Email marketing – it’s been around for years and quite often it (unfairly) gets a bad rep as a marketing channel. Words like ‘outdated’ and ‘SPAM’ are probably already springing to mind as you read this.

And we get it. You are inundated with emails day in, day out. Whether it’s to your work email address or your personal account, everyone wants to try to sell you something. So why add to that noise?

The answer, as we’ve seen both for our clients and for ourselves, is because it is still one of the best tools in your marketing toolbox. Providing it’s done right.

Sending out a regular weekly or monthly e-newsletter gives you the opportunity to reach out to your database in an authentic way, build a rapport with your clients and provide them with valuable insights that they may not see otherwise. 

We’ve seen great results for our clients through introducing e-newsletters. For some it’s the channel that’s giving them the best ROI right now.

But the big question is, with so many emails competing for your clients’ attention, when is the best time to send yours?

What days are favoured by marketers?

If you Google ‘When is the best day to send an email campaign?’, you’ll likely be greeted with the results we’ve listed below.

While they aren’t wrong, be sure to take them with a pinch of salt, as we’ll explain after.

  • Mid-week is best. According to plenty of surveys over the years, emails sent on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday tend to have the best open and click rates. With 1-3pm on a Tuesday or Thursday often being reported as the highest performing.
  • Avoid Weekends. A lot of marketers believe weekends are a no-go for your e-newsletter. Most people are busy running errands, out having fun with friends (remember those days..?), or likely binge-watching Netflix.
  • Manic Mondays. Mondays are generally busy for everyone, so the likelihood of your client being able to read and enjoy an e-newsletter on a Monday morning is going to be slim.

If these stats have sold you on sending your new e-newsletter early afternoon on a Thursday, here’s why that might not be the best approach – Everyone else is sending theirs at that time too.

So when is the best time to send an email campaign?

Our answer to this question is not quite as straightforward as the suggestions above. The best time to send your campaign is going to depend on your audience.

While that may not be the cut and dried answer you were hoping for, it’s the reality of the situation. You need to think about who your ideal clients are and when they’re likely to have the time to read your email.

At Create Engage, we’ve found that our best results have come from sending emails out on a day which goes against all of the agreed ‘best practice’.

Our e-newsletter goes out on a Sunday.

Since switching our weekly newsletter to Sundays we’ve seen a dramatic increase in opens. Previously we had an average open rate of around 18%. That’s jumped to up to 28% on a Sunday.

We found that our readers, people like you, like to check their emails ahead of the coming week and we’ve taken the opportunity to grab their attention during a quieter time.

Are you ready to start your own email marketing?

Of course, when it comes to discovering when your best ‘send time’ is for your audience, that will likely take some trial and error. There is no harm in testing different days or times each month to see when does better.

In many email marketing platforms you can even create A/B tests which will send your campaigns out at different times to measure which performs best.

So if you’ve been thinking about starting an e-newsletter, we would thoroughly recommend that you give it a try. And most importantly, don’t just follow the crowd when it comes to distribution. Find a time and day that works for you and your audience.

Get in touch if you’d like to chat more about email marketing. We’d be happy to help you get started!