While most experts will say there's no such thing as the perfect time for
email marketing to send your email offer or newsletter, conventional wisdom holds that Tuesday—generally speaking—is the best day for a campaign, and Friday the worst.
"The theory behind the rule of thumb makes sense," notes Caroline Ruggiero at the Marketo blog. "[E]mail too early in the week and people are too busy with their actual work to open or focus on your message. Email end of the week and your message will get buried in a barrage of messages everyone has to dig out of come Monday morning."
But her own preference for browsing work email on Sundays made her wonder if Sunday could be the new Tuesday for email marketers. Although the weekend is a time to unwind, she explains, "it's also a time to catch up on newsletters, lower-priority messages, and feeds without the distraction of, well, work. I am absolutely more open to reading marketing messages in this quieter, more relaxed setting."
There's some evidence that she's not alone in her habit:
- An AOL survey found that 62% of respondents checked their work email over the weekend.
- According to a Pew study, two thirds of Americans do work-related research at home.
The only way to know whether your B2B audience reads email on weekends is—of course—to test it. "Perhaps," says Ruggiero, "your key target might be guilty of indulging in some Sunday work email, just like me."
So here it goes: Sunday might work. Don't just assume that weekdays are the best time to reach your customers. If you check your email over the weekend, it stands to reason that they might, too.
Written by:
Paul Shuteyev
