What is the best day of the week to send an email? Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays have traditionally been favorites, as marketers want to avoid the Monday rush and the Friday fade.
But does this rule still hold true in 2022? If everyone is sending emails to their lists at the same time, it might make sense to experiment with other send days and times to stand out in your audience’s inboxes.
So we asked ourselves: What day of the week should you send your emails for optimal success? And does that change based on the type of email you’re sending?
To answer this question, we analyzed 1.6 billion emails delivered through our platform in Q3 2022 to see which send days result in the most opens, clicks and click-through rates.
Here’s what we found:
What is the best day of the week to send an email?
- Generally, emails sent on Saturday had the best overall performance, with a 4.7% click-through rate.
- Of the weekdays, Friday sends were most successful, with a 4.6% click-through rate. However, Monday sends came in a close second, with a 4.6% click-through rate.
- Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday emails saw a slight dip in performance: Mid-week emails had nearly identical performance, with click-through rates of 4.3% each. While their open rates were similar to Monday and Friday sends, they had 7% lower click-through rates.
What is the best day of the week to send email campaigns?
For the average email, Saturday and Friday sends generate the most click-throughs. But what’s best for your particular campaign depends largely on context. Ultimately, the most successful emails reach your audience at a time when they’re best positioned to take the intended action, whether that’s downloading and reading a whitepaper or registering for an event.
Best days to send newsletters
Say you’re promoting a longform digital magazine through email: Recipients are way more likely to click through the email and read the full magazine if they get it on a Saturday or Sunday, instead of 2 p.m. on a Tuesday. In that case, a weekend send is ideal.
But if you’re promoting a weekly digest-style newsletter that readers can skim during their morning commute, it’s better to send it first thing Monday morning.
Our research bears this out: The optimal send date varies widely between email types. Below is the best day of the week to send an email for a variety of situations, including event promotion, marketing, surveys, whitepapers and more (as measured by click through rate). Read below to see what day of the week you should send each type of email:
When in doubt, consult your email marketing platform to see what send dates and times work best for your brand. Also consider segmenting your audience for best results.
