Optimizing Send Times

Every email expert says send at Tuesday, 10am. Nobody asks what your reader is actually doing at that moment. 𝗕𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲: 𝟭/ 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 "𝗳𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗵 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁" 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 It's inbox triage mode. Delete, skim, panic about the week ahead. Your thoughtful newsletter gets 3 seconds. They're not in consumption mode, they're in survival mode. → Skip Monday unless it's urgent operational info. 𝟮/ 𝗠𝗶𝗱-𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗲 By 10am they've already made 50 micro-decisions. Email becomes just another task to process. Not a moment to absorb your insights. Mental bandwidth is already depleting. → Test early morning before the chaos starts. 𝟯/ 𝗟𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 They're on their phone, not their computer. Shorter attention span, more distractible. Looking for entertainment, not deep thinking. Long newsletters get saved for later (never read). → Send lighter, scannable content for lunch window. 𝟰/ 𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗼𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲 Around 3-4pm they're thinking about tomorrow. Receptive to strategic thinking and ideas. Mental shift from execution to reflection. This is when insights actually land. → B2B decision-makers are more receptive here. 𝟱/ 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗼𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁 Mentally they're already in weekend mode. Anything requiring thought gets ignored. Save-for-Monday means deleted-by-Tuesday. Worst possible time for important content. → Reserve Friday for light updates only. 𝟲/ 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲 Executives often catch up on Sundays. But sending then assumes they're working. Some appreciate it, others resent the intrusion. No universal rule here. → Know your specific audience's patterns. 𝟳/ 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘇𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 10am EST is 7am PST. Your perfect timing is someone's terrible timing. Send to everyone at once and half get bad timing. Segment by geography or pick the least bad option. → Optimize for your highest-value time zone. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸: Are they in reactive mode or reflective mode? Do they have cognitive space to process? Is this competing with 50 other urgent things? Your newsletter timing should match when they're actually receptive. Not when some study said emails get opened most. Generic advice ignores human psychology. Test what works for YOUR audience's mental patterns. ♻️ Repost if timing is about psychology, not clocks. ➕ Follow Louis Shulman for more tactics. 📧 Join: https://lnkd.in/gYGzEeTb

I audited a supplement brand sending all their emails at 9 AM on Tuesdays. This was an "industry "best practice." But we tested different times. Found their audience was actually most engaged at 7 PM on Sundays. >People planning their week.  >Thinking about health goals. >In the right mindset to buy. This increased revenue per send by 34% . (exact same email btw) Most brands send emails when it's convenient for them. Not when their customers are actually checking their phones. That's like opening a restaurant only when you feel like cooking. GENERAL GUIDELINES: → Tues-Thurs for promotional emails  → Sunday evening for educational content  → Friday for weekend-related products  → Avoid Monday (inbox overload) and Saturday BEST WINDOWS: → 10-11 AM: mid-morning coffee break  → 2-3 PM: post-lunch scroll  → 8-9 PM: evening wind-down NEVER just copy industry averages. Send the same email at 3 different times to a small segment. Track open rate, click rate, and revenue. Your audience might be completely different. The data will guide you. 

We analyzed 4 million recruiting emails sent through Gem. Most get opened. But only 22.6% get replies. Half those replies are "thanks, but no thanks." We dug into what actually works. Here are 8 factors that drive REAL responses: 1. Strategic timing beats everything else - 8am gets 68% open rates. 4pm hits 67.3%. 10am lands at 67% - Most recruiters blast at 9am when inboxes are flooded - Avoiding peak times alone can boost your opens by 7-10% 2. Weekend outreach is criminally underused - Saturday/Sunday emails get ≥66% open rates consistently - Why? Empty inboxes. Zero competition. Candidates actually have time - Yet few recruiters send on weekends. Their loss is your gain 3. Keep messages between 101-150 words - Shorter feels spammy. Longer gets skimmed - You need exactly 10 sentences to nail the essentials - Every word beyond 150 drops performance 4. Generic templates kill response rates - Generic templates: 22% reply rate - Personalized outreach: 47% increased response rate - Even adding name + company to subject lines boosts opens by 5% 5. Subject lines need 3-9 words - Include company name + job title for highest opens - "Senior Engineer Role at [Company]" beats clever wordplay - 11+ words can work if genuinely intriguing, but why risk it? 6. The 4-stage sequence is optimal - One-off emails are dead. Send exactly 4 follow-up messages - You'll see 68% higher "interested" rates with proper sequencing - After stage 4, engagement completely flatlines. Stop there 7. Get the hiring manager involved - Having the hiring manager send ONE follow-up boosts reply rates by 50%+ - Yet most recruiters don't use this tactic - Weekend advantage: Minimal competition for attention 8. Leadership involvement is a cheat code - Role-specific timing (tech vs non-tech) matters - Technical roles: 3 of 4 best send times are weekends - Engineers check email differently than salespeople. Adjust accordingly TAKEAWAY: These aren't opinions. This is what 4 million emails tell us. Most recruiting teams are stuck in 2019 playbooks wondering why their reply rates won't budge. Meanwhile, recruiters who implement these 8 factors see dramatically better results. The data is right there. The patterns are clear. The only question is: will you actually change how you operate? Or will you keep sending the same tired emails at 9am on Tuesday? Your call.

The 9 a.m. email myth is costing you thousands, maybe millions. When we tested the so-called ‘best’ time, the results told a completely different story. Klaviyo’s Smart Send split 283,000 people between 9 a.m. and 2 a.m. The midnight to 2 a.m. slot crushed it every time. But we didn’t take it at face value. Instead, we ran three separate tests to make sure the pattern held up. Each time, the 2 a.m. send pulled ahead. Their revenue jumped 20–40%, and click-through rates climbed at least 20%. Our client was stunned, but it drove home a bigger lesson: assumptions don’t always line up with data. Even “obvious” best practices fall flat when you actually put them under the microscope. Send time is one of the easiest levers to test. You don’t need to rip apart your flows or rebuild your offers. Just run a simple split test and let the numbers show you where the upside lives.

We just cracked the code on win-back timing, and it’s generating 4X the revenue for our client. Instead of accepting “standard” timing windows, we implemented dual variable testing across: Time Delay Optimization Discount Necessity Validation We began the testing with 75 vs. 90-day win-back timing. The results were massive with: 👉 75-day flows: $1,640 and $1,390 revenue 👉 90-day flows: $6,800 and $6,730 revenue That extra 15 days produced nearly 4X the performance. At the same time, we tested the discount necessity within these flows. At 75 days, the discount won slightly, but at 90 days... 👉 With discount: $6,800 revenue 👉 Without discount: $6,700 revenue We tested about 7-8 times to ensure it was real. Moving send times from 6AM to 11AM delivery improved: 👉 Open rates went from 32% to 43% 👉 Generated 4 additional orders per send 👉 Increased total revenue per campaign Customers who haven’t purchased in 90 days aren’t “price sensitive” - they just need the right timing. That longer delay creates the psychological distance they need while keeping engagement potential intact. Sometimes the best improvements come from questioning basic assumptions everyone else accepts.

Email too much, and you annoy your customers. Email too little, and they forget about you. Find the right balance 👇 → Where Most Dispensaries Get It Wrong X Emailing Only When There’s a Sale: If the only time customers hear from you is during a discount, they’ll start expecting lower prices and stop buying at full price. X Blasting Every Customer With Every Email: Not every customer wants the same content at the same frequency. Sending too often to inactive customers can damage your email deliverability. X Not Testing Frequency at All: Many dispensaries guess at their send schedule instead of testing what actually works for different segments. → How to Optimize Your Email Frequency 1. Segment Customers by Engagement > High-engagement customers (open rate above 30%) can receive 2-3 emails per week without issue. > Moderate-engagement customers (10-30% open rate) should get 1-2 emails per week. > Low-engagement customers (less than 10% open rate) need win-back emails, not constant promotions. 2. Match Frequency to Buying Cycles > Daily shoppers might appreciate frequent updates on new arrivals. > Casual shoppers might prefer a weekly digest of deals and recommendations. > Lost customers need less frequent but high-impact emails with compelling reasons to return. 3. Monitor Unsubscribe & Spam Complaint Rates If unsubscribes spike after a specific email, that’s a sign you’re sending too often or to the wrong segment. If open rates drop below 15%, scale back or improve subject lines. 4. Test & Adjust Regularly Try sending one extra email per week and measure if engagement improves or drops. Compare sales data—are more emails leading to more revenue, or just more unsubscribes? → Try This & See the Difference Look at your email send frequency over the past month. Are you emailing different customer segments strategically, or just guessing? Test a small adjustment in frequency and track the impact on sales and engagement. If you want a data-driven email strategy, Tact Firm specializes in optimizing dispensary emails for maximum retention. Let’s get your frequency dialed in.

Is there such a thing as a “golden hour” for SMS sending during BFCM? We wanted to see if there were any windows of opportunity where the inbox was less crowded during the BFCM window, and our data team brought us some interesting findings after analyzing last year’s performance from Postscript brands. The 3 days leading up to Black Friday see similar EPM (earnings-per-message) but way less traffic than on Black Friday, itself. Data shows plenty of appetite for offers and messages before the clock strikes midnight, so one thing to consider is starting your campaigns earlier this year. Now, what about on Black Friday? It looks like 2PM - 5PM EST could be the golden hours. Last year, on Black Friday, nearly 75% of all SMS volume was delivered between 9AM - 2PM and 5PM - 8PM EST. There was a substantial drop in send volume between 2PM and 5PM, despite EPM remaining very high. So, if you want to send with less competition without a hit to conversions, consider testing a send from 2 pm - 5 pm EST. You could also try our Campaign Flow template (I’ll drop it below) to make sure you send a follow-up text to slow movers during this window. And here’s an alley-oop for you: sending later in the hour is a similar opportunity to stand out. Roughly 40% of send volume occurs in the first 15 minutes of each hour, but data shows strong EPM throughout. For instance, sends between minutes 50 - 55 have the lowest volume, but nearly the same EPM as the top of the hour. So, don’t limit yourself to top-of-the-hour sends! Consider scheduling your sends throughout the hour, particularly at that 50-minute mark for less crowded airwaves. Hope this helps! If you have any last-minute questions about SMS leading into primetime, hit me or Mike Manheimer up. We’re almost there!

If you're still obsessing over "optimal send times," you're missing the real opportunity. COVID obliterated the boundaries between work hours and personal time. Suddenly, everyone was checking emails at 6 AM from their kitchen table. Responding to Slack messages at 10 PM from their couch. The sacred "9-to-5 email window" became meaningless when home became the office. Here's what actually happened: Before COVID: Clear work/life boundaries meant predictable email behavior → Send at 10 AM Tuesday for highest open rates → Avoid evenings and weekends → Follow the "rules" everyone preached After COVID: Blurred boundaries created constant email accessibility → People check email at all hours → Work communication happens 24/7 → Traditional timing "wisdom" became irrelevant Many are trying to optimize emails for timing while ignoring what moves the needle: context alignment. Here's the new framework: Instead of asking "When should I send?" ask "What mindset will they be in when they open this?" Morning sends (6 AM - 9 AM): → Educational content → How-to guides → Industry insights Their brain is fresh and ready to process information Evening sends (6PM - 10 PM): → Stories and case studies → Inspirational content → Personal narratives Their brain is tired and craves emotional connection While everyone else sends one email per day "at the optimal time," you could use this strategy send 2-3 emails in 24 hours by matching content to context - which is useful during time based launches. Real example: Morning email: "The 3-step framework that increased conversions by 47%" Evening email: "The story behind our biggest campaign failure (and what it taught us)" Both emails. Same day. Different contexts. Higher total engagement. Bottom line: Stop fighting for the "perfect" 2-hour window everyone else is targeting. Start owning the larger time cycle by understanding psychology, not just analytics. What an email timing assumption that might be holding you back?

What if personalized videos could detect the best time to be watched by analyzing the viewer's email habits, ensuring they're sent when the viewer is most likely to open and watch them? Step 1: Gather Viewer Email Habits Data - Action to Take: Use Vidyard data monitoring insights to collect data on when your viewers typically open their emails. - Reason: Understanding the patterns in your viewers' email habits allows you to identify the optimal times for sending your videos. Step 2: Analyze Data for Optimal Send Times - Action to Take: Review the collected data to identify trends and patterns in email activity. - Reason: Pinpointing the most active times ensures your video reaches the viewer when they're most likely to engage. - Tip: Look for outliers and exceptions in the data to avoid basing decisions on anomalies. - Framework/Template: Use a spreadsheet to categorize email open rates by time and day. - Examples: 1. Most viewers open emails at 9 AM on weekdays. 2. Saturdays show a peak in email activity at noon. 3. Late evenings have the lowest open rates. Step 3: Segment Your Audience Based on Habits - Action to Take: Divide your audience into segments based on their email opening habits. - Reason: Tailoring send times to specific segments increases the personalization of your outreach. - Tip: Avoid creating too many segments, which can complicate your strategy. - Framework/Template: Segment your audience into morning, afternoon, and evening groups. - Examples: 1. Early birds who open emails before 8 AM. 2. Midday checkers, active between 12 PM and 2 PM. 3. Night owls, engaging with emails after 7 PM. Step 4: Create and Customize Your Videos - Action to Take: Produce personalized video content for each audience segment. - Reason: Customized content feels more relevant and engaging to the viewer. - Tip: Keep videos concise and focused to maintain viewer interest. - Framework/Template: Develop a video content plan that addresses the specific interests of each segment. - Examples: 1. For early birds, create motivational videos to start their day. 2. Midday viewers might enjoy educational, informative content. 3. Evening content can be more relaxed and entertaining. Step 5: Schedule Videos Based on Optimal Times - Action to Take: Use email automation tools to schedule the sending of your personalized videos at the determined optimal times for each segment. - Reason: Ensuring that your videos land in the inbox at the most opportune moment maximizes viewership and engagement. - Tip: Regularly update your sending schedule based on ongoing analysis of viewer habits. - Framework/Template: Develop a scheduling calendar that aligns video releases with audience segments' peak activity times. - Examples: 1. Early birds receive their video email at 7:30 AM. 2. Midday checkers get theirs just before 12 PM. 3. Night owls find a new video waiting at 8 PM. Will you act on this?

How do you Determine the Optimal Sending Frequency for Your Email Campaigns --- Tailor Timing to Buying Cycle Relevance The optimal cadence for automated email campaigns is not determined by a “universal rule” but rather by aligning with the customer journey. For instance, in e-commerce, immediacy is crucial; emails related to discounts, abandoned carts, or post-purchase engagement should be sent promptly, often within 24 hours, to capture intent while it’s still fresh. Conversely, in industries with longer decision cycles, spacing messages further apart — several days or weeks — allows the audience time to process information, conduct research, and build trust before the next touchpoint. A surprising insight we discovered is how significantly timing can amplify or diminish content value. In e-commerce, a perfectly crafted message sent too late becomes almost irrelevant, while in B2B or service-based industries, sending too frequently — even if the content is strong — can erode trust and increase unsubscribe rates. The key lesson was that timing isn’t just about frequency; it’s about relevance to the buying cycle: urgent, short bursts for transactional moments, and more measured pacing for relationship-driven decisions. This shift transforms email from a calendar-based tactic into a customer-experience-driven strategy.