When to Send a Campaign: The Best Time

When to Send a Campaign: Determining the Best Time for Maximum Response

Optimizing send time is a critical success factor for any email campaign, especially in B2B sales, lead generation, and recruiting. By sending messages at the right time, you significantly increase the likelihood that your email will be read and responded to. In this article, we will look at the optimal days and hours for sending cold emails, and we will also analyze how to use the scheduled_at function in Postigo to schedule mailings taking into account the time zones of recipients.

The Best Time to Send a Cold Email

Statistics and experience show that for cold emails in the B2B segment, the most effective time is from Tuesday to Thursday, from 9:00 to 11:00 am local time of the recipient. Why this time?

• Tuesday-Thursday: The beginning of the week is often loaded with planning and analyzing accumulated tasks. By Friday, people's attention is scattered, and they are preparing for the weekend. The middle of the week, as a rule, is characterized by a more stable work rhythm and willingness to consider new proposals.
• 9:00-11:00 am: By this time, most people have already sorted out their morning mail, held meetings, and are ready for a more detailed study of incoming messages. Sending during this period allows your email to be at the top of the inbox and attract more attention.

However, it is important to remember that these are general recommendations. Effectiveness may vary depending on your target audience, industry, and the specifics of the product or service offered. For example, for recruiting mailings, it may be more effective to send emails on Monday morning, when people are most actively looking for work. We recommend conducting A/B testing with different sending times to determine the optimal time for your specific audience.

Using scheduled_at in Postigo to Schedule Mailings

Postigo provides powerful tools for scheduling email campaigns. The scheduled_at function allows you to specify the exact time to send the email. This is especially useful when working with an audience located in different time zones.

To use scheduled_at, you must specify the date and time of sending in ISO 8601 format (for example, 2024-01-25T10:00:00+00:00). It is important to note that the time is specified in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) format. Postigo automatically converts this time to the recipient's local time, if this information is available. You can learn more about scheduling mailings in the First Campaign Guide.

Example: You want to send an email to a user located in New York (UTC-5) at 9:00 am local time. In UTC format, this will be 14:00. Therefore, the value of scheduled_at should be 2024-01-25T14:00:00+00:00.

The Difference Between the Sender's and Recipient's Time Zone

A key point when scheduling mailings is understanding the difference between your time zone and the recipient's time zone. An error in calculations can lead to sending emails at an inconvenient time, which will negatively affect open rates and response.

Postigo allows you to automatically determine the recipient's time zone based on the information specified in their profile (if available). If time zone information is not available, Postigo uses the time zone specified in your account settings. Therefore, it is important to make sure that your correct time zone is specified in the settings.

Recommendations:

• Use dynamic fields: In Postigo, you can use dynamic fields to personalize the sending time based on recipient data.
• Check the data: Make sure that the time zone data of your recipients is up-to-date and accurate.
• Test: Send test emails to yourself and colleagues located in different time zones to make sure that the emails arrive at the right time.

Additional Factors Affecting Send Time

In addition to the day of the week and time of day, other factors can affect the effectiveness of an email campaign:

• Industry: Different industries may have their own characteristics. For example, for IT professionals, it may be more effective to send emails in the evening, when they finish working on projects.
• Target audience: Consider the age, position, and other characteristics of your target audience.
• Geography: Different countries may have their own cultural characteristics and holidays that should be considered when planning mailings.
• Type of email: Different sending times may be optimal for different types of emails (for example, newsletters, promotions, notifications).

Conclusion

Choosing the optimal time to send email campaigns is a continuous process of testing and analysis. Use the recommendations presented in this article as a starting point, but do not forget to adapt them to your specific audience and goals. Use Postigo features, such as the scheduled_at function, to schedule mailings taking into account the time zones of recipients and increase the effectiveness of your email campaigns. Don't forget about spam protection and regularly check campaign analytics to optimize your strategies.