Articles

May 2006 - E-marketing Minute - Timing Your E-mails

You may be opening this e-mail on a Friday or even on a Sunday. If so, it’s by design. According to ExactTarget, an on-demand e-mail software solution company for permission-based e-mail marketing, e-mails sent on Friday had the highest average open rate in 2005, according to the company’s 2005 Response Rate Study. 

More e-mails are sent midweek than any other time thus making for more competition in the inbox. The previous year’s study stated there is no such thing as a universal best day to send e-mail and ExactTarget still holds to that. The company suggests organizations conduct their own tests to determine which day of the week works best for them.

The highest average click-through rate, or number of times someone clicked on a link in the e-mail, was Sunday. Sunday was a consistently low performer for open rates. Since the number of e-mails sent on Friday is lower than other weekdays, the odds of getting your subscribers’ attention are higher.

The ExactTarget study shows e-mail is seasonal as well. E-mail click-through rates showed low performance in summer months and strong response in winter months.