Lately, I’ve been inundated by poorly timed e-mail marketing campaigns from downtown organizations, restaurants that I love and even boutique hotels and travel destinations…
So, I thought it was time for a quick review lesson (sans lengthy statistics, research data, etc.) about WHEN to send e-mail marketing.
Disclaimer: This message is for those of you needing consistency and a weekly message. That’s my preference for most of our clients (who are primarily restaurants, hotels, hospitality venues like spas, etc., downtown organizations and the small businesses in those downtowns): try to keep it consistent by sending something valuable and interesting every week. In some cases, every other week works okay, too. But, I realize that some of you have emergency situations, reminders, etc. Those are SUPPLEMENTS to a regularly scheduled e-mail marketing campaign. Not replacements.
So, in the context of your regular e-mail marketing campaign – the one that helps you consistently stay top of mind, cross educate directly to your customer, etc. (See my previous post on the benefits of e-mail marketing.) Here’s the skinny on when to send:
DO NOT send on Monday: Monday is Monday. It’s a bad day for the Inbox, because the Inbox and the Inbox owner have to conduct weekend recovery on Monday.
DO send on Tuesday: Specifically, send on Tuesday morning. Some prefer to have it in the Inbox before the first person checks their e-mail. Some prefer to send AFTER the inbox has been cleared. I have tested the mid-morning theory lately with lesser results, but I think geography is the defining factor. This is a theory, but here goes:
If your e-mail list is primarily located in the same time zone, then I think you have a greater than average shot of benefiting from the mid-morning send time. The Inboxes will be cleaned out and folks will be in their routine, and your e-mail will appear new and get immediate clicks.
However, if, like me, your e-mail list is spread across many time zones, the mid-morning send is more difficult to nail – because mid-morning on the East Coast is still pre-morning on the West Coast. This is why I think I benefit from sending my e-mails out about 6 a.m. central on Tuesday morning. Again, it’s a theory overall, so test it for yourself. And thank goodness e-mail programs allow us to schedule ahead so none of us has to actually be awake at 6 a.m. to get that e-mail out on schedule.
As an aside, I believe Tuesday mid-morning is a classically perfect time for many restaurants with a local e-mail list. It’s a great time to boost mid-week sales. Most will see an immediate lunch and dinner boost on the day of the e-mail send. Also, for last minute travel plans and weekend planners, now is the time to get them the information, so they have time to make arrangements before the weekend.
DO send on Wednesday IF… you were too overloaded on Tuesday to get it done. Wednesday, statistically, is the second best day to send an e-mail campaign. Again, morning is best.
DO NOT send on Thursday. Everyone is in the rush to the weekend. An EXCEPTION to this, in my opinion, are last minute reminders. This is best done using the “trigger” feature in your e-mail marketing program. For example, if I received a Symphony special from a local restaurant on Tuesday, and I clicked on the link to learn more, then that restaurant would do well to send all of us who clicked on the link another e-mail on Thursday reminding us of the details of that offer.
DO NOT send on Friday. It will result in abysmal open rates. Not a good thing.
DO NOT send on the weekends. Ever.
If, however, you don’t want to take my word for it, I recommend two things to you:
1. Try it and test it for yourself. Any e-mail marketing program worth its salt allows you to test the metrics of your open rates, click-thru rates, date, times, etc. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak.
2. If you’re a nerd like me, you’ll find great security and assurance in the research and data. You can find all you’ll ever want to know on the subject MarketingSherpa (www.marketingsherpa.com). In my opinion, their EmailSherpa e-newsletter and related reports and conferences have led the way in practical, case-study based data on the subject of e-mail marketing for quite a few years now. I’m not sure how long I’ve been a subscriber, but it dates back to my very first business e-mail account which isn’t the one I’ve had for at least five years. I find them just as current and applicable today as they always have been.
Happy e-mailing!
Photo Credit: theogeo
Love this article, because this is something I struggle with. I send out weekly e-mails to downtown stakeholders – just over 300 people – to let them know about important events, meetings, etc. going on in our downtown. These e-mails were requested by business owners on Fridays, and then most recently, requested on Thursdays. I still don’t think enough people are reading them. We average a 35% open rate, which has actually declined a little with sending them on Thursdays.
SO…my question would be, do I stick to sending them out Thursdays for a bit, to see if the open rate increases? Or just start over and go to Tuesday? (which I would have to ok with our promo committee first)
I spend a lot of time on these e-mails each week, and want people to read them. Any advice is appreciated!
I have been curious about this. Extremely helpful. Thanks
Thanks for the great article! I opened it just in time since I’m trying to figure out how to email market some workshops I’ve put together for my area.
So glad this was helpful for everyone!
Sarah, you should start sending them on Tuesday. Also, do you send a newsletter to folks who are just shoppers to downtown? If not, consider adding that to your mix – that’s probably more critical than weekly to downtown stakeholders. If it were me, and knowing your community, I would do a monthly one directly to stakeholders and a weekly one that goes to a larger “customer” list and includes specific offers for events, dining, etc. for the upcoming week/weekend. Good luck!
Very informative and helpful. Thank you.
Wow… it’s like you are talking to me. I hear you LOUD and CLEAR.
I have to respectfully disagree here. Because mass retailers and the like are following this same pattern, it is VERY easy to inboxes to fill up quickly. When readers who are pressed for time are deciding who should make the cut, I prefer not to have to compete with 20+ other inbox contenders. In my marketing experience, you can’t classify all email recipients as the same type of reader, so I recommend that clients try variations and see what yields the best open rates for their unique lists. For my email list email address, I see over 100 emails arrive on Tuesday and Wednesday. I have become a warrior at judging by the subject line (and if the business emailing me is a local, independent vs a national brand) and often will delete more than I’d like because there is just not enough time to read them all. On Mondays, Fridays, and weekends, I’m not overwhelmed by the messages in the inbox and am much more likely to take the time to open and peruse contents. Just my $0.02
This is a great post! One service that I’ve seen deliver emails at the same time for every customer is MailChimp. If you want to send your message so it lands in customer’s inbox at 9am EST and 9am PST, MailChimp will let you do that. It’s a great tool and takes out the confusion of which time to send an email.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the pointer!