3 Best Practice Rules for Email Timing

In a perfect world, your email marketing list members will open up each of your messages immediately, read each line and take action right away. But as you know, your list members are busy, may not recall why they signed up for your list in the first place or may be receiving your email at a time when there are dozens of other messages coming their way.

That is why it is important to time your email messages just right. Timing relates to two different decisions:

-What days and times are best for my email messages?
-How frequently should I send out my email messages
-When you understand the timing and frequency rhythms that are right for your list, you can send out messages that have more impact. Here are three best practices rules to follow to boost your success.

1.) Find a schedule and stick with it.
The most important key to having email marketing success with your own list is being consistent. Find a schedule that works for your company (and gets a good response from your list) and then repeat it week in and week out (or month in and month out). Of course, this does not apply to special discounts or deals, but with your email marketing newsletter you should have a consistent schedule. Weekly or bi-weekly works best for most companies.

2.) Consider your users and their lives.
Your email marketing messages are more likely to be opened when your audience is not overwhelmed with other messages or checking in quickly. If your target market is busy moms, sending them a message at 10 am is not going to work. If you are marketing to small business owners, messages on a Friday afternoon are not going to have an impact. Think through the day to day life of your prospects and then pick a time when they are most likely to have time to open and read your message. Once you have decided on a time and day for your newsletters and messages, then you can look at your open rates, track your effectiveness and make adjustments.

3.) Give list members the power to select their own frequency.
One of the best ways to succeed with email marketing is to make sure your users get exactly what they need when they want it. You can do just this by allowing your subscribers to tell you how often they’d like to be contacted. For example, if you are sending a weekly blog update newsletter and a monthly in depth newsletter, your subscribers can indicate whether they would like to be contacted each week or each month. You can use this information to segment your list and send content at the right times to specific email list members.

Although these are important industry best practices, each email marketing list is unique. Your subscribers will respond best to a specific frequency and timing of content. Once you select what you think will work best, look at your analytics and results and make adjustments as need be.