We've always advised our law firm clients to distribute their emails first thing in the morning as clients and other contacts are arriving in their offices and beginning their days. We reasoned that when people first get into the office they have a bit of leisure time to take care of personal tasks before getting started with their workday. So better to catch them before their attention is focused on work responsibilities.
Well, we're happy to see a case study on MarketingSherpa that corroborated our advice. In this study, an electronics retailer tested 3 delivery times using an A/B/C split of their subscriber list:
- 9 a.m. (logic: people are just getting settled at their desks and haven’t locked in on work yet).
- 12 p.m. (logic: when most recipients begin their lunch hours and take a break from work).
- 4 p.m. (logic: workers begin winding down their days and start thinking about home and their family needs - note: this logic would not apply to marketers with a B2B message)The results?
(note: because the company wanted time of day to be the only variable, each list received the same subject line with the same message and the same offer (Apple iPods sale)).
The results? The clear winner was 9 a.m.. Specifically:
- 9 a.m. performed 15.63% better than 4 p.m.
- 9 a.m. performed 9.4% better than 12 p.m.
- 12 p.m. performed 6.9% better than 4 p.m.
Actually, we usually recommend our clients aim for an even earlier time such as 8:00 a.m. since many people are actually already in meetings by 9 a.m.
Click here to access the full case study (subscription required).
P.S.: among other "best practices" we've stressed - don't send B2B emails on Friday. The weekend soon intervenes, and anyone who didn't read the email on Friday, will find at the very bottom of their inbox on Monday morning (making it far less likely to get read than if the email had been sent first thing Monday morning).
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