When are the best/worst times to contact your mailing list?

In September of 1998 I wrote an article entitled Start Your E-Mail Newsletter to Stay in Closer Touch with Customers. The following information is in some way a continuation of that information. Here is the link if you haven’t read it click here (http://209.53.3.96/articles/newsletter.asp).

When are the best/worst times to contact your mailing list subscribers?

1) Tuesday is one of the best days to send mail to your list. Possible reasons being that Monday your recipients mailbox is being cleared of spam from the weekend which usually means that their mailbox is not over quota as I have experienced many many times.

2) Fridays afternoons are bad since your message arrives on a day people are thinking more about the weekend instead of what messages are in their mailbox.

3) Wednesday are relatively safe since it is humpday, the week is half over and the recipients are usually [hopefully] in good spirits.

4) Timing your email to arrive on the lunch hour when your target audience is most likely checking their email. This also applies to the early morning email check.

So it appears that the best time to send your mailing is specific to each situation. It is up to you to test different times on different days to find out what works best for you.

The common consensus [read speaking from personal experience] is that Sunday is the worst day since everyone [spammers] usually send their unsolicited email on Saturday [Possibly Friday night] to the point that it makes the recipients mailbox exceed storage space. Saturday and Monday are close seconds for the same reason.

About the Author

Chris McClean establishes the way businesses store and distribute their product and content online. Visit his site for information and tools to help you change the way you live and work.

chris@pertinent.com
http://www.pertinent.com