The best time to send an email campaign is subject to much discussion and debate. There are many opinions on when the best day of week dependent on the industry you’re aiming at and this article discusses how you can find out when the best time is for your particular audience.

I’ve seen articles that claim the best times to send email campaigns and much does make sense. For example if you’re sending out something to do with entertainment then sending lunchtime on a Thursday when people are most probably thinking about the weekend activities seems a good logic.

Equally an email to motivate potential clients to make lifestyle changes sent on a Wednesday also seems like a good idea as people who hate their current job or life are half way through the week are more likely to take action have suffered yet another blue Monday.

But you don’t really know what’s best for your readers until you actually test it. And testing is what I’ve been doing the last couple of weeks with my Wiz Biz Tips Newsletter and I want to share the results of my findings with you.

Next Best Time

In Constant Contact there is a relatively new feature called ‘Next Best Time’ where Constant Contact have calculated when that time might be based on your industry open times and the behaviour of your current list.

So the first test, I sent my entire newsletter list on the Next Best Time it recommended which happened to be Wednesday 6am. The results? Well actually no significant difference to past campaigns which are always on a Monday 8am.

So then I decided to do a split test. I split my list into list A and list B. List A was the control and everyone in List A got my Wiz Biz Tips on the usual Monday 8am. List B got exactly the same newsletter on Thursday 6am – which was the ‘Next Best Time’ Constant Contact suggested.

The results

You can see that List A did significantly better than List B, meaning that Monday 8am is a better time to send my particular newsletter out for better engagement, than Thursday 6am.

The lesson

It’s always good practice to do a split test against a control. For example my first test which I didn’t have a control, I had no idea whether it was the time/day that made a difference or whether it was the subject line. The second test which was split the only difference was the time/day, the subject line didn’t change between the two campaigns, so I knew for sure that the difference was down to the time/day sent.

3 Tips for Split Testing

1. Create two groups A and B by downloading the list into Excel then split the list into two equal groups, called A and B. Make A the control group.
2. Only change one variable, so if you’re testing day of week, then make sure the time is the same for both days. If you’re testing time of day, send the campaign same day for both, just change the time.
3. Compare the open rates 2-3 days later for each campaign.

So there you have it. You can follow general advice about the best times to send for your type of email campaign but you won’t really know until you’ve tested it on your list and the best way to test is to conduct a split test so you have a control to compare with.

If you need help with this aspect of your email campaigns or email campaigns in general then let’s talk. Set up a free consultation with me here