The Science Behind Email Marketing
When it comes to marketing to customers, especially through Emails, there is a solid concept behind which days are the most effective and why. Many people have different approaches and what works for one business may not work for another.
When it comes to Email, different groups of people read messages at different times, depending on the circumstances of that particular business. One that you must understand clearly is how your clients think and what their needs and wants are. If you truly understand them, you will be able to pinpoint the best time to send them Emails that you are confident they will read and respond to.
If you aren’t sure exactly when is the best time to send Emails to your clients, it is worth the investment of time to do some research to find out the optimal timing. Whichever days you determine are the most effective, make sure that you stick with those days consistently. If you happen to have a business that deals with clients exclusively online, this is even more critical. It is important to remember; however, that you may have to adjust your strategy along the way. Also, there are many factors that go into making your social media marketing campaign successful.
There are some useful tips that may help you to figure out your perfect formula when it comes to Email marketing to your clients.
Look at historical patterns
If you take a good look at your own business of the past, you will learn a great deal. If you want to really understand if your strategy is working, you should look at your own business experience and try to identify patterns and issues that occurred before.
Take advantage of tools
The analytics tools that are available online are extremely important for you. The tools will help you to identify the successes and failures after each Email blast. You can then take that information and customize your online Email marketing strategy accordingly.
Landing page
You want to be very specific when it comes to influencing your recipients in your Emails regarding where you want them to go next and what you want them to do. Of course, you need to make sure that your landing page is everything that it should be (both in design and functionality).
Emails during business hours
If your Emails are being sent to people who run their businesses during the week, your optimal days upon which to send them Emails are between Tuesday and Wednesday. You will want to steer clear of the days at the beginning and the end of the week (in general).
Emails to clients
If your Emails are going to clients, the best days to send them are Thursday through Sunday. The reason for this, of course, is because they are otherwise occupied during the week and won’t be able to concentrate on your Email.
Lapse time
You should find out if there is any lapse time from the hour that your Email is scheduled to go out until the time when your recipients actually receive it. That is an important thing to know.
Compartmentalizing your list
It is very important to divide your list into some sort of logical sections that work for you. It is critical that you reach each person on your list in the most effective way possible.
The personal touch
People love to be remembered. Even though you have a business relationship with the people to whom you are sending Emails, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t remember their special occasions (birthdays, anniversaries, etc). They will remember that you have been kind and considerate.
Give your recipients a choice
If you are in a position to allow your customers decide when they receive Emails from you, you should try to make that happen. It can make a very big difference in your rate of success.
Conclusion
Email marketing may seem random but there is a definitely well-thought-out method behind when the Emails are sent out to the list of people. If you try a certain approach and it doesn’t seem to be working the way that you would like it to work, try something else. At the very least, you want to get people to skim your Email enough to want to continue reading. If you focus your Email efforts properly, there won’t be any result that you can’t achieve. There is a science behind Email marketing but it isn’t necessarily an exact science.
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Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Social Media & SEO
Discussion: The Science Behind Email Marketing
Not be a downer, but I think email marketing is somewhat a thing of the past. Specially with social media and similar activities online, users are not much interested in emails.
Posted by Arjun
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Marketing Communication
Discussion: The Science Behind Email Marketing
Carolyn, Read the blog post and appreciated the points that were outlined. Plan on looking at the way I do emails.
Posted by William
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Search Engine Watch
Discussion: The Science Behind Email Marketing
You're right that timing is important. We worked on an opt-in campaign for several years that sent out four emails a week every week – approx. 200 emails a year. Every list will be different which is why it's so important to watch the analytics. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were our best days, and this follows most recommendations.
The time of day the emails are sent is equally important. Don't bulk schedule emails to go out at midnight like so many people do. They will get lumped into the morning batch of emails the reader receives every morning. If they aren't work related they may never get read. Instead, try to send them around 10 am Pacific time. By then, the morning batch of emails will have already been opened on both coasts. Readers on the west coast will receive your email by itself and it won't have to fight for attention. Readers on the east coast will see your email when they come back from lunch. They're usually not in work mode at that time and are looking for a reason to extend lunch. Either way, the email has a good chance of being read by most people.
Make sure you don't send them too late in the day. If the reader doesn't see it before leaving work for the day, it will get stuck in the morning batch the next day and won't get read.
Of course, most people read emails all through the day now on devices, but you want to find that sweet spot where they are at their desk, have time to read it (and act on it) and spend time with it. Experiment with days and times and watch the stats to see what days and times have the best open rates, and more importantly, the best click-through rates.
Email marketing is still worth it for many companies. Just make sure you aren't blindly sending emails without measuring the effectiveness.
Posted by Jeff
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Business Writers of America
Discussion: The Science Behind Email Marketing
Good info. I'd add this: The "best" days/times to send emails also depends on whether your clients and prospects are businesses or consumers (B2B or B2C). If both, you'll want to segment your database. Consumers read email (generally) at night and weekends; businesses during business hours. I use Constant Contact and can analyze when people open my emails. I have the best results (I'm B2B) 10-11 morning or 3-4 afternoon. I avoid early morning (too much competition) and end of work day (minds are on evening activities). I almost always avoid Mondays and Fridays.
Posted by Larry
Via LinkedIn Groups
Group: Business Writers of America
Discussion: The Science Behind Email Marketing
Thanks – reflects my own experience and confirms what's been said before. Interesting that the best days haven't changed since the first study like this… I probably read one in the late 90s…
Posted by Anne