In Search of the Ideal Email Send Time
May 21, 2009
Speakers & Agenda• Richard Evans
– Product Marketing Manager
• Loren McDonald– VP, Industry Relations
• Agenda
– Best Send Time Is….?– Why Send Time Matters More Than Ever– What is Send Time Optimization?– Case Study Results – Questions & Answers
Best Time to Send Email is …
350,000,000 Search Results
Popular search question
Research Says…
Best Day for Deliverability?
Monday
Best Days for B2B?
• For business email, your audience is generally out of the office on Saturday and Sunday.
• On Monday, your recipients are recovering from the weekend and will not be in business mode yet. They may have a number of things to do on this day and are not quite interested in offers or solicitations.
• On Friday, they are interested in wrapping things up. If someone starts something on a Friday, it may be forgotten over the weekend.
• You will want to avoid holidays or any major vacation times.
Source: BusinessEmailLists.com
Tuesdays, Wednesda
ys, Thursdays
Best Day - Open Rates?
Source: eROI/MarketingCharts
Wednesday
Best Day – Click-Through Rates?
Source: eROI/MarketingCharts
The highest average click rate - 5.0% - was on Saturday, which had the lowest open rate, however: 18.7%.
Saturday!
Best Day – Click-Through Rates?
Wednesday
Source: EmailLabs/eMarketer
Best Day / Days To Send Email? Posted By: Billd724 on 7/25/2005 3:56 AM (CST)Posted by: AndrewS Accepted Answer 7/25/2005 4:22 AM (CST)
Really difficult question to answer, I usually find that all prospects (or suspects) are different in their email habits.
As a general rule:1. avoid weekends - lots of spam get sent over the weekend period2. avoid evenings - again, lots of spam at the weekend and you may get included in a 'mass delete'3. avoid fridays and mondays - for individuals these are usually busy days for getting things done.4. avoid public holiday periods and summer holiday rushes5. Mid -day / mid-week always seem safest.
Good Luck
Source: MarketingProfs
Avoid everything… except Mid-week and Mid-
day
Best Time of Day? (clicks)As for the best time of day for open and click rates, during the heaviest email volumes (8 AM to 5 PM), there’s a marked upward trend as time passes, eROI said. That is, both open and click rates gradually increase:
From a low of 2.6% at 8 AM to a high of 6.4% at 4 PM (down to 5.2% at 5 PM), in the case of click rates.
Source: eROI/MarketingCharts
4 pm!
Best Time of Day? (Opens)As for the best time of day for open and click rates, during the heaviest email volumes (8 AM to 5 PM), there’s a marked upward trend as time passes, eROI said. That is, both open and click rates gradually increase:
From a low of 21.4% at 8 AM to a high of 34.1% at 5 PM, in the case of opens.
Source: eROI/MarketingCharts
5 pm!
Industry Experts Tell Us…
Tuesday, 10 am
After School
Weekends
Wednesday, 8 am Buy My Report
Test It
Hmm, Best Send Time?
But Seriously, Why Send Time Matters More Than Ever
Loren McDonald
US Attendee: +1 516 453 0014, access code 659-994-817UK Attendee: +44 (0) 161 660 8220, access code 659-994-817
Relevance = Right Message + Right Time
Overloaded Inboxes, & New Entrants
Email is Competing for Mindshare
Web Browser
PC client
Mobile Client
Same Email… May Be Read In Multiple Environments
Social Network RSS Feed
Web Version
Email Habits Vary
Yahoo researchers recently developed a model for email user behavior that splits email users into two classes:
• “e-mailaholics” that send, and presumably read, email all the time, and…• “day laborers” that send, and presumably read, email during standard business hours.
Source: Word to the Wise/Technology Review/Yahoo
Time Variables Are Endless
Send Time Matters Most…
Because we are all individuals
One Size Fits All = A Failed Approach
The Right Time Of Course Is…
…when each individual recipient is most likely to respond:
The time when they consistently open and act on your emails.
What is Send Time Optimization?
Richard Evans
It’s about
• Relevancy• Segmentation• Targeting
It’s the next step in engagement
How does it work
It takes a lot of these
And these…
To get this…
• Analyzes a range of past recipient behavior
• Predicts the ideal send time for each recipient
• Adjusts for changes in individual behavior
• Delivers your email to one or one million recipients, each at the ideal time
• Eliminates time zone challenges for international senders
The Results
We’ve checked and double-checked
Little Tikes
Overview• Regular weekly promotional email• Established open and click rate trends
Results on first send• Open rates increased 20%• Click rates increased 30%• Total revenue generated increased 75%• Average value per order grew 35%
Increased metrics across the board with Send Time Optimization
Using Silverpop’s Send Time Optimization feature has allowed Little Tikes to take a more sophisticated approach to our email
marketing with no extra effort on our end.
- Julie Gibson
Email Coordinator, Little Tikes
“”
Across the board• Open rate: 20% to 50% increase• Click rate: 30% to 50% increase• Revenue: 52% to 75% increase• Avg. order size: 35% to 50% increase
How to get these results
Two ways
For Silverpop Clients
For the rest of callers
• Dial us at 1-888-SI….
A quick test
• Export your email data from a recent send
• Group recipients by their open time• Test your next send
– 50% get the email at the standard time– 50% get it at the hour of day they last
opened
Contact Information• Richard Evans
– [email protected]– Twitter: @rlevans
• Loren McDonald– [email protected]– Twitter: @LorenMcDonald
www.silverpop.com/stowww.silverpop.comTwitter: @Silverpop
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