Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, email open rates have steadily increased. Given the current circumstances, it’s important to use this opportunity to launch new email marketing campaigns without bombarding your customers. You’re probably wondering how to strike the right balance, which is why ahoy! is here to help! The key is to plan your campaigns around the optimal days and times when customers actually open emails. What are those days and times, you ask? Here’s a quick rundown:

Plenty of studies have been conducted to get to the bottom of this very question, but unfortunately for marketers, the data doesn’t really show an explicit solution. Basically, there’s no one time during the day that’ll suit everyone you are trying to reach. We all probably could have guessed this. So, where does this leave you for scheduling campaigns?

You may have initially ruled out the weekends, as people are much less likely to check email on these days. However, some studies have identified weekends to yield higher open and click rates, but this is most likely due to the smaller amount of emails people receive on those days. Most discussions on the subject would peg Tuesdays at 10am as the most popular (and seemingly safe with an average open rate of 18%) day and time of the week to send. That said, you may want to consider sending on a day when inboxes are not overflowing with new messages.

The most important thing you can do is to know your customer base. What are the occupations, age groups, socioeconomic classes, et cetera? All of these dictate when people will most commonly check their email during a typical day. Whether your customers are corporate workers who catch up on emails over lunch or small business owners with late night email reading sessions, decide which time frame fits best with what you are selling, and adjust campaign send times accordingly.

Finally, always remember that the best way to find out the best times are to test them. Set up some A/B tests where the only manipulated variable is the time of day. Once you have an ideal time, try it out on multiple days. You’ll be amazed at how telling this could prove to be. For all the studies that already exist, many observe companies selling something completely different than you, making it nearly impossible to pinpoint an exact time and date best for sending emails across all industries. Take matters into your own hands to find what works best for you.

Need assistance with email marketing? ahoy! is here to help.