The Importance of Getting Emails to the Intended Recipients
Despite the advances made in Internet-based technologies and the advent of other online marketing techniques, email remains one of the most effective tools in the repertoire of online marketers. Distributing information to intended recipients through email is cheap and simple, not to mention quite effective at getting the point across so long as the right procedures are being followed. One such procedure is making sure to send out emails at the right times so as to maximize the chances of people opening them to read the content.
How to Ensure Email Sending Success
Other than the percentage of emails that result in sales, the percentage of emails that are opened rather than discarded is perhaps the best metric available to measure the success of email marketing campaigns. Not only is it relevant to the purpose of email marketing, but it is also applicable even to campaigns that are not dedicated to soliciting sales. After all, each email opened is another intended recipient on the business’s mailing list that has read its message.
Choosing the right times to send email is important because it has an enormous impact on the percentage of email that are opened rather than discarded. However, choosing the right times is not enough because there are other factors that can influence the ultimate decision on the part of recipients to open or discard. For example, online marketers knowing the recipients’ time zones is important because ignorance can result in the emails being sent at incorrect times. Similarly, online marketers must also take into account the time elapsed since the emails were sent. Although 23.63% of all emails get opened within the first hour, that figure falls to 9.52% in the second hour and continues to decline at the same dramatic pace from that point on.
Best Times to Send Emails
For most recipients, the best times to send emails happen to be in either the morning or the middle of the afternoon. More precisely, the percentage of emails that get opened rather than discarded peak around 8 to 9 am in the morning and 3 to 4 pm in the afternoon. These happen to be the best times to send emails because people have both the time and the motive to check their email inboxes.
Worst Times to Send Emails
In contrast, the worst times to send emails happen to be the nighttime hours because most people are asleep. Similarly, the lunch hour, the earliest hours of the afternoon, and the evening hours are also bad for various reasons. These include people eating lunch around 12 pm, heading home around 5 pm, and being occupied with tasks such as cooking and taking care of their kids up until around 8 pm.
Conclusion
It is important to remember that the information presented here are general guidelines rather than universal truths. There are demographics out there that do not conform to these guidelines, meaning that online marketers should take care to research the demographics of their intended recipients and figure out their computer usage habits.
