There’s so much buzz around the web about email marketing, optimal send times, and the best days to effectively reach your target audience. But when exactly is that best day and time? The answer isn’t as straightforward as you may think.  

Let’s start out with days of the week. According to one of our email marketing partners Mail Chimp, along with other sources, it is usually more optimal to send an email during the week rather than on weekends. Tuesday and Thursday are the overall winners when considering the highest open and click-through rates, but it doesn’t differ that greatly from day to day. We try to send educational emails earlier in the week and actionable emails later in the week.

However, it doesn’t matter when you send your email if it isn’t what your customer is looking for. The message you’re trying to send should be tailored specifically for your ideal customer. For example - in the automotive industry, you shouldn’t send the consumer an offer about trucks if you’re targeting compact car makes. Customers will click on your email if it is valuable to them. So, getting your ideal message to your ideal customer is key.

Now, how do you reach your ideal customer? A digital marketer’s favorite word - data! Other than your database, which can be scrubbed and parsed to find exactly which consumers you want to send to, you can reach customers through third-party providers. For example - our email marketing data provider partner, maintains a database of virtually every household in the United States with very detailed data coverage that can pinpoint exactly who you want to reach. This is collected through transactional, behavioral, lifestyle, credit, demographic and census data that is segmented, manipulated and molded into your target market.

Okay, so now you know who exactly your audience is and have the most valuable message to give them. But now we’re back to our first question - when exactly are we sending this email? Well, we have a few options.

According to Marketing Sherpa, the best click-through rates are traditionally achieved when emails are sent at 8AM, 9AM, 3PM, and 8PM, but the best open rates are achieved when emails are sent at 8AM, 9AM, 3PM, and 4PM, with most emails opened within the first hour of being sent. Although most people check their email in the morning, which is when the highest volume of emails is sent, people tend to try to be more productive at this time of day, so a morning email is more likely to be trashed or archived without being read. Afternoon emails could lead to higher open rates, despite the lower volume of emails sent. Therefore, a higher engagement rate could take place in the evening between 8PM and 12AM.

To learn more about email marketing through Giovatto Advertising, send us your thoughts and we’ll be happy to help!