Showerthought: I tested that 'post at 9 AM Tuesday' advice and my email open rates actually tanked

I run a small newsletter for local businesses in Austin (about 1,200 subscribers) and for months I followed the standard advice to hit publish on Tuesday mornings at 9. My open rates sat around 22% which felt decent but not great. Then out of curiosity I tried sending a test blast on a Sunday afternoon around 3 PM. I figured people would ignore it since it's the weekend. But my open rate jumped to 31% on that one send and I got three replies from people saying they finally had time to read the whole thing. The trick wasn't the time of day it was the day of the week. Now I send every Sunday at 3 PM and my average open rate has climbed to 28% over the last two months. Has anyone else found a weird time slot that works way better than the usual advice?

3 comments

3 Comments

anna_fox723d ago

My dad runs a small car repair shop and he sends his monthly tips newsletter at 7pm on Fridays. I told him that was a terrible idea but his open rate is around 35% which is way better than mine. I think people actually sit down and read email on Friday evenings when they're winding down from the week.

angelar5723d ago

35% is honestly impressive for any newsletter these days. My mom sends out a weekly baking club email on Sunday mornings and her open rate is like 12% at best. Maybe I should try Friday evenings instead, but I'd probably just end up half-reading it while scrolling Instagram anyway. Sounds like your dad's onto something with that winding-down theory though. People are probably sitting on their couches with a drink thinking "yeah sure, let's see what tips Bob's got this month." Plus car repair tips are actually useful for people who procrastinate all weekend and then remember they have a weird noise coming from their engine. Kinda makes me wonder if I should send my own stuff at weird times just to see what sticks.

olivia_allen2d ago

Wait, is 7pm on Fridays actually a secret hack or just a fluke? Might have to test that myself since my Sunday thing already broke all the "rules