The Science Of Email Timing

As I’ve posted here before, your email list is one of the most powerful marketing tools that an artist or band (or a business or brand) can have. Recently some data courtesy of Dan Zarrella and Pure360 has shown that there is a definite science behind the timing of sending your emails, just as there is for posting on Facebook and Twitter. Here are some tips and tricks for getting your email timing just right. Remember that all times are Eastern Standard Time.

Before sending an email, consider:
6AM to 10AM: The second most prevalent email opening time is at the the beginning of the working day.

10AM to Noon: Consumers are not opening marketing emails, choosing instead to focus on work.

Noon to 2PM: Consumers are unlikely to open emails during their lunch break, choosing instead to spend their time on news and magazine alerts.

2PM to 3PM: Right after lunch consumers remain focused on work, responding mostly to email offers related to financial services.

3PM to 5PM: Consumers start thinking about their personal situation and as a result, more emails relating to property and financial services are opened during this time period than any other.

5PM to 7PM: Consumers tend to open business to business (B2B) promotions during this period, but also open more holiday-type promotions during this period than any other.

7PM to 10PM: The time period when recipients are most likely to respond to consumer promotions is when they get off work.

10PM to 6AM: This is an email dead zone, as most sent during this period are ineffective.

Here are a few other timing issues to consider:

• Bounce rates are highest in the morning.

• Open rates are highest during the weekend by 45%.

• Open rates are 53% higher in the morning.

• Click rates are 10% higher on the weekend and early morning.

• The most effective sending frequency is 1 to 4 per month.

• Conversely, the unsubscribe rate is higher at 1 to 4 per month, but levels off at 8 to 31 per month.

• The highest unsubscription rate occurs among those who have been subscribers for less than 10 days.

• The highest click-through-rate (CTR) is with those who have been subscribers for less than 10 days.

A common question after reading the above tips is, “What if my fans are spread out in different time zones?” This one is easier than you think. All email services like iContact, Constant Contact, Mail Chip, etc. provide the ability to segregate your mailing list into groups and schedule your mailings. Simply divide your list into the various different time zones and schedule your email blast accordingly.

To sum things up, don’t send those promotional emails out without first thinking about the timing. It could mean the difference between your fans reading it or not.

For more on Music 3.0 music promotion techniques, visit the Music 3.0 blog.

Comments

[Sarah]

I am interested to know what day and time would be the best for sending out Kids related newsletter?

[Stephen Francis]

Great post! I have often noticed that if you do send out an email during the week that it is better on Tuesday or Thursday (for us) rather than Monday, Wednesday or Friday. Any statistics on those days?