Most email marketers send campaigns on the wrong day

Email may have been a key weapon in the marketer’s armoury for nearly two decades but most brands are still sending their messages out on the wrong day of the week, according to an analysis of over 1.4 billion emails sent by major retailers in the UK.
According to the SmartFocus study, brands can significantly increase click-through rates by sending email communications on specified days.
For example, CTR of emails sent on Tuesday is over 30% higher than those sent on Fridays. This means any actionable emails, those requiring the recipient to click-through or sign-up, should be sent on Tuesdays for maximum engagement. However, according to the study, brands are sending the majority of emails on Thursday and Sunday.
The fewest email marketing messages were sent on Monday and Tuesday, however, these two days accounted for the highest level engagement throughout the week, with the highest open (18.6%) and CTR (2.5%).
Meanwhile, when it comes to the time of day, the most marketing emails (600,000 an hour) were opened between 6pm and 9pm.
Previous results from the study concluded that retailers should send email marketing messages between 5pm and 6.30pm to avoid costly unsubscribes, ahead of GDPR, revealing the optimum time to send marketing email to increase reconfirmations and minimise unsubscribes.
SmartFocus chief marketing officer Sarah Taylor said; “Engaging effectively with customers is the ultimate goal for any email marketing campaign. Brands need to have a deeper understanding of their customers’ behaviour and then tailor their email marketing campaigns accordingly. The results from the study shows that there is a serious disconnect between marketer’s strategy and the consumers they are reaching out to.”
She added: “In the competitive retail sector, ongoing engagement with customers is paramount. Using the results from this study, marketers and brands can better prepare campaigns, building a clearer picture of their customer and enabling them to target the right person, with the right offer at the right time. This individualised customer-centric approach will determine the success of any email marketing campaign in the future, particularly in light of the imminent GDPR deadline.”