When are newsletters sent?

To those who are not in the trade it will seem like an accessory topic, but the question is more hot and pertinent than ever: in what days and at what time should a newsletter be sent?

In previous articles we have seen what it is email marketing, what is it for and what are the main elements of writing a newsletter which should be treated with care. We realized that the title isn't everything, but almost, and that if we manage to get titles persuasive enough, we'll have already done half the job. Today we will talk about another variable that can affect, even a lot, the entire success of the sending operation: timing.

Email marketing is one of the most effective and complex strategies of corporate communication, and to be performed correctly it requires a lot of experience, familiarity with writing for the web, some messianic rituals, a stroke of luck and, last but not least, a extraordinary timing.

Let's take the example of a dear friend of yours. You really love this friend. He's a sweetheart and you've known each other for ages. This truth can be questioned when your friend decides to drop into your house at four in the morning on a working day, or to call you every time you are having dinner with your girlfriend to let you know what the " 5 best tools to improve your onpage SEO”. "Do you think it's time, Alberto?" The newsletter, while not so intrusive, must do what all good friends do: always be there, but arrive at the right time and with the information we really need.

The customer must be in the best mental condition to be attracted by the title, have the time to open the email and, with the right planetary alignment, maybe even be able to read its content.

Hence the question in the title: when should the newsletter be sent? On which days? At what time?

Opening and sending rate

Statistics show that the results of sending a newsletter are better within first time of sending, with an opening rate that amounts to about 25% of all openings. In the second hour the percentage drops to 10%, and then in the third to 6%, and so on up to deep nothing. The entire life cycle of the newsletter, from the moment of receipt, does not in fact last more than 2-5 days, at the most. Looking at this data, it doesn't take long to understand why sending timing is so important, and requires extensive testing.

But then, do you tell us or not at what time we have to send this blessed newsletter? The answer, as always in the world of communication, is it depends. It depends on who your target is, what the theme of the mailing is and many other factors that vary according to the type of attention you want to attract to you.

Even the age of the target has an impact on the effectiveness of the sending operation: a student opens his mailbox around 12, while an adult worker opens it as early as 9 in the morning and monitors it throughout the day, especially if he works in contact with you.

On average, we can say that the optimal time to send a newsletter is therefore between 9 and 10 in the morning, or between 12 and 15 in the afternoon, based also and above all on a study carried out on our target, on the reference niche and on an extensive trial and error activity. Some say that there are specific time slots for the various sending topics: for example, a Kissmetrics study would argue that from 6 to 10 in the morning it is appropriate to send promotions on restaurants or live events, while from 10 to 15 the news is getting stronger. These data must be taken with a grain of salt due to the simple fact that each contact list is unique in its kind and, if you have worked well, highly profiled: this means that there is no one better than you who can get to know your customers, their habits and preferences. Don't be conditioned by those who don't know who you are dealing with, but get advice by taking the precise information on sending times with a healthy dose of skepticism.

However, everyone agrees on one thing: newsletters are not sent from 22pm to 6am, when everyone is too tired or asleep to be able to react promptly. Or to be able to react to it in general. Let them sleep, hey.

We know the time: but the day?

Broadly speaking, the marketing world agrees that the Friday is the best day to send a newsletter. According to eMarketer, they're not bad either Wednesday and Thursday. The day to avoid, however, is Monday, because in short, who wants to read about the events of the following weekend when the weekend seems like an unattainable dream? Saturdays and Sundays are also to be avoided, as people at that time tend to step away from the computer and spend more time in the real world.

Statistics also state that the busiest day for emails is Tuesday. This means that every Tuesday we receive a mass of emails that, in all probability, we are not able to read in full: better, therefore, to avoid it.

As we have already explained, however, each newsletter user base is different and responds to different needs, which also vary according to the sending theme. That's why it's so important to engage in intensive testing of times, themes, and days. The data obtained, to be analyzed with care, must then be put in relation with those of previous mailings, so as to understand what is liked and what is better to forget.