Guide to Email Marketing Timing

Our research reveals that consumer behaviour is far from predictable

Relying on ‘gut instinct’ will lead marketers astray

Key findings

• Employees less likely to open marketing emails during lunch than at any other time of the day

• Marketers can capitalise on consumers’ desire for a morning boost

• Afternoon apathy leaves workers looking for ‘life-changing’ opportunities

The research

Our new research has revealed that marketing professionals shouldn’t rely on ‘gut instinct’ when it comes to email marketing.

We analysed over 660,000 emails sent by 34 companies to discover that widely held assumptions often lead marketers astray.

Contrary to popular assumptions, the volume of marketing emails opened drops markedly during the lunch hour. A mere 9% of the emails sent were opened between noon and 2pm, with 62% of those opened being news or magazine alerts rather than promotions on goods or services.

The research revealed that recipients are far more likely to open emails in their own time rather than at work, contradicting the media’s stereotype of employees who take advantage of work-based email and internet for personal use. Almost half (48%) of all marketing emails were opened outside of office hours.

Download whitepaper