The Best Time To Send Emails In 2024 (Latest Data)

What’s the best time to send emails?

Sounds like a simple question on paper—but the answer is anything but straightforward.

There’s been a lot of research on the topic. However, results and the conclusions drawn from them vary substantially from study to study.

And to add to the confusion, the real answer seems to largely depend on your industry and target audience.

We wanted to get to the bottom of it once and for all, so we performed our own meta-analysis, compiling all the latest data from leading studies together in one place.

Read on to find out what we learned…

Key takeaways

Our methodology

To put together this post, we looked at data from multiple research studies by leading email service providers, including:

• Mailgun’s user data study 
• Hubspot’s marketing survey
• Brevo’s user data study
• Moosend’s analysis of over 10B emails
• Sender’s email send time analysis
• MailerLite’s analysis of over 2.5M marketing campaigns
• Omnisend’s 3-year user data study
• GetResponse’s analysis of 7B marketing emails

Each of these studies used a different methodology to carry out their research and presented different data points, so the conclusions we’ve drawn from them required a certain degree of subjective analysis.

For example, one problem we encountered was defining ‘best’. This largely depends on your campaign goals.

For some marketers, the ‘best’ time to send emails might be the time that gets the highest average open rate.

Others might take it to mean the time that gets the highest click-through rates. 

And others still might look at click-to-open rates, conversion rates, delivery rates, or any other metric.

We took a flexible approach to defining ‘best’, factoring in multiple metrics but offering more weight to email opens. This seemed to be the best way to draw meaningful conclusions from each study.

The best days to send emails

According to the studies we analyzed, mid-week days are the best days to send emails*:

1. Tuesday is the overall best day to send emails. It ranked in the top three best days in a total of 7 out of 8 studies analyzed (#1 in 5 studies, #2 in 1 study, and #3 in 1 study).
2. Wednesday is the second-best day to send emails. It also ranked in the top three best days in a total of 7 out of 8 studies analyzed but failed to rank #1 in any single study (#1 in 0 studies, #2 in 3 studies, #3 in 4 studies)
3. Thursday is the third-best day to send emails. It ranked in the top three best days in a total of 5 out of 8 studies analyzed (#1 in 2 studies, #2 in 1 study, and #3 in 2 studies).

Note: In this meta-analysis, we defined ‘best’ based on a combination of multiple factors, weighing up metrics including open rates, clicks, and click-to-opens.

So, the question is: Why is mid-week the sweet spot? 

It’s anyone’s guess, but it most likely has something to do with the typical working week and how that relates to consumer psychology.

For example, many people will only check their emails while they’re at work (Monday to Friday). However, on Monday, they’re just getting back into the swing of things after the weekend. And on Friday, they’re looking forward to the weekend ahead.

But mid-week, people are at their most productive and may be more likely to check their inboxes.

The worst days to send emails

Unsurprisingly, weekends are the worst days to send emails—this is pretty much the consensus no matter which study you look at.

Saturday and Sunday ranked as either the #6 or #7 best days to send emails in all 8 of the studies we analyzed, making them the worst days for email engagement across the board.

Of the two, Saturday fared slightly worse than Sunday, ranking in the bottom spot in 5 out of 8 studies compared to Sunday’s 3 out of 8. 

The reason for this may have something to do with the fact that many people—especially in the US—check their email inboxes on Sunday evenings to prepare for the upcoming start of the working week.

So if you must send out emails on the weekend, your best bet is probably to send them on Sunday.

Important note: While engagements are generally lower on the weekend, some studies found notable exceptions to the rule.

For example, MailerLite did a huge analysis of millions of campaigns and, shockingly, they found that Sunday actually had the highest average open rate of any day of the week, at 37.97%.

This is despite the fact that they also found that Sunday was the least popular day to send emails (accounting for just 7.74% of emails sent) and the second worst day for open rates within the first 2 hours (which is why we still ranked it as the second worst day overall in this meta-analysis).

The reason for this discrepancy may have something to do with the fact that marketers know weekends are the worst time to send emails based on conventional wisdom. So because far few marketing emails are sent on Sundays, those that do get sent stand out in the inbox.

The best times to send emails 

It was trickier to determine the best time to send emails, as different studies have found wildly different results.

However, there was a clear overall winner.

1. 8 – 10 AM is the best time to send emails overall. In 4 out of 8 studies we analyzed, the best time fell within this range.
2. 2 – 3 PM is another strong time to send emails. Many of the studies we looked at identified a ‘late afternoon bump’ in engagement at around this time.
3. 5 – 7 PM may be another good time to send emails. As with the afternoon bump, some studies identified an ‘evening bump’ in engagement around this time when consumers finish work.
4. 2 – 4 AM is a surprise addition to this list. While across the board, late night/early morning emails didn’t perform as well, two studies found a surprising spike in open rates at 4 AM. And a third identified a ‘late night bump’ at around 2 AM.

What does this tell us? Again, it confirms that email engagement correlates strongly with the typical working day.

Opens and clicks seem to be highest in the morning when people first start work, then peak again in the afternoon when people get back from lunch, and again in the evening when people finish their shift.

The exception to the rule is the 2 – 4 AM spike. The reason for this outlier is likely due to the tendency of some people to browse their phones late at night when they can’t sleep. 

It’s also likely related to the fact that, at that time, there’s usually much less competition in the inbox, so any emails you send are more likely to be seen and opened by those who happen to be browsing.

It’s worth noting, though, that the late-night bump was only evidenced in a few of the studies we looked at. Most of the time, there was a large drop in engagement through the night.

The best time to send emails by day

MailerLite’s study went one step further and looked at the best time to send emails on each day of the week. 

Here’s what they found:

Day of the week	Best time to send emails
Monday	11 AM
Tuesday	12 PM
Wednesday	12 PM
Thursday	12 PM
Friday	12 PM
Saturday	11 AM
Sunday	11 PM

As you can see, this particular study found that noon-ish was the sweet spot on most days of the week, with the exception of Sunday, when open rates were highest late in the evening at 11 PM. 

The best time to send emails by industry

Brevo’s analysis was the only study we looked at that examined the best time to send emails by industry/business niche. 

Here’s an overview of what they found:

Industry	Best days to send emails	Best times to send emails
Ecommerce	Tuesdays, Thursdays	10 AM
SaaS	Tuesdays, Thursdays	2 PM
Marketing services	Wednesdays	4 PM
Offline retail & hospitality	Thursdays	8 AM – 10 AM
B2B	Mondays, Tuesdays	8 AM – 10 AM
NGOs	Tuesdays, Thursdays	3 PM

The worst times to send emails

Most of the studies we analyzed found similar trends when it came to the worst times to send emails:

Generally, 9 PM to 5 AM is the worst time to send emails. All 8 of the studies we analyzed noted large drops in engagement around this time.

Engagement initially begins to drop off sharply from around 7 PM when most consumers are home from work, but that drop in engagement becomes most evident at around 9-10 PM when people begin winding down for bed, and it persists until the morning.

However, small spikes in engagement at around 2-4 AM were noted in a few studies.

Email send time studies: A closer look at the data

Now we’ve covered the best times and days to send emails, let’s take a closer look at the findings of each of the individual studies that we used for this analysis.

Mailgun

Mailgun performed a large-scale study to try to ‘crack the code’ and figure out the best time to send an email.

They looked at their own user data to and analyzed engagement distribution by hour for each day of the week.

Key findings:

• Tuesday to Thursday had both the highest email open rates and clicks.
• Sundays were the worst days for opens and clicks, followed by Sunday, and then Monday.
• 3 PM (UTC) is the absolute best time to send emails on every day of the week for both opens and clicks.
• Engagement is strong from 1 PM to 8 PM (UTC) but drops off substantially during the late hours.

HubSpot

Rather than relying on real-user data, HubSpot conducted a survey in which they asked 300 US-based email marketers what they thought the best time to send a marketing email was.

Interestingly, the vast majority of marketers pointed to traditional business hours, which aligns with the findings of this post.

The HubSpot survey also asked them which day of the week was best. And again, their responses suggest that conventional wisdom aligns with our findings, as most marketers pointed to Tuesday. 

Key findings:

• 34.9% of marketers said 9 AM to 12 PM is the best time to send emails
• 27.6% of marketers said 12 PM to 3 PM is the best time to send emails
• 18.3% of marketers said 3 PM to 6 PM is the best time to send emails
• 11.3% of marketers said 6 AM to 9 AM is the best time to send emails
• 6.6% of marketers said 6 PM to 9 PM is the best time to send emails
• 1.3% of marketers said 9 PM to 12 AM is the best time to send emails
• 24.9% of marketers said Tuesday is the best day to send emails
• 22.6% of marketers said Monday is the best day to send emails
• 21.3% of marketers said Wednesday is the best day to send emails

Brevo

Brevo also analyzed their own user data to try to figure out the best time to send emails.

They went a step further than most studies and broke down the data by business type, day of the week, etc.

Key findings:

• Emails sent on Tuesdays and Thursdays have the best open rates.
• Emails sent on Wednesdays have the best click-through rates.
• Emails sent on weekdays account for the vast majority of engagements, making up 85% of opens and 95% of clicks.
• The overall best time to send an email is 10 AM across industries.
• Open rates peak again at 3 PM, and click-through rates peak again at 4 PM.
• The best times/days to send emails vary substantially between industries.

Moosend

Moosend performed an analysis of over 10 billion emails sent through their platform in order to find the best time to send promotional emails.

They also compared their findings to other, older studies from different ESPs and found that they had similar results.

Key findings:

• Emails sent on Thursdays had the highest average open rates
• Emails sent on Tuesdays had the second-best open rates
• Emails sent on Saturday had the lowest average open rate
• 8 AM is the best time of day to send emails
• 7 AM is the second-best time of day to send emails
• Open rates decline sharply after 6 PM
• 1 AM is the overall worst time of day to send emails

Sender

Sender performed their own analysis of email sending times but didn’t use their own data. Rather, they looked at data gathered by other providers to draw their own conclusions.

Key findings:

• The best time to send emails to get a response is 10 AM on Tuesdays 
• The best click-to-open rates occur at 7 AM, 10 AM, and 5 PM on Fridays and Mondays
• The best click-through rates occur at 6 PM on Fridays and Mondays.
• Abandoned cart emails perform best if sent within 60 minutes of the customer abandoning the cart.
• Cold emails perform best from 5 AM to 9 AM.
• Friday has the overall highest open rate, CTR, and click-to-open rate
• Saturday has the lowest overall open rate and CTR
• Tuesday has the lowest overall click-to-open rate

MailerLite

MailerLite carried out one of the most comprehensive studies into email timing. They looked at the 2022 data from their platform and analyzed over 2.5 million email marketing campaigns.

Here’s what they found.

Key findings:

• Thursday is the most popular day to send out email campaigns
• Wednesday is the second-most popular day to send out email campaigns
• Sunday is the least popular day to send out an email marketing campaign
• Sunday is the day of the week with the highest overall open rate, but…
• Thursday is the day of the week with the highest open rate within the first 2 hours of sending
• Monday is the day of the week with the second-highest open rate within the first 2 hours of sending
• 10 AM – 12 PM is the time of day that has the highest average open rates
• Sunday is the only day of the week in which open rates don’t peak at midday (they peak at 11 PM)

Omnisend

Omnisend carried out their own study into the best time to send emails. They looked at three years’ worth of data from their platform and examined campaigns sent from January 2019 to December 2021.

Here’s a brief overview of some of their most important findings.

Key findings:

• The best day to send emails for high open rates is Tuesday
• The best day to send emails for high clicks & conversions is Friday
• Weekends had the lowest average open rates, but…
• Sunday had the second-highest average clickthrough rate and the third-highest average conversion rate
• Most clicks, conversions, and opens happen towards the beginning and end of the month (avoid the middle of the month)
• 8 PM has the highest average open rate, followed by 2 PM, and then 11 PM
• 5 AM has the highest average clickthrough rate, followed by 6 AM, and 5 PM.

GetResponse

GetResponse analyzed around 7 billion messages out of the 30 billion emails sent through their platform last year and extracted tons of useful insights.

Here’s what they found regarding sending times/days.

Key findings:

• Emails sent at 4 AM generated the highest average open rates
• Emails sent at 6 AM generated the highest click-through rates
• Emails sent at 6 PM generated the highest click-to-open rate
• 9 AM is the most popular time to send emails
• Tuesday has the highest average open rate
• Tuesday is the most popular day to send emails
• Tuesday has the highest CTR and click-to-open rates
• Saturday has the lowest open rate and CTR

How to find your optimal sending time

As we’ve seen, around 8-10 AM during the middle of the week seems to be the best time to send emails, overall. 

However, that doesn’t mean that’s the best time to send emails to your email list.

Every business’s target audience is different. And ultimately, you’ll need to do your own tests to find out when your own optimal time to send is.

There are two ways to go about this: the easy way and the hard way.

Use email marketing software with send time optimization

The easy way to find your optimal sending time is to let your email marketing tool do the work for you.

Take Brevo, for example. When you go to schedule your campaign, you have the option to select Send at best time.

Click this, and Brevo will use data science to calculate the best time to send the campaign to each individual recipient based on their previous interactions with your emails, and then schedule it accordingly. 

Brevo ‘learns’ from each campaign you send, so over time, it becomes more precise at determining the best time to send.

A lot of the best email marketing tools have similar features.

Experiment with different times and days

If your email marketing software doesn’t offer send time optimization, you can always work it out manually. But it’ll require some testing.

The idea is to send out multiple campaigns at different times and on different days, then compare analytics to see which ones performed best.

For example, on week one, you could send out your emails at 10 AM on a Monday. Then in week two, send them out at 2 PM. And on week three, at 6 PM, and so on.

Repeat the same process on different days of the week, until you’ve gathered enough data to work with.

Next, decide what metrics are most important to you. Do you want to maximize open rates, clicks, conversions, etc?

Once you know that, you can start digging into the data. Most email marketing software will track the most important engagement metrics, or you can use Google Analytics instead.

If your priority is to get more opens, compare campaigns to see which times/days generated the best open rates, then focus on those going forward.

You may find that certain segments of your mailing list are more likely to engage on specific times/days than others. 

This is where things get tricky, as it’s best to test and optimize your sending times for each segment individually. Your best option is to use an email marketing tool that comes with advanced segmentation and optimization features.

Bonus tip: Don’t be afraid to experiment with off-peak times. You may find that you get the best results if you throw all the conclusions we came to in this meta-study out the window and send your emails at times when nobody else is.

Tips to maximize your email engagement

Sending emails at the right time isn’t the only way to increase your email open rates, clicks, and conversions.

There are lots of other ways you can optimize your campaigns to get more engagement. Here are our top tips.

A/B test your subject lines

Your subject line is the main thing recipients have to go off when deciding whether or not they should open your emails—so they have to be good.

And the best way to nail your subject lines is to use A/B testing.

With A/B tests, you send out two versions of your emails to your mailing list, each with a different subject line. Some recipients receive version A (e.g. 50%), and the rest receive version B.

Then, you compare results to see which one performed best (i.e. generated the best open rate), and use the best one going forward. 

We’ve got more tips on how to write a scroll-stopping subject line in our guide to how to design emails that convert.

Personalize your emails

Personalization is super important when it comes to email engagement.

In fact, 27.6% of surveyed email marketers said personalization had the biggest impact on the success of their campaigns.

Why? People are more likely to open emails when they feel like they’ve been written for them personally, as opposed to mass marketing emails sent out in bulk.

The good news is it’s super easy to personalize your emails. Most of the best email marketing services let you personalize your subject lines and email content with dynamic fields.

Segment your campaigns

Segmentation is another way to make your emails more personalized.

The idea is to ‘group’ different subscribers in your list together based on things like their location, purchase history, site actions, preferences, etc.

Then, set up tailored emails for each of these segments to create better-targeted campaigns.

This also feeds back into your send time optimization strategy, as the best time to send emails may vary between different segments.

Keep your list clean

Another way to get more engagements from your emails is to make sure you keep your list clean.

If you have tons of spam email addresses or inactive subscribers in your list who aren’t interested in your messages, your open rates are going to be much lower than they should be.

One way to keep your list clean is to use double opt-ins, as well as email verification tools to check the email addresses of new subscribers.

Another thing you can do is to use automation tools to automatically add inactive contacts to an unsubscribe workflow.

Optimize the preview text

Aside from the subject line, the preview text—or ‘preheader text’—is probably the next most important thing that recipients look at when the email hits their inbox.

It provides a sneak peek of what’s inside the email to help the person receiving it decide whether or not they want to open it.

Most email clients pull the preview text from the copy inside the body of the email. So make sure the first couple of lines of copy in your emails are carefully crafted to hook the reader in and get them to click open.

Note that some email service providers also let you customize your preview text independently of your email copy.

Include clear CTAs

Getting people to open your emails is one thing, but getting them to click the links inside (and ideally, convert) is a whole other ball game.

The best thing you can do to maximize your click-through and conversion rates is to include clear, powerful CTAs (call-to-actions) inside your email body.

Tell your recipients what you want them to do, and why they should do it. Make it easy for them to click your links and take action by placing eye-catching, clickable buttons front and center.

Final thoughts

That concludes our complete guide to the best time to send emails.

As we’ve covered, the latest data suggests that Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are the best days to send emails. And the ideal time to send emails is somewhere around 8-10 AM.

However, that doesn’t tell the full story.

Email engagements also peak again during the afternoon and evening. And some marketers have success sending emails during off-peak times (including on weekends) as there’s less competition in the inbox.

Ultimately, you’ll need to run your own tests and carefully comb through the data to figure out what your personal best time to send emails is. Or alternatively, just use an email marketing tool that figures it out for you.

We hope this helps with your email marketing strategy. Good luck!

Related reading:

• 13 Best Email Newsletter Software (Includes Free Options)
• 24 Email Newsletter Ideas To Engage Your Subscribers
• HTML Emails vs Plain Text: Which Option Is Best For Your Email List

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