When?
When to send an email campaign

What is the best day of the week to send an email?
In marketing timing is everything, but with email marketing it can make the difference between emails being read and being sent to the trash bin.

Originally Consumers and Business clients were said to be very different, as in their rituals for dealing with emails were totally different. Today's studies have found that 88% of all email recipients use their work email address also as their personal email address, making the business and consumer essentially one and the same.

Since consumers and business email clients are on the same wavelength that means Mondays and Tuesdays are the days set aside for meetings, organizing and catching up on last week's tasks and not the days for reading and opening non business emails. Ultimately making these two days of the week the least effective days to send an email blast.

So when is the most effective days to send an email?  Studies have shown that the most effective days of the week are now Saturdays and Sundays. Saturday being the most effective of the two days in showing the highest open ratio and lowest unsubscribes, unlike Tuesdays which now have the lowest open ratios and highest unsubscribes.

Let's not forget about Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Although these three days are not the most effective days of the week like Saturday has become, they also aren't the least effective days to send. Throughout the study Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays have kept the same even keel allowing them to also be effective days for sending.

What time of the day is the best time to send your email?
Timing is also another factor. More and more email clients are reading their emails first thing in the morning. Just like people used to read the newspaper (some still do) with their morning cup of coffee, now it is customary for people to read their emails as part of their daily morning routines. 

That being said, the most effective time of day would be in the morning as 98% of those surveyed report reading their email during the morning hours. So the main idea would be to send early between the hours of 6am-7am so that the email is waiting in the inbox first thing.

*Tip - Try sending your emails on the weekend and send very early in the morning.

Email Sending Frequency

Effective Sending Frequency. How many emails is too much and how many are not enough?
It's ok to send more than once a week, however not ok to send more than once a day. Click through rates  are relatively the same whether you send once a month or ten times a month. However, studies show unsubscribes are highest for those that send only 1 or 2 times a month due to the interest being lost during the time nothing was sent. You want to keep them active and engaged as much as possible, to be in touch often so they don't forget who you are which then leads to Expectations.

Expectations
Make your email recipients want your email, to be expecting your email. Stick with a consistent sending schedule. If you have a monthly specials email or newsletter, send it the same day and time each month. If you have a weekly update email, send it the same day and time each week. Consistency is the key to allow for your email recipients to "expect" your email.

*Tip: Try sending more often if you only send once a month, send less if you are filling up the inbox each day and keep with a consistent schedule date and time.