When's The Best Time To Send Emails To Your Database?
This is a hot topic when I'm talking to clients and Klaviyo has recently released some new findings from their thousands of e-commerce customers that I wanted to share with you. Before you get too excited, I'm sorry to say that there is no one 'best time' for everyone to send. It depends on a number of factors:
What type of email campaign you’re sending (is it a brand building newsletter or an offer).
Who you’re sending it to.
What’s happening where your subscribers are located.
What kind of products you sell.
How often you normally send emails or marketing text messages.
One clear pattern is true: messages sent using relative timing get a better open and click rate - and by that, I mean automated emails or flows in Klaviyo. For example, a welcome email arrives immediately after somebody signs up, or an abandoned cart email that arrives an hour after somebody has been on your site, or a replenishment email that arrives at a time that somebody is likely to need to reorder your products. That's part of the power of flows - the timing as well as the relevancy of the content.
So what about your campaigns or newsletters? What's the best day of the week to send emails?
Klaviyo data shows most emails are sent on a Friday, least are sent on a Saturday and Sunday. That doesn't mean you should rush to send on a Friday however, as it's likely there's going to be more competition on this day, and busier inboxes that your email might get missed in. Instead, try and get ahead of this trend by sending earlier in the day, or at the weekend when it's quieter and people have more leisure time. (I've always found Sunday evening to be a sweet spot for my clients).
What about the best time of day to send emails?
Afternoon is the time that most emails are delivered, followed by morning. Again, you could follow this or try to go against it and aim for late morning (11am) or early evening (7pm), both of which I have seen work well. Three things to remember when thinking about when to send your emails:
Test it - you can look at patterns across other brands, but the only way to know what really works for you is to test it.
AI it - if you have over 12k subscribers and use Klaviyo, you can make use of their Smart Send Time tool which figures out when your customers are most likely to open their emails.
If you have an international database, send the email at the recipient's local time so that your audience in America isn't getting your email at 2am instead of 7am, for example. This is available as an option in Klaviyo - you don't need to create different versions for different countries.
Any questions? Get in touch.