What Are the Best Times to Send Marketing Emails?

Strong email content is responsible for grabbing recipients’ attention and driving home the coveted conversion. But there is a second, equally critical component to sending optimized email campaigns at scale: timing.

It’s the reason your favorite songs are satisfying and why any good joke makes you laugh. Without proper timing, your email campaigns are destined to remain irritating or invisible to your recipients, both of which cripple your open rates and waste your resources as a marketer.

If content is king, then timing is queen. They go hand in hand, with the latter often carrying far more influence.

Key Factors Which Influence Optimal Email Send Times

There isn’t any universal right time to send marketing emails, and even if there was, it wouldn’t remain the same for very long. Optimal email send times are influenced by several key factors, that depend entirely on your industry, however, these are the overarching key factors that will determine the “magic moment” for your email campaigns.

Prioritize User Preferences

Firstly, understanding the target audience's habits and preferences is crucial. Analyzing when they are most likely to engage with emails can guide timing decisions. Busy professionals might have specific email-checking patterns during work hours, while retirees might engage with emails at non-conventional hours of the day. If your audience primarily uses mobile devices, sending emails during public commuting hours or in the evenings, when they're likely to be using smartphones or tablets, can be effective.

We have a guide dedicated to understanding mobile app user behavior to help you get your finger on the pulse of engagement and inform your mobile-optimized email campaigns!

Stay in the (Time) Zone

Secondly, considering time zones is essential, ensuring emails reach recipients during their active hours. Sending an email to a recipient in a different time zone during their off-hours will result in the message getting buried in their inbox or overlooked.

Iterate to Elevate

Moreover, email A/B testing plays a vital role in determining the optimal timing, allowing for adjustments based on empirical data. By studying metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates, marketers can easily identify user behavioral patterns and optimize email send times to engage and convert.

Get a refresher on email A/B testing best practices to start optimizing campaigns for higher engagement and retention!

Best Day to Send Marketing Emails

There are only seven days in a week — surely there must be some sort of unanimous consensus on the best day to send marketing emails.

As of December 2023, a survey of worldwide marketers by Statista revealed Tuesdays as the most preferred day of the week for sending marketing emails, with Fridays and Sundays being the least preferred.

While “most preferred” and “least preferred” leave a certain degree of measurable performance to be desired, there are a few insights we can glean from this data:

1. Tuesdays and Wednesdays often fall within the middle of the workweek when people are settling into their routines. They're less likely to be overwhelmed with weekend plans or preoccupied with end-of-week tasks, making them more receptive to email content.

2. Many people plan their activities and purchases for the upcoming weekend midweek. Sending marketing emails on Tuesdays or Wednesdays allows recipients ample time to consider and act on promotions or offers before the weekend arrives.

3. Towards the beginning of the week, recipients might have more focus and attention to spare for reading and engaging with emails. By sending emails on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, marketers can capitalize on this heightened receptivity.

Best Days of the Week For Marketing Emails, by Industry

Below we’ve assembled the most commonly successful insights into timing your email campaigns.

Mondays & Tuesdays

(Historically high revenue, strong open rates, but higher unsubscribe rates)

• Fintech: Financial technology companies typically see higher engagement during weekdays when users are regularly and attentively managing their finances.
• Productivity: Productivity apps and services leverage early-week email sends to engage users seeking to kickstart their week with organizational tools, task management tips, or productivity hacks. Early-week emails provide motivation for users most concerned with efficiency and organization.
• News/Media: Early-week emails can attract readers' attention as they catch up on news and current events. People are returning to work or school and are eager to stay informed about recent news developments.
• eCommerce: Early-week emails capture the attention of consumers planning purchases for the week ahead. However, due to their competitive nature, recipients are often inundated with promotional messaging, so be wary of message fatigue and closely monitor your email unsubscribe rate.

Looking for some practical ways to grow your email newsletter audience? Our Guide to Increasing Newsletter Subscriptions has 7 tactics to get you momentum fast.

Thursdays

(Historically high open rates)

• Travel: Thursdays are a popular day for planning weekend getaways or leisure trips, and can be favorable for travel apps or booking platforms. Email campaigns featuring last-minute deals, weekend getaway packages, or travel inspiration can appeal to consumers looking to plan their next adventure.
• Events and Entertainment: If your business helps users find local events or promotes scheduled entertainment, this is an opportune time to promote upcoming shows and encourage ticket purchases or event reservations.

Saturdays & Sundays

(Historically lower open rates, but strong click-to-open ratios)

• Social media: Social platforms leverage days with low open rates but high click-to-open ratios to send targeted emails featuring personalized content, activity summaries, or exclusive updates. Recipients who open these emails are often active users interested in staying connected with their social networks outside of the typical work week, leading to strong click-through rates despite lower open rates.
• Mobile games: Users who open these emails are likely engaged players interested in enhancing their gaming experience or taking advantage of special promotions.

Best Times of Day to Send Marketing Emails, by Industry

8am-10am

(Historically high open and click-through rates)

• News/Media: Sending marketing emails during the morning hours is effective in capturing the attention of subscribers seeking to stay informed about current events and news updates. Many people start their day by checking news headlines or catching up on emails, making this a prime time to deliver curated content, breaking news alerts, or morning newsletters.
• Fintech: Fintech platforms benefit from sending marketing emails during the morning hours, especially when targeting professionals and individuals managing their finances before starting their workday. Emails featuring financial insights, investment opportunities, or personalized recommendations can resonate well with recipients seeking to stay informed about their financial health or explore new financial products.

3pm-4pm

(Historically high order rates)

• eCommerce/SaaS: During the late afternoon hours, many people have completed their workday tasks and have some free time to browse the internet, including online shopping. Sending marketing emails during this time catches consumers' attention when they are actively seeking distractions or planning purchases.

5pm-7pm

(Historically high click-through rates)

• Travel: As people sign off of work for the day, they may start planning their next trip or researching travel options for upcoming vacations. Travel-related emails featuring enticing offers or inspiring destination ideas capitalize on users looking for a respite from their stressful jobs, capturing higher click intent along the way.
• Mobile Games: The early evening hours are often a popular time for people to unwind and relax after work or school. Sending promotional emails during this time can capture the attention of individuals looking for leisure activities, including mobile gaming. Recipients are more likely to engage with emails if they help them escape a stressful day or kick back after dinner to increase their progress in your game.

Mobile game retention is an art unto itself. Check out these four mobile game retention hacks to keep players coming back for more.

Frequently Asked Questions About Email Timing

Are there any other factors should I consider when deciding the timing of my email campaigns?

The beauty (and curse) of email marketing… there are always more factors to consider! Two important ones we didn’t get to in this post are seasonal variations and campaign objectives.

Seasonal trends and holidays will impact audience behavior and preferences, and you should adjust the timing of your emails accordingly to capitalize on relevant opportunities. During peak holiday seasons such as Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day, or Black Friday/Cyber Monday, consumer spending typically surges as people seek gifts, deals, and experiences.

Check out these 7 tips to enhance your mobile app's holiday marketing strategy!

However, be mindful of the widespread email saturation during these peak periods — with the increased traffic comes exponentially more competition for user attention. This may be the time to experiment with sending emails off-peak hours (earlier mornings or later evenings) to prevent email fatigue and ensure that your messages stand out amidst the influx of promotional content.

Campaign objectives play a large part in determining the best time to send marketing emails. Align the timing of your email campaigns with your overarching marketing objectives, such as promoting specific events, driving sales during peak shopping periods, or maintaining a consistent retention rate.

For example, your primary marketing objective may be to promote attendance at a virtual webinar or live event. In this case, the optimal timing for sending marketing emails would be a few days prior to the event, preferably during the late morning or early afternoon hours when recipients are more likely to be receptive to planning their schedules.

Does the type of content or offer in the email impact the best time for sending?

Tailoring the timing of your email sends to align with the nature of your content will definitely improve email engagement. Promotional emails featuring limited-time discounts or flash sales may perform best when sent during peak shopping periods or weekends when recipients are more likely to make purchases. Conversely, informational or educational content will be better received during weekdays when recipients are focused on work-related tasks and seeking valuable insights.

What are the best ways to leverage user behavior to optimize my email send times?

Analyzing User Data

More often than not, you already have the best time to send marketing emails, it’s just buried in your user data. Analyze past email engagement metrics to identify patterns and trends in user behavior, such as:

• Open rate
• Click-through rate
• Conversion rate
• Unsubscribe rate
• Bounce rate

Looking to improve email deliverability? Our guide on How to Clean Your Email List tells you how to handle bounced emails, how to identify inactive subscribers, and more!

You may find that, historically, you receive high open rates on Wednesday mornings, but a spike in click-through rates later in the day on Fridays. Based on this user behavioral data, you’d want to schedule your email campaigns with engaging subject lines and teaser content to capitalize on the high open rates observed on Wednesday mornings. Following the initial engagement on Wednesday mornings, schedule follow-up emails or promotions with actionable content and calls-to-action (CTAs) to leverage the spike in click-through rates observed later in the day on Fridays.

Email Segmentation

Segment your email list based on user demographics, preferences, and behaviors to tailor content and timing to specific audience groups with similar characteristics and interests.

A health and wellness app may segment their email list into groups such as fitness enthusiasts, healthy recipe seekers, and mindfulness practitioners. For the fitness enthusiast segment, they send motivational workout tips on weekday mornings when that segment likely to plan their exercise routines. For healthy recipe seekers, they share weekly meal plans on Sunday evenings, when those users are likely preparing for the week ahead.

Email A/B Testing

Conduct A/B tests with different send times and analyze performance metrics to determine which timing resonates best with your audience and yields the highest engagement. Email A/B testing has been proven to optimize email content for maximum conversions and increase ROI across campaigns.

Stop Second-Guessing the Timing of Your Campaigns

We are in the age of a mobile-first marketing paradigm shift, where the gold standard is a seamless user experience. In addition to being the industry-leading omnichannel provider for push, in-app messages, SMS, and Live Activities, OneSignal equips marketers with a cost-effective email marketing service to help you maximize engagement with sophisticated automations. Already using Mailgun, SendGrid, or Mailchimp? We have compatible integrations with all three!