Did you know that the sending time of your newsletter can make the difference between a successful campaign and a missed opportunity? In this blog, I'll tell you more about open and click rates, sending days and times in the B2B and B2C industries.
Every marketer has their own opinion regarding the best time to send emailings. In the end, of course, you should always test what works best for your emailings/newsletters yourself. Unfortunately, many SMBs don't have the time to do extensive testing. Does your company have no time to test either? Then I have created an overview in this blog with all national averages on open and click rates, sending days and times in the B2B and B2C sector.
General advice for sending a newsletter
A common rule of thumb in email marketing is that emails are opened better during the day than at night because people are awake and active during the day. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are often considered the ideal days to send emails because of their higher open rates. While it can be tempting to send on these popular days, it also means there is a lot of competition.
Do you want less competition?
Sending your newsletter on popular days can be wise, of course you have to go ahead and decide this for yourself. At the same time, it also means that you are not the only one on these days and that you have to stand out among the many other emails. So you can also choose not to send your emailing on these days. Do you want less competition? Then the E-mail Benchmark shows that the least popular weekday for sending e-mails is Monday.
B2B vs B2C newsletter: Which works best?
Sending a nice newsletter is nice, but in the end, of course, we would like to know when the emails are opened and if they are clicked on. It is important to distinguish between B2B and B2C email marketing, as these segments show different behavior. This means that the best send times can differ significantly.
B2B Email Marketing
In B2B marketing, you target professionals who use their business e-mail addresses. This audience usually opens their emails during business hours, which means the best time to send a B2B newsletter is usually between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Here are some specific tips for B2B email sending:
- Workdays are best: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are usually the best days to send B2B emails. Mondays are often used to plan the week, and by Friday many people's minds are already on the weekend.
- Times: Emails sent between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m., or just after lunch between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., have the highest open rates and click-through rates (CTR). Professionals then have time to go through their inbox and read and respond to important emails.
B2C Email Marketing
With B2C marketing, target consumers who use their personal email addresses and tend to be more active outside of business hours. The best times to send a B2C newsletter are:
- Evenings and weekends can be effective: Emails sent between 6 and 9 p.m., or on weekends, often perform well. After working hours, consumers are more relaxed and have time to thoroughly review their newsletter. This is an excellent time to send attractive offers and promotions that they can view and click through immediately.
- Fridays can work well: While Fridays are traditionally not ideal for B2B, they can actually work well in B2C marketing, especially if you send out a newsletter with offers or content for the weekend.
The best time to send your newsletter
Now we know which days are most popular to send and we know when recipients open their emails. Now, of course, we still need to know the best time to send our newsletter.
In general, most emails are sent between 8 am and 1 pm, with a second peak around 5 pm. Although open rates gradually increase from 7 a.m. and remain fairly stable throughout the day, there is a notable spike around 7 p.m. in the evening. This suggests that some audiences prefer to read their emails in the evening. This may be especially relevant for consumers who peruse their inbox after work hours.
It depends on the device
The traditional "best time to send an e-mail" is increasingly irrelevant as user habits change by device. For desktop users, who open their emails at work, it makes sense to send emails mid-week and mid-day. Mobile users, however, are often active even late at night.
In fact, a study by Movable Ink found that 66% of consumers open emails on mobile devices, while only 34% open emails on desktops. As users become increasingly dependent on mobile devices, these numbers could easily change. I also suspect that as companies create more mobile-friendly emails, we will see even higher open rates on mobile devices.
Demographics: know your audience
Understanding your demographics is paramount to success in email marketing. They are your audience and you need to know their habits and respond accordingly.
Some examples of how demographics can reject general "best time to send" advice:
- If you target a young, tech-obsessed audience, you can probably ignore the general tip not to send evening emails. Evening emails can work just fine for younger audiences.
- The oft-criticized Friday can be a great choice if you are in the entertainment industry, with people looking for fun things to do on the weekend.
- Weekends don't have to be off limits, either. What if you want to reach smart computer users who sit alone in their rooms? I bet they spend a lot of time checking emails on Saturdays and Sundays.
- Don't forget to consider the time zone of your target audiences. You definitely want to adjust shipping times depending on where your recipients live.
The ultimate answer to the question "When should you send out a newsletter?"
There is no single "best" time to send an email campaign; it all depends on your audience. While general guidelines such as sending emails mid-week and during the day are a good starting point, running A/B tests is the best way to find the perfect send time for your specific audience. This applies not only to newsletters, but also to social media posts. If you can't figure it out, be sure to contact us.
