Most emails are sent in the morning, but the best results are obtained in the afternoon

[RafiRiFat336205]

As part of its quarterly study on email marketing, Experian Marketing has analysed the best time of day to send emails, taking into account that the information is a posteriori and that the situation can vary by industry and by brand. Despite all this, it is very interesting to take a look at the results. And these results show, in a way, an inverse relationship between email volume and results.

For example, if we look at the time of day, the study found that 40% of emails were sent between 8am and 12am, accounting for 42% of all emails. But the 16.1% opening rate and 2.4% unique click rates are the lowest of any time during the day. This tells us, in a way, that it is quite difficult for companies to differentiate themselves from each other in the morning, when consumers receive the most emails.

Interestingly, the percentage of transactions (13%) in this morning slot was also the lowest of all other times of the day, email revenue ($0.17) was also the lowest, and the average order value was in the middle of the pack at $174.

Looking at the time of day when the lowest transaction volume active phone number occurs (2%), between 8pm and 12pm, the picture changes dramatically. During this period, the open rate (21.7%), unique click rate (4.2%), transaction rate (0.34%), email revenue ($0.48), and average order value ($246) were all significantly higher than at any other time of day. Experian's study offers no explanation as to why this might be, but it may well be because consumers are busier during the rest of the day, and therefore more free at these evening times.

The Experian study also looked at performance by day of the week, again finding that days with lower email volumes, such as Saturdays and Sundays, achieved the best response rates (each with a unique open rate of 17.8% and a click rate of 2.9%). Saturday (9% of email volume) also achieved the best percentage of transactions (0.16%) and revenue per email ($0.20), although the average purchase value decreased.