Determining the perfect time to send marketing emails seems like a simple task until you actually try to do it. The truth is there’s no universal “best send time” that works for every brand, every segment, or every campaign. Instead, optimal send time depends on a nuanced combination of audience behavior, content type, location, intent, and overall marketing cadence.
When done well, thoughtful send timing can dramatically improve engagement, reduce subscriber fatigue, and sharpen your segmentation strategy. When done poorly, email timing can bury even your best content in a crowded inbox.
This guide breaks down general timing recommendations, explores why send time still matters in an always-connected world, and helps you build a customised strategy based on your own data.
Why Email Send Time Still Matters: Beyond Open Rates
If most of us check our phones constantly, does timing actually matter anymore?
Yes. Because timing isn’t just about open rates. It’s about relevance, context, and aligning with the audience.
Choosing when to send your campaigns helps you:
1. Match Subscriber Routines
Different audience groups have different daily rhythms.
- B2B subscribers tend to check email early in the workday.
- B2C audiences often engage more in the late afternoon or evening.
- Parents may be most responsive after kids go to bed.
- Students often open emails late at night.
When your message lands at the right moment, engagement naturally increases.
2. Reduce Inbox Fatigue
Remote workers now receive well over a hundred emails per week. When your emails arrive at stressful, high-volume moments, subscribers ignore or unsubscribe from them.
But when your message arrives at a time when the audience is more receptive, it feels less like noise and more like value.
3. Strengthen Segmentation Insights
Send-time testing helps you uncover surprising patterns.
You may learn that:
- Your VIP customers open on weekday mornings
- Younger audiences engage heavily on weekends
- Shoppers in warm climates open earlier than those in colder climates
These insights help refine not just timing, but messaging, cadence, and personalisation.
Finding Your Brand’s Best Send Time
If your list is under ~12K subscribers, manual segmentation and A/B testing are practical ways to establish send-time benchmarks.
For triggered automations (welcome flows, browse abandonment, abandoned cart), send times should be based on user behaviour, not the clock.
For one-off and promotional campaigns, your best send time comes from three simple steps:
- Analyse past performance.
- Compare engagement across segments.
- Test and refine.
Before you schedule your next email, walk through the following strategic questions.
1. What Type of Email Am I Sending?
Different campaigns require different timing strategies.
Newsletters
Ask yourself:
- How long does the newsletter take to read?
- Do you want subscribers to read it in one sitting?
- Are there time-sensitive sections (e.g., events, announcements)?
For long-form newsletters, focus on times when your audience has more mental bandwidth—mid-morning breaks, lunchtime, or early evening downtime.
One-Time Discounts or Flash Sales
Urgency is king.
Consider:
- How long recipients need to open, click, and purchase
- How fast does your offer expire
- Whether the send time aligns with peak buying windows
A countdown timer can reinforce urgency and boost conversions.
Product Launch Campaigns
These multi-send campaigns rely on momentum.
Think about:
- How long have high-engagement customers been waiting
- Whether you want to offer early access to VIPs
- How many emails will you send leading up to launch day
- Whether your audience can handle daily or near-daily sends
Pre-launch teasers often perform best in high-attention windows, while launch-day emails work well in the morning or after work.
Key Factors That Shape Optimal Email Timing
To optimise send times, consider the context surrounding your audience, not just your content.
1. What Action Do You Want the Reader to Take?
The ideal send time depends heavily on your goal.
Examples:
- Purchases → Send when subscribers have time to browse and buy.
- Loyalty program signups → Send when readers can complete a multi-step process without hurry.
- Newsletter reading → Send during commute windows, lunch breaks, or evening wind-down periods.
2. When Does Your Audience Typically Check Email?
Audience personas matter.
- Do they skim emails on their phones or wait until they’re at a computer?
- Are they night owls, frequent travellers, or early-morning professionals?
- Do they respond instantly to notifications or batch-process emails?
Lifestyle habits often matter more than general industry benchmarks.
3. What’s Happening in Their Location?
Localisation isn’t just about time zones.
Your audience’s physical environment shapes when they’re attuned to certain products.
Consider:
- Time of day
- Seasonal differences
- Climate or daylight cycles
- Cultural or regional events
For example:
- Selling wellness products during winter mornings? Earlier sends may perform better.
- Shipping iced coffee concentrates to hot climates? Afternoon sends may win.
Your ESP should send based on the recipient’s local time. But only if your customer data is clean and accurate.
4. How Frequently Are You Sending Emails?
Your send cadence directly influences your send timing.
If your list receives:
- 1–2 campaigns per week: Stick to consistent, predictable high-engagement windows.
- Daily or high-frequency messages: Vary send times to avoid fatigue and to gather more data.
A balanced monthly content calendar might include:
- 1 newsletter or snackable content email
- 1–2 traffic-driving campaigns
- 2 conversion-driving campaigns
Platforms like Klaviyo offer features such as Smart Sending, which prevents over-emailing subscribers within short time windows.
General Best Practices and Timing Insights
While every audience is unique, here are widely observed patterns:
- Tuesday–Thursday remains the highest-engagement window for many industries.
- Mid-morning (9–11 a.m.) and early afternoon (1–3 p.m.) tend to perform well.
- Evening sends (7–9 p.m.) can be highly effective for B2C and mobile-driven audiences.
- Weekend sends are surprisingly strong for younger or more leisure-oriented segments.
Still, these are just starting points. Your audience’s real-world behaviour is the only benchmark that truly matters.
The Bottom Line: Your Best Send Time Is Unique
The best send time for your email marketing depends entirely on:
- Your audience’s behaviour
- The type of campaign
- Your industry and products
- Subscriber locations
- Your overall marketing cadence
- The action you want readers to take
Testing, analysing, iterating, and segmenting are the only reliable ways to uncover the timing sweet spots that maximise engagement.
When you send emails at the right moment, when your audience is most receptive, you dramatically improve performance and build a more meaningful relationship with your subscribers.
Need a fresh perspective? Let’s talk.
At 360 OM, we specialise in helping businesses take their marketing efforts to the next level. Our team stays on top of industry trends, uses data-informed decisions to maximise your ROI, and provides full transparency through comprehensive reports.
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