As a Christian Marketing Agency, we send a fair amount of direct email marketing to our clients, our Christian Influencers & Christian Bloggers, and our faith-based PR lists.
We’ve used MailChimp’s Send Time Optimization for every email blast in the past, but have always struggled with the issue of trying to pick which time zone to base our send on. Generally, we’ve picked Central time because the majority of our clients are in that part of the country, even though we’re based in the Pacific time zone. Intuitively, it has always felt like delivering the email at the best time in their time zone would be better, but how should we pick that time?
After asking MailChimp tech support 3 times, we finally got a really good answer about what time to schedule emails to send out using their TIME WARP function which delivers the email at the user’s time as scheduled rather than using their Send Time Optimization function which picks one time in your time zone and sends everyone your message at that time regardless of what time that is for them.
To illustrate the difference:
- Time Warp set to 10 am = every recipient gets sent at 10 am THEIR TIME!
- Send Time Optimization set to 10 am = MailChimp sends at 10am in your time zone so in our case each recipient in the US gets it at 10 am Pacific time, 12 pm Central Time, or 1 pm Eastern time depending on where they are, and then of course there is the rest of world…
Here’s a summary of what MailChimp clued us into…
Sending email blasts at the right time is crucial for effective email marketing campaigns. The best time to send an email blast depends on factors such as the audience and the type of content. However, generally, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings at 10AM in the recipients’ time zones tend to yield better engagement. It is important to avoid sending emails too early or during inconvenient times for subscribers.
🕒 Best time to send an email blast: The short answer…
- Send on weekdays for good engagement, with Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday being ideal.
- The best time to send email newsletters is around 10AM in the recipients’ time zones.
🚀 Facts
- Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings at 10AM are generally considered optimal for sending email blasts.
- Sending emails too early in the recipients’ time zones should be avoided.
- On a personal note, I hate that my 3 favorite news summaries come between 4 AM and 5 AM and are buried in my SaneNews box by the time I get into the office.)
- The best time to send emails depends on factors like the audience and the type of content.
- Analyzing data from previous campaigns and conducting A/B testing can help determine the best send times.
- Mailchimp’s Send Time Optimization tool can provide recommendations based on millions of emails sent and received.
- A/B testing allows comparison of different email versions to find the most optimal send times.
- To increase email engagement, segment the audience, craft catchy subject lines, write high-quality content, create professional-looking newsletters, and avoid content that looks like spam.
🌎 Why nailing the right send time matters
- The number of emails sent and received daily is increasing, making it important to stand out.
- Sending emails at inconvenient times may result in lower engagement and missed opportunities.
📊 How to determine the best send time for your email blast
- Use data to analyze previous campaigns and identify trends.
- Utilize tools like Mailchimp’s Send Time Optimization and conduct A/B testing.
- Take the guesswork out of your email marketing strategy by relying on data-driven recommendations.
💡 Tips for increasing email engagement
- Segment your audience based on their characteristics.
- Craft catchy and captivating subject lines.
- Ensure high-quality content that aligns with your brand guidelines.
- Design professional-looking newsletters.
- Avoid content that resembles spam to maintain subscriber engagement.
We hope that gives you the relief it gave us. We’re switching to Time Warp for all our sends now. Good luck!