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The email blast is an interesting digital marketing topic that deserves more attention than it gets. An email blast is when you have a long list of recipients to whom you intend to send the same message simultaneously. However, timing is critical to an effective email marketing campaign. So, what is the best time to send marketing emails?
Since you're sending the campaign at the same time, you have to ensure that it reaches the right audience at the most appropriate moment. After all, you want people to open your emails. Hitting send on your campaigns at the wrong time can lead to your emails being ignored, which can hurt your engagement, open rate, and other key metrics.
So, what's the best time to send an email blast to your subscribers? There are times when some marketing emails might be more welcome than others. For example, weekday mornings often see higher open rates than emails delivered outside those times. Ultimately, the time you should send your emails depends on several factors, including your specific audience. Keep reading to learn more about how to find the best time to send marketing emails.
Best time to send an email blast: The short answer
You can send to most subscribers on a weekday and receive pretty good engagement. Sunday is the best day to send a newsletter or email blast to the fewest number of subscribers, while Monday through Friday are all quite similar in terms of the percentage of email addresses that have that day as optimal.
It's somewhat established that the best days to send email blasts are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday across different industries and audiences. When we look at the typical distribution of optimal send times across Mailchimp’s whole system, the best time to send email newsletters is at 10AM in the recipients’ own time zones. Note that no single day wins hands-down. This is what we should expect when studying the data of billions of humans’ inbox activity.
Unless you have a good reason, I’d avoid sending your content too early (say, 3 or 4 am) in the recipients’ time zones. If you’re on the east coast, but many of your subscribers are in California, consider using Timewarp on your morning newsletter to make sure you don’t send to those west coasters too early.
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Best time to send an email blast: The long answer
We’ve got our easy answers out of the way (send during the work week in mid-morning). So, you might be thinking, "when is the optimal time to send?" Well, it depends on who you are and who you’re sending to. Since the Email Genome Project stores email address engagement data for billions of addresses at the individual level, these send time recommendations are personalized per user based on the subscribers on their list.
While the weekend is less preferable than the work week, that does shift slightly depending on what type of content you send (since that affects your subscribers).
If you're sending campaigns to a general audience, this Tuesday or Thursday mid-morning recommendation might be the best answer. However, every brand and audience is different. So, if we want to find the best time to message a given audience about a particular subject, we need data.
Data collected from your subscribers contains a goldmine of information that can help you determine a few optimal send times for your audience segments. Whether you want to send email blasts to new customers or engage with repeat customers, the right send time can help your engagement significantly.
Does the best send time vary by industry?
Different industries often see varying patterns in email timing performance, as customer behaviors and schedules naturally differ across sectors. Understanding your target audience and their typical daily rhythms can significantly improve your email marketing results.
What works for retail shoppers might fall flat with business professionals, who check their inbox at different times throughout the day. Let's look at how optimal send times vary across major industry categories, from early morning newsletters to early afternoon promotional emails.
Retail and ecommerce
Consumer shopping behavior tends to peak during lunch breaks and evening hours when people have more personal time. Retail emails often perform best when they arrive in the recipient's inbox during the late morning or early afternoon, especially on Thursdays through Saturdays. Most shoppers are more receptive to promotional content when they're mentally switched from work mode to leisure time.
B2B and professional services
Business professionals typically check emails during standard working hours, with the highest engagement rates occurring mid-week. Tuesday and Wednesday mornings consistently show strong performance for B2B communications, as professionals have settled into their work week and haven't yet shifted to end-of-week mode. These audience preferences reflect the workflow rhythm of office environments where email is part of the daily professional routine.
Nonprofits and community organizations
Cause-based organizations often see higher engagement with emails sent during evenings and weekends when supporters have time for meaningful engagement.
Unlike business communications, nonprofit messages appeal to personal values and may require more emotional processing time. Many successful nonprofit campaigns target the Tuesday to Thursday window, balancing weekday attention with enough time for recipients to consider involvement.
Why nailing the right send time matters
Globally, 306 billion emails were sent and received daily in 2020-and the number is expected to increase to 376 billion by 2025. Not every email will contain marketing content, but you still have to be as competitive as possible when sending out email campaigns in order to stand out.
While you can send an email blast at the recommended times mentioned earlier, you may not get the best results possible.
As an example, say you send an email newsletter at a time that's not convenient for your subscribers. While your subscribers may want to engage and read your marketing correspondence, they may simply not have the time at that moment. So, they put it off and tell themselves that they'll read it later. Some contacts may be able to read the email at another time, but others may forget about it altogether.
Best days vs. best times: What's the difference?
When planning your email campaigns, understanding the difference between the best days and the best times can dramatically impact your results. While many marketers focus exclusively on which day to send, the specific hour can be equally important for catching subscribers when they're most receptive.
Best days of the week to send marketing emails
Mid-week days like Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday generally outperform Monday and Friday for email engagement across industries.
Tuesdays often take the top spot for opens and clicks, as people have settled into their work week but aren't yet feeling the end-of-week rush.
Weekends typically show lower engagement rates for business-related emails, though certain retail promotions may find success on Saturday mornings when consumers have more leisure time.
Your specific audience might not follow these trends, so always consider your unique subscriber behavior patterns.
How to test and compare timing
The most reliable way to determine optimal sending times is by testing using robust email marketing tools that offer analytics and testing capabilities.
Conduct A/B tests where you send identical campaigns to similar audience segments at different times or days, then carefully analyze open rates, click-through rates, and conversion metrics.
Many advanced platforms now offer automated testing features that can rotate through various sending times and gradually optimize based on performance data. Remember to test both seasonal variations and day-of-week patterns, as timing preferences can shift throughout the year.
How to determine the best send time for your email blast
We recommend using data to find the best time to send your newsletter and blasts to subscribers. While you can take a quick glance at your data and come up with an average number manually, there are many advanced tools you can use to determine the best send time for you and your contacts.
Mailchimp's Send Time Optimization tool works intuitively based on millions of emails sent and received through our platform. We also take into account the data gathered from your subscribers to identify the right time to send emails.
Send Time Optimization will provide a recommendation for your campaigns, so you can take the guesswork out of your email marketing strategy.
It's also a good idea to A/B test your campaigns. A/B testing allows you to compare two versions of the same email to see which one performs better. With an effective A/B testing strategy, you can easily find out the optimal email blast send times.
Common mistakes when choosing send times
Getting your timing wrong doesn't just affect opens and clicks — it can damage your sender reputation and lead to higher unsubscribes. While finding the perfect send time takes ongoing effort, avoiding these common pitfalls will help you maintain stronger engagement with your subscribers. Let's examine the most frequent timing mistakes that can sabotage your email marketing results.
Ignoring your audience’s time zone
Many marketers make the critical error of sending emails based solely on their own local time, completely overlooking where their subscribers actually live. Understanding audience demographics is essential for proper timing, especially if your subscribers span multiple regions or countries.
Email open rates can suffer when messages arrive at inconvenient times, like 3 AM local time when subscribers are sleeping, virtually guaranteeing your carefully crafted content will be buried under morning messages or deleted without consideration.
Over-emailing at peak hours
Flooding your subscribers' inboxes during commonly recommended "peak" hours creates unnecessary competition with dozens of other marketing messages.
When everyone follows the same generic timing advice, inboxes become overwhelmed during these windows, reducing the likelihood that your message will stand out. This approach often backfires by contributing to email fatigue, causing subscribers to tune out your messages or mark them as low priority.
Failing to test and adapt over time
The biggest timing mistake is treating send times as a "set it and forget it" decision rather than an ongoing optimization opportunity. Data shows that email performance changes as subscriber habits evolve, meaning last year's perfect timing may no longer apply to your current audience.
Click-through rates provide valuable feedback about timing effectiveness, but many marketers neglect to regularly analyze these metrics and adjust their strategy accordingly.
Tips for increasing email engagement
While finding a suitable time to send email blasts is important, it's also essential to format emails properly and consider your audience segments. Your content should be high-quality, engaging, and tailored to its recipients.
Here are some tips on how to write the best email newsletters and blasts.
- Segment your audience. Audience segmentation is a great way to define the differences between the types of people you market to. Knowing your audience segments takes research, insight, and testing.
- Craft catchy subject lines. Take the time to write clever and captivating subject lines. It can make the difference between an unread email and a sale.
- Write high-quality content. Whether you write your content yourself or hire writers, don't compromise on quality. Ensure your content is the best it can be, free of grammatical errors, and written according to your brand guidelines.
- Create professional-looking newsletters. Your newsletters should always carry a tone, look, and feel of professionalism, authority, and trustworthiness.
- Avoid content that looks like spam. If your email looks like spam, most subscribers will treat it like spam. This means they may unsubscribe or report it to their email provider.
Optimize mailing times with Mailchimp
Finding the best time to send an email blast can be a challenge. However, getting it right is possible and well worth your efforts. Start by analyzing data from your previous email campaigns and A/B testing. Ensuring you send emails at the right times can deliver results, including high engagement.
With Mailchimp, you’ll have access to several email marketing tools that can help you optimize your emails. By using an intuitive and effective set of tools, you can hit the mark every time.
Key Takeaways
- Sending your emails at the right time can significantly boost open rates and engagement, with mid-week mornings generally performing best across industries.
- Each sector has unique timing considerations based on when their audience is most receptive, from early morning B2B emails to weekend nonprofit messages.
- Rather than following generic advice, use email marketing tools to test different send times with your specific audience and adjust based on performance data.
- Watch out for timing pitfalls like ignoring time zones, overcrowding peak hours, and failing to update your strategy as audience behaviors evolve.