your emails more relevant, you will begin to establish the right frequency for each of your customer segments. It’s important to find the right balance when it comes to sending email. Although you don’t want to abuse the privilege by sending too frequently, it’s also possible to send too infrequently. If you go for long periods of time without sending any email communications, and then you start sending regular blasts around a holiday, specific event or season, you may once again trigger unsubscribes.

Although you must decide the right frequency for your particular business, try not to let more than a month go by without contacting subscribers, either with regular content relevant to your subscribers, transactional email, or with administrative requests, such as an invitation to update their preferences, product updates, scheduled training courses, new data sheets, and other service-related materials. Watch for trends. Declining response, open and clickthrough rates can be signs of list fatigue.

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