The Best Times to Send Your Email Campaigns and Maximize Your Results

You schedule your email campaigns randomly. Sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the evening. Results vary. And you wonder if timing really makes a difference.

The answer is yes. Choosing the best times to send your email campaigns can increase your open rates by 20 to 30%. It’s not magic. It’s data.

Here’s what studies reveal and how to adapt these insights to your audience.

Why Email Timing Changes Everything

The Inbox Is a Battlefield

A B2B professional receives an average of 121 emails per day. Your message arrives in a queue where every email fights for attention.

If you send at the wrong time, your email ends up:

• Buried under 50 other unread messages
• Skimmed between two meetings
• Deleted without being opened

Timing doesn’t guarantee opens. But bad timing almost guarantees failure.

The Numbers That Prove Timing’s Impact

According to a Campaign Monitor analysis of 2 billion emails:

• Open rate varies from 12% to 25% depending on send time
• Click rate can double between the worst and best time slot
• Emails sent during business hours generate 60% of opens

These gaps aren’t anecdotal. On a list of 10,000 contacts, the difference represents 1,300 additional opens.

Time Slots That Work for B2B

Tuesday Morning: The Undisputed Champion

All studies converge. Tuesday between 9am and 11am is the best-performing slot for B2B emails.

Why it works:

• Monday, professionals handle weekend urgencies
• Tuesday, they’re in a stable work rhythm
• Morning, concentration is at maximum
• The inbox isn’t saturated yet

Average open rate observed: 20-25%.

Thursday 2pm-3pm: The Effective Alternative

Second best slot: Thursday after lunch. Professionals return from break, check their emails before resuming deep work tasks.

This slot works particularly well for:

• Educational content (articles, case studies)
• Webinar invitations
• Weekly newsletters

Wednesday 10am: The Strategic Midweek

Wednesday represents peak professional activity. At 10am, your recipients have handled morning urgencies and are available for less pressing reads.

Good slot for:

• Product announcements
• Commercial offers
• Prospect follow-ups

Time Slots to Absolutely Avoid

Certain times guarantee mediocre performance:

• Monday 8am-10am: handling urgencies, your email gets buried
• Friday after 3pm: minds are already on the weekend
• Weekend: 50% lower open rate in B2B
• Lunch break (12pm-2pm): emails pile up unread

Adapting This Data to Your Audience

Your Contacts Aren’t the Average

General statistics give direction. But your audience has its own habits.

A CFO doesn’t check emails at the same times as a marketing manager. A tech startup doesn’t have the same rhythm as a law firm.

Factors influencing optimal slots:

• Industry sector
• Recipients’ job functions
• Company size
• Geographic zone and timezone
• Company culture

Analyze Your Own Data

Before following general recommendations, examine your history. With Skedox, you centralize all your campaign data and can identify patterns specific to your audience.

Look at:

• Open rates by day of the week
• Click rates by send time
• Conversions by send time
• Trends over the last 3 months

Segment by Behavior

Not all your contacts have the same habits. Create segments based on engagement:

• Early birds: consistently open before 10am
• Late openers: check emails after 6pm
• Reactive: open within an hour of sending
• Delayed: take 24-48h to open

Adapt your send time to each segment to maximize impact.

Advanced Strategies to Optimize Timing

A/B Testing on Times

Don’t rely solely on studies. Test on your own audience.

Testing protocol:

1. Divide your list into two equal groups
2. Send the same email at two different times
3. Compare open and click rates
4. Repeat over at least 4 campaigns to validate

Test example:

• Group A: Tuesday 9am
• Group B: Tuesday 2pm
• Same subject, same content, same sender

After 4 tests, you’ll have statistically significant data.

Predictive Send by Contact

Advanced email marketing tools offer send-time optimization for each contact individually. The algorithm analyzes engagement history and schedules delivery when the contact is most likely to open.

This approach can increase open rates by an additional 15 to 20%.

Strategic Recurrence

For newsletters, consistency matters as much as timing. Your readers develop habits.

If you always send Tuesday at 10am:

• They anticipate your email
• They look for it if it doesn’t arrive
• They integrate reading it into their routine

Consistency creates anticipation. Anticipation improves engagement.

Best Times by Campaign Type

Commercial Campaigns (Offers, Promotions)

Best slots:

• Tuesday 10am-11am
• Thursday 9am-10am

These times correspond to mental availability for evaluating proposals. Avoid Friday when decisions get postponed to the following week.

Educational Content (Newsletters, Articles)

Best slots:

• Tuesday 9am
• Thursday 2pm
• Wednesday 10am

Long-form content requires reading time. Target times when your contacts can concentrate.

Transactional Emails (Confirmations, Notifications)

These emails must go out immediately. Timing isn’t a choice, it’s a reaction to a user action.

Ensure your technical infrastructure allows instant delivery. A confirmation email received 30 minutes after the action loses all impact.

Follow-Ups and Reminders

Best slots:

• 48 hours after the first email
• Same day of the week, time shifted by 2 hours

If your first email wasn’t opened Tuesday at 9am, try Thursday at 11am. Vary to maximize chances of hitting the right moment.

Common Timing Mistakes

Mistake 1: Ignoring Timezones

You send at 10am Paris time. Your contacts in Montreal receive it at 4am. Your email will be buried by the time they wake up.

Solutions:

• Segment by geographic zone
• Schedule staggered sends
• Use predictive send by timezone

Mistake 2: Sending All Emails at the Same Time

If you always send Tuesday at 10am, you systematically miss contacts unavailable at that time.

Vary your slots from one campaign to another to reach different segments of your audience.

Mistake 3: Overloading Popular Slots

Everyone has read the same studies. Everyone sends Tuesday at 10am. Result: inbox competition is at maximum.

Sometimes, a less popular slot gives you an advantage. Test Wednesday at 3pm or Thursday at 9am to emerge from the noise.

Mistake 4: Neglecting List Quality

The best timing doesn’t compensate for a poorly qualified list. If your contacts aren’t interested in your emails, no time will make them open.

With Skedox, you collect qualified contacts through optimized forms. A quality list combined with good timing maximizes your results.

Measuring the Impact of Your Optimizations

Metrics to Track

To evaluate your timing choices, monitor:

• Open rate: direct timing indicator
• Click rate: confirms the timing was conducive to action
• Unsubscribe rate: poor timing annoys recipients
• Average time to open: reveals when your contacts are active

Recommended Tracking Table

Campaign	Day	Time	Opens	Clicks	Unsubscribes
NL 01	Tuesday	9am	22%	4.5%	0.1%
NL 02	Thursday	2pm	19%	3.8%	0.15%
NL 03	Tuesday	10am	24%	5.1%	0.08%

After 8 to 10 campaigns, patterns become clear.

Adjust Quarterly

Behaviors evolve. Remote work, job changes, new habits. Revisit your optimal slots every quarter.

Conclusion: Finding the Best Times for Your Email Campaigns

Timing isn’t an exact science. But it’s a measurable and actionable optimization lever.

What the data shows:

• Tuesday morning remains the best-performing slot in B2B
• Thursday afternoon is a reliable alternative
• Avoid Monday morning, Friday afternoon, and weekends

What you should do:

• Analyze your own engagement data
• Test different slots with A/B tests
• Segment by behavior and timezone
• Measure and adjust regularly

The best times to send your email campaigns are those that work for your audience. Studies give a starting point. Your data gives the definitive answer.

Start by centralizing your data collection with Skedox. A unified view of your contacts and their interactions will let you precisely identify the slots that convert. Schedule your next campaign at the optimal time and measure the difference.