What Is The Best Day Of The Week To Send Email Newsletters & Campaigns

[B-Double-U]

Hi All,

This has always been a debate that I have heard for years and I am looking for some real concrete and supported claims.

I have heard just about everything... wait, I take that back.... I have heard a lot of opinions. Like the ones below:

Pro
"Monday is the best day to send emails because people have more access to the internet at work and it's part of their daily ritual to check email when they get in"

Con
"Monday is the worst day to send out an email campaign because everyone is swamped on Monday and they are hung over from the weekend and they need to focus on work, so they are very apt to just delete it" "High likelihood of being marked as SPAM today because people are focused on work issues and may not put forth the mental effort needed for them to remember that they signed up with you XXX time ago"

Pro
"Tuesday is the best day of the week to send emails because everyone is done being hung over from Tuesday and they still have access to email at work"

Con
"Tuesday is the worst day of the week to send emails because people were just assigned all of the weeks worth of work on Monday and this is the first day they have to attack the pile"

Pro
"Wednesday is the best day of the week to send emails because it's hump day! and everyone takes a deep breath and has some free time to play at work and blow some dough"

Con
"Wednesday is the worst day of the week to send emails because everyone is smack in the middle of the work week and has their nose to the grind stone, no time to be checking emails now"

Pro
"Thursday is the best day of the week to send emails because everyone can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it still gives enough time for people to get to it before the weekend"

Con
"Thursday is the worst day of the week to send emails because everyone is still playing catch-up from slacking off all week (probably due to a hangover from Wednesday) and they are in full delete mode"

Pro
"Friday is the best day of the week to send emails because it's (half-ass Friday)and nobody is working. Perfect time to grab a quick buyer or get something into someone's head for their weekend purchases" "Plus, they have all weekend to relax and absorb the offer and don't feel as compelled to just delete it"

Con
"Friday is the worst day of the week to send emails because everyone is still catching up (must be some real slackers out there) or they are too busy trying to hook up with the receptionist later this evening at happy hour" "plus, who is going to read their email on the weekend, they are going to the lake or camping or going somewhere to get away from their computer and just switch off", they will be very apt to delete today.

Pro
"Saturday is the best day of the week to send emails because everyone is at home with plenty of time to read your offer and share it with others which gets you a larger readership than normal"

Con
"Saturday is the worst day of the week to send emails because most people use their work computers for internet access so it will be in some huge pile of emails they receive on Monday morning at the bottom and they will either not see it or it will be deleted"

Pro - Con
Sunday - you must be crazy....

Please let me know what your stats have shown you or even your opinion, I really would love some evidence here, if possible, but I would be content with a response to the poll just as well.

Thanks!

Brad

Oh, I almost forgot to add that the poll is assuming that the email would arrive the day sent (kinda like Santa Clause)

[bradbox]

Mainly good points, although I disagree with your 'cons' on Wednesday and Thursday. Most people aren't snowed under in the middle of the week. And who has a hangover from Wednesdays?

My experience is that Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays are the best days. Saying that, Monday is our busiest day on our e-commerce sites.

You should repeat the same poll, with the time of the day. We find that mid afternoon is a good time. Never ever, outside of work hours. The morning seems hit and miss.

[BasicECommerce]

Tuesday has always been the most effective day for my programs. Customers have finished up with catching up for Monday and Tuesday is when all good things arrive. New releases and shipments always enter stores on Tuesday. Many people now understand this and prepare for good things on Tuesday.

As with most things, this will probably vary based on your product and customer base. I suggest performing some analytics to find the best time and day for you to send out your emails. It can potentially have a huge impact.

-BEC

[bradbox]

Also, the time of the month is a big factor. Try sending an email for an expensive consumer product at the beginning of the month and you'll get far better returns than the same day of the week at the end of the month. This is because most people are paid towards the beginning of the month.

[B-Double-U]

This is all great feedback and I appreciate it very much!

Just to clarify though... the above quotes are NOT my viewpoint, but rather, what I am hearing from others being tauted as the Why's and Why-not's.

My personal calculations don't coincide with a day of the week, but rather they coincide with common pay periods like the 15th and the 30th or 1st.

the way I see it, most people get a check and that money starts to burn a whole in their pocket, so they get rid of it as fast as they can. I find that if I time the emails with those days of the month that I get a better return. I also find that the beginning of the week (should it happen to be on one of those days) will produce a higher total or gross sale, but later emails have a lower total but a greater number of buyers.

It seems to be a quality vs. quantity.

In Particular, I don't necessarily agree with any of the comments I wrote, that is why I was hoping to gain some insight from others in the field, so I can use it as ammo against my (ahem) constituents

[B-Double-U]

Please Vote in the poll even if it is just opinion!

[rapidvectorseo]

Personally what i feel is, FRIDAY may bring good fruits.
As sat and sun. will be off and people decide for weekend shopping or tours so,
Firing an email on Friday will get better better conversions, IMO.

[bradbox]

Interesting that the news today was that today, Monday, would be the busiest shopping day on the Internet:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7770338.stm

[clickthroughseo]

Thursday.

The con of sending anything out on a Friday is that just as you have emailed 20k people, the server goes pear-shaped and the techies are already down the pub!

[bradbox]

Very funny!

[B-Double-U]

Can I pump some life back into this Poll?

I see that almost 2000 people stopped by and read the thread but only about 6 of you voted for a day....

less than 1% doesn't make for a very good test group.

Thanks!

[jag]

You can try adding Monday and Tuesday in an option and so to the poll.

And sending newsletter by day depends on industry and subject. This varies to the needs

Best,

[AussieWebmaster]

also you can always look at open rates between the days and obviously go with the best - I think niche of content is a factor - sports could be a night weekekend type of thing etc.

[ChiefLee]

We track results or our email campaigns (clicks, conversions, etc) but truthfully have never seen anything consistently jump out.

Have a good friend in sales who swears she has the best look for sales calls on Fridays because people are in the mood to talk, and not to work. Which is counter to what many sales people preach.

[AussieWebmaster]

Yeah people definitely get chatty of Fridays just like tghey go through emails on Mondays and Tuesdays

[zenie]

hi,

i want know more about this....so,pls tell me more...


_______
zenie

[B-Double-U]

What would you like to know more about? Or are you an evil robot sent from skynet to ask ambiguous and vague questions to put us all in a state of awkwardness? ... just asking.