You're playing a strategic game when you hit send on a promotional email.
Will your message reach your subscribers at the right moment and at the right frequency?
With this in mind, determining the optimal time and frequency to email your subscribers are critical factors for a well-converting email marketing campaign and responsive list.
Likewise, emailing at the wrong time or frequency means you risk burning your list out or failing to build solid relationships with your subscribers.
For this reason, we'll cover the best practices for email timing and frequency in this post.
When to Email: Days of the Week
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays work well for achieving high open rates for a professional audience.
Comparatively, on the weekends, most professionals either skim non-essential emails or avoid checking their email inboxes altogether.
After all, they are enjoying their days off!
Similarly, on Fridays, they're looking forward to the weekend, and on Mondays, they are readjusting to the pace of the work week.
On the other hand, for a non-professional audience, the best open rates are somewhat different.
During the weekend, people typically spend time with friends and are less likely to check their emails.
However, on weekdays, they usually have more time to review their emails carefully.
Regarding sales emails, marketers have found that Sundays work well for conversions.
Notably, people engage in more active activities on Saturdays.
However, on Sundays, they often leisurely browse the internet and are more likely receptive to sales efforts.
Another tip is to send your sales emails a day or two after payday, for example, every Friday or on the 1st and 15th of each month.
After all, people are more likely to have spare cash available at these times.
With this in mind, the 15th, 16th, and 17th are particularly good dates because your readers get paychecks without paying end-of-the-month bills from their first monthly paycheck.
When to Email: Time of Day
In general, it is best to send your emails either early in the morning or after work.
However, to ensure your readers see your emails, try sending them before 7 AM.
That way, your email will be in their inbox when they check their emails after they arrive to work.
Alternatively, you can wait for people to get home before email delivery.
In that case, aim to send your emails around 5 PM.
Equally important, email delivery during a workday is generally a bad idea as people are busy and will either ignore the email or briefly skim it before deleting it.
For this reason, you should choose times when people are more attentive to reading your emails.
How Often to Email
How often you should send emails depends on how long they are, how interested your audience is, and how good you are at creating valuable content regularly.
If your emails are brief, your subscribers are interested in receiving them, and you have sufficient time to create content, it is reasonable to send up to five emails per week.
On the other hand, if you produce long emails (or videos), your recipients subscribe to multiple lists, or you don't enjoy generating content, you may wish to email once a week.
Regardless, it is vital to realize that there are successful lists that email infrequently and those that email often.
In conclusion
As shown above, emails sent at the right time and frequency can help create meaningful relationships with your subscribers and drive engagement.
Conversely, emails sent at the wrong time and frequency will have the opposite effect.
Yet, in the final analysis, deciding when and how often to send emails depends on you and your audience.
There's no one-size-fits-all rule.
However, it is worth noting that people will expect the same frequency and delivery times once you begin your email marketing campaigns.
Thus, it's essential to establish a consistent schedule for sharing content with others.
So, decide on your preferred frequency and stick with it so people know when they should expect to hear from you.
Again, with the right timing and frequency, you can build strong relationships with your list and significantly impact your email marketing results.
Talk Soon,
Erik
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