The Best Time and Day to Send Email
A recent article from the Marketing Sherpa showcased a company that ran diagnotic tests to determine which day of the week and which time of day yielded more response. I'm always fascinated by these studies, keeping in mind that results with vary company by company. The idea that the very time you send your survey as well as the very day you select is something we've discussed in the past. Some key findings from this study:
- Tuesdays beat Mondays and Wednesday for better response rates. No mention what happens if Monday is a holiday but I would guess that in a holiday week, everything shifts by a day. No mention of Thursday or Friday in this study. For most business uses, I'd say never send your survey on the weekend..it will get lost in the clutter that most people find in their inbox first thing on Monday mornings.
- Mornings are max. Sending at 9am performed 15.63% better than 4p.m. and 9.4% better than 12p.m. for maximum responses. 12p.m. performed 6.9% better than 4p.m.
Our guess as to why 9am performs better than the rest of the day? In the morning, most people make a point of spending time to check their email and take care of things before diving into their agenda for the day.
Read the entire Marketing Sherpa Article (open access until January 29th)
This was very helpful! I wonder if it's probably better not to send a survey during a holiday week -- just too hectic and too many people potentially on vacation that week. What other variables affect people opening your survey/email?
Posted by: nicole | February 24, 2008 at 12:41 PM