Time Optimization with Email Marketing

It has been proven that email is not dead, and only those without a smartphone or using AOL think so. Projections estimate that 90.9% of the American Internet population will be accessible via email by 2019.

If email is so common, why can’t it be mastered? That answer is long and somewhat painful to talk about, but the positive is that there are many things you can do to become a better email marketer. Begin with embracing the analytics and remembering to learn from your failures as much as your successes – email marketing is a medium with a true love-hate relationship.

Although there are many aspects that make a marketing email effective, how often do you consider when you are sending your emails? Are you sending them on your schedule or your customer’s schedule? Luckily, because email is not going anywhere soon, there are several studies every year from the biggest names in email marketing that break down the best times to send. And every single one of them ends with telling you to cater to your own audience. How might you target a specific buyer persona:

The stay at home parent

Your first response might be to suggest a typical mid-day, mid-week email send. What if, between getting the family ready for the day and preparing for the family to come home, they actually want to relax? The persona might actually be best served early in the morning, or possibly they could be a weekend warrior!

The over-analyzed and over-criticized Millennial (Can you tell I’m a Millennial?)

Millennials spread across the spectrum from working professionals to college students. But if 18-35 is truly your target audience, I think you can rule out anything before noon. Knowing that this generation loves their smartphones, remember that they can be active on email late into the night.  

He/she who wears a suit and works 9-5

After years spent managing an internet sales department, I learned something that shouldn’t have been that big of a surprise. People shop online while at work! Of course, why wouldn’t we use company time to personally benefit ourselves. 60% of all emails are opened between 9 am – 5 pm.

Someone with experience and wisdom…did I mean to say retired?

This may become a newly targeted audience for email. The baby-boomer generation has experienced life with and without email. With smartphones becoming more prevalent, not necessarily popular, a percentage of this generation will develop into mobile email users. However, understand that unlike the millennial their peak open time is closer 10 am.

Can someone just tell me when to send all the emails?

There is no secret answer here to make you an email marketing genius, but this should get you to look at your audience as the determining factor in when you choose to send your marketing emails. Test, analyze…and never stop.  

If you want an answer on when is the best time to send your email…look for your own answer, mine is still being developed, tested and analyzed. Study your audience and ask them questions. Don’t really ask them questions, but give them an A/B test and find out what they respond to. Study the trends and be prepared to change when necessary. Some trends don’t come from your customers, they come from technology or lack thereof. Who thought reverting back to plain text emails could increase your statistics. Blinking green cursor, anyone?

Maren Hogan

Maren Hogan is CEO of Red Branch and general Bad@$$

Maren Hogan is a seasoned marketer and community builder in the HR and Recruiting industry. Maren started Red Branch Media and, before she hired all the smiling faces you see below, she ran it on her own. In marketing for over 15 years, she has deep experience in strategic campaigns and a long-term, results-based operational approach.