Ask a marketer the best day to send an email and you’ll likely hear “Tuesday.” For years, Tuesday has been the go-to day for sending email, based on studies pointing to high open and click-through rates. However, the savviest marketers will also tell you that conventional wisdom can’t always be believed, and calculated experimentation is key to growing your brand. If you’re limiting your e-commerce outreach to the weekdays, you may be missing out. Here are three reasons why weekend email blasts are a great idea.
1. There’s less competition.
Fewer emails are sent on the weekend, which means there’s less competition for customer eyeballs. While it’s true that open rates may dip on weekends, higher click-through rates, on average, provide an opportunity to convert opens to clicks and clicks to sales.
Gone are the days when consumers are only checking emails on their desktops at the office. According to Deloitte, the average American consumer checks their phone 47 times per day. That’s about once every 20 minutes. A full 82% of those consumers are using smartphones, which is why more emails are opened on mobile than any other environment.
In addition to competing with fewer emails, you’re likely battling other potential distractions – your 9-to-5 customers won’t be distracted by meetings or work to-dos. Consider sending emails early in the morning or in the evening to maximize weekend obligations: 89% of consumers check their phones within an hour of waking up, and almost as many check right before bedtime. (Don’t forget to optimize your list across time zones!)
2. Your customers have likely just been paid.
According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics study of more than 144,000 U.S. businesses, 36.5% of private businesses pay their employees every other week, with Friday being the most common day for checks to arrive. Another 32.4% of businesses provide weekly paychecks. More than 80% of Americans are paid via direct deposit, so weekend emails maximize your chance of catching your customers when they’re in the mood to spend.
3. Online shopping is top of mind.
More e-commerce shopping happens on Sundays and Mondays than other days of the week. By sending timely, compelling offers on the weekend, you become part of your potential customers’ consideration set while they’re determining what to buy next.
It’s always important that emails be mobile responsive, but it’s critical to ensure weekend emails can be easily viewed, consumed, and – most importantly – shopped from, on mobile devices. Consider highlighting between one and three products in weekend emails and minimize the steps necessary for consumers to go from consideration to cart. Utilize dynamic product marketing to optimize your customers’ experience by using that shopping interest expressed on your website to automatically personalize creatives that would promote relevant products.
For more tips on maximizing your email’s impact, download our whitepaper and improve your newsletter template.
If you’re hesitant to break away from your weekday routine, try A/B-ing a segment of your list. When reviewing results between both groups, don’t stop at the number of opens – compare customer engagement and, most importantly, revenue from click-throughs. You just may find that while everybody else is workin’ for the weekend, the weekend is workin’ hard for you.
What You Should Know:
Read: Dynamic Product Marketing and LiveConnect: 2 Ways to Improve Your Campaign Performance
