E-mail sent on Fridays had the highest average open rates last year, while Sundays had the highest average click-through rate but low open rates, according to a new study by ExactTarget.
Most e-mail activity is still focused on mid-week, with 96 percent of campaigns and 92 percent of e-mail volume sent Monday through Friday, the study found.
“When deciding when to send an e-mail, organizations must consider their competition in the inbox,” said Morgan Stewart, director of strategic services at ExactTarget and author of the 2005 Response Rate Study. “An organization may have clearly defined competitors in the general marketplace, but its competitors in the inbox can be drastically different. In the inbox, organizations are competing for the attention of their subscribers.”
Given that the number of e-mails sent on Friday is relatively low compared to other weekdays — 14.3 percent of e-mails are sent on Friday versus 24.5 percent on Tuesday — the odds of getting someone’s attention is higher, Stewart said.
The study also backs up ExactTarget’s 2004 assertion that there is no such thing as a universal “best day” to send e-mail.
“Organizations still must conduct their own tests to determine which day of the week works best for them, but all organizations should consider Friday and Sunday as viable challengers,” Stewart said.
ExactTarget, Indianapolis, said it put together the study using data collected from more than 4,000 organizations, 230,000 e-mail sends and 2.7 billion messages.
