Is There a Perfect Moment to Hit Send?
The answer depends on who you ask.
Some experts beleive that there is a perfect time to send a message period, others that there are ideal times for different kinds of messages, and the rest might agree on a particular day of the week as being the best for sending that marketing message out via email. We take a more middle-of-the-road approach and advocate that you do what works best for you and your prospects. If you’ve done your homework and gotten a good idea of the habits of your target audience, your window of opportunity might be very different from someone else’s.
Click on this image for the full infographic at a larger size (this image has been cropped for space)
The Experts Weigh In
Because opinions are so widely varied, we want to give you an idea of where some top industry experts stand on the issue of timing:
Linda Formichelli – When’s the Best Time to Send Email to Your List?
My take is that you never know when someone is going to be at their computer and ready to buy — so why knock yourself out trying to figure out “the very best minute” to email? And why apply a hard-and-fast “waiting” rule, when you’ve got something of value to pass along to your audience?
Also, there’s this amazing thing about email: If the recipient is not available right when you send it, the email will be sitting there waiting for them when they are ready.
We think that Linda makes an excellent point in favor of a more relaxed approach to timing your emails. To us this line of thinking would have you erring on the side of caution if nothing else and hitting send early on in the day so that people have more time to open a message without it getting lost in the shuffle.
Dave Chaffey – When is the best time of day to send an email?
This week I review a related issue, asking: ”is there a best time of the day to send an email?” Again, the answer is “yes, definitely”, but it depends, so you have to test it. It depends on audience, but I hope these 3 examples show it’s worth testing.
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So the takeaway from these examples is that targeting, creative and relevance of the offer may matter much more, but testing may show that you can make your email campaigns more effective through selecting the broadcast time. For further reading, check this on email timing tests from Email Marketing Reports.
You’ll need to read the examples Dave is referring to in order to get the full benefit from this quote. He has some solid points in favor of selecting a time, and in his final example he lists the percentage gains one company experienced from fine-tuning and testing their email sending times and styles based on specific consumer behavior. it’s definitely worth a read!
Tessa Wegert – The Best Time to Send Emails, Tweets and Text Ads
…increased smartphone usage has led to email peaks at unexpected times, such as Sunday afternoons after the weekend partying has come to a close, and first thing in the morning (the average person first checks their phone just after 7 a.m.). You can try to stay ahead of the latest reports and case studies, but a more effective strategy might be to consider the nature of your message and what makes the most sense for your brand.
Tessa makes a good point; people are spending more time on mobile devices (not just smartphones) and this can lead to a wider variety of “peak” times for email to be opened. People simply have more opportunities to check their email, both on and off the clock.
Ron Evans – Email Marketing Timing: When and How to Use Email Marketing for Best Results
…the only way to determine the most effective use of email marketing for your organization is to test, test, and test some more! Without carefully measuring the results of different variations on timing, frequency, and number of contacts (not to mention messaging and creative) there is no way to know what works best for you to achieve an optimal response rate.
This is very sound advice indeed because here Ron is telling us that in order to find the groove that works best for you and your customers, you need to test, test, and test some more!
Like we said, there are opinions at both ends of the spectrum and a few places in between!
Video: What’s the best time to send out an email newsletter? Steve Robinson – Constant Contact
Here is another example of a specific day of the week and time being given as an ideal for businesses. In this case the discussion was regarding an email newsletter but this logic could be applied to virtually any campaign.
So Who’s Right?
All of them.
Yes, all of them.
Each one of these people backs up their opinions with the wisdom of their own experience as well as various studies and other research; it’s one thing to simply have an opinion, but having one you can ‘prove’ is slightly more credible.
Media Mayhem
There were so many good email timing infographics we couldn’t pick just one! Here are some we couldn’t include in this post but thought that you should see:
Comments:
Do you have a perfect time to send an email?
If so, what is it? If not, why?
