When is the best time to send email? If you knew the right day – and time of day – how big a difference could that make? Well, here’s some research on that question.
Accordingly to analysis compiled by Experian, and reported in eMarketer this past week, Saturdays yielded both the highest open rates and transaction sizes. Experian also found that its outbound emails had the highest odds of being opened during the evening if sent between 8pm and 12am (although transaction size was a little lower).
How big a difference does sending email at these times make? Not a lot, it turns out.
While sending email on a Saturday earns an 18.3% open rate, an average order size of $201 and revenue per email sent of $0.12, the worst day of the week – Friday – isn’t all that bad. A 16.9% open rate, a $187 average order size and revenue per email of $0.10 does not smack of disaster for most marketers.
It’s tempting to think that redirecting email campaigns to aim for Saturdays and avoid Fridays will make the line of sight to the pot of gold clearer. Unfortunately, it won’t.
To online firm that sends millions of emails daily and with transaction volume in the hundreds of millions of dollars, such patterns hold significance. For the rest of us, it is hair spitting.
So, just how does one improve the results from email marketing?
Simple: A good product, accompanied by an attention-getting headline, containing both a compelling offer and clear statement of value, and directed at a well-targeted market has, and always will, win the day.
It’s not what you wanted to hear: after all, it’s very hard to do.
Yet, you’re apt to achieve success by focusing on the hard-to-do stuff rather than by choosing a day and time of week that works for the big players.
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