Pages and pages have been written about the best time to send email. Marketers spend significant amounts of energy discussing and researching the best time of the day and the best day of the week to send email. I have long thought that these discussions do not put enough attention on individual end users and how the recipients interact with email.
Researchers recently developed a model for email user behaviour that splits email users into two classes “e-mailaholics” that send, and presumably read, email all the time and “day labourers” that send, and presumably read, email during standard business hours. There is very little transition between groups, 75% of users stayed in the same usage group over the 2 years of the study.
What does this mean for senders? Senders need to know know how their recipients use email and which user group recipients are. By analyzing clicks and opens, senders can classify recipients and use that data to send mail that is more relevant and better targeted.
h/t arXiv blog at Technology Review
Best time to send marketing email
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Hi Laura – i used to send out a lot of emails and press for an arts school. What I learned as far as that was that sending out late Sunday night dramatically increased your chances of your communication being read, as members and press would arrive to work Monday morning, refreshed and planning their week ahead and would see your email near the top of their inbox.
This is the only opinion I have found that endorses a Sunday night send for a Monday receipt. All research and opinion seems to point to the idea that people are cleaning out their inboxes and less receptive than later in the week. I want to know when the best time to send a ‘mixed’ mailing list that isn’t B2B but people interested in sustainability such as gardening, conservation, etc
BTW, before I started researching, I would’ve said Sunday night as well. Now I’m thinking Saturday night so weekend checkers get it on a more relaxed Sunday and business people will get it Monday unless they check biz email on wknds.
I would of said Tuesday-Wednesday. Yet, if your considering sending on the weekend I would be using plain-text to capture those people who are out-and-about using their mobiles and PDAs, and use HTML early to mid week for those receiving emails at work.