This is a question we, at SME Needs, get asked a lot. As with many things marketing related, the answer is, of course, it depends. So, to help you work out when the best time is for your small business, let’s look at what factors will impact your decision…
The traditional “best times”
A lot of people, particularly in the B2B space, will tell you that the best times to send email campaigns are Tuesdays and Thursdays.
- Monday – first day of the week – too much planning work
- Tuesday – good day
- Wednesday – hump day! actually doing stuff
- Thursday – good day
- Friday – last day of the week – nobody cares
Self-fulfilling prophecy?
If everyone believes that Tuesday and Thursday mornings are the best days, they’ll send their emails at those times. And, guess what happens? They get results that support the belief! But only because they’re not able to compare the results they would get at other times.
What does “best time” mean?
Does “best time” mean the time when you’re going to get the most opens? Or the highest clickthrough rate (CTR)? Does it mean the time of the week when you will generate more sales or enquiries?
This will vary depending on what you’re sending out and what you want the recipient to do. Let’s look at this in a little more detail….
- Newsletters
Newsletters are generally designed to maintain/increase brand awareness by sharing business and industry-wide updates. For these, the best time really is when you get the most opens and clicks. The more people are engaging with your brand and getting to know what you’re all about, the better.
- Sales campaigns
This will vary depending on your target audience, so consider when they will have time to think. For example, B2B decision makers are likely to open campaigns during the working day, but also when they’re working more ON the business, rather than in the business. We’ve had good results in this area from Sunday afternoon campaigns, as senior decision makers are often getting ready for the new week.
Alternatively, B2C campaigns are much more likely to be seen outside of working hours. Also, depending on what you’re selling, think about who is involved in a decision.
For example…
- Family holidays – both adults will need to confer before decisions are made. 63% of travel is booked online but more people still use websites than mobile apps for this.
- Fashion – usually a single person decision. Browsing often takes place during commuting times and lunchtimes, with 72% of sales taking place on mobile devices.
- Sales feedback emails
If you run an e-commerce business these are most likely automated, so think about how long there is between purchase of your product and usage. Success here is measured in the number of reviews you get back (whether on your site, Google or TrustPilot), so make sure these emails go out when people have time to give a good quality response.
4 simple ways to get the best results
To work out the best time to run your email campaigns, and get the results you’re looking for, there are three things you need to do…
- Define your ideal clients
Being able to define your Ideal Client(s) is vital to getting the best results from your marketing emails. Knowing when they research and how they buy will help you to determine the right times of day, week, month and year for your campaigns. Without this, you’re just guessing!
- Segment your audience and use this information
Not everyone in your mailing list is the same. So, don’t send them all the same campaigns. Existing clients and customers should get different versions of campaigns to those who haven’t yet bought from you. If you have networking connections in your mailing list, what you say to them will be different to others. You also wouldn’t run a campaign encouraging people to buy something they’ve just bought, would you? (unless it’s something that gets used quickly).
Whatever email marketing platform you use (we recommend Mailchimp in most cases), there will be ways to segment your audience based on the information you have about them. Make use of it to get the best results.
- Testing, testing, testing
Lastly, just because your research suggests that the best time to send your email campaigns is X, it doesn’t mean that it will actually be right for your business. Testing different times, days, frequencies and content will help you to identify the best times.
Also, make sure you integrate your email platform with Google Analytics, so you get more data to understand how well your testing is going (if you’re using MailChimp, you can find instructions here).
Remember, Mailchimp has some great reporting available to you, as well. Comparative reports, for example, let you see over time how your campaigns are performing. The image below shows the last few months’ campaigns for SME Needs. Great to see that the click rate is trending upwards!
There are plenty of reports out there that give you a starting point for your email marketing. Those reports are based on millions of emails, so the data is valid, but they do only provide a starting point. To find the very best time for your email marketing campaigns, you’ll need to work through the three stages listed above.
- Speak to the experts
This is where we can help! If you need a hand with any of this or would like to talk about how we at SME Needs can help you improve your email marketing, get in touch, or call us on 020 8634 5911.