Scheduled send, or ‘Send later’, as
this function is generally called, is easily one of
the best features modern email applications have. It allows you to pick a specific
date and time to send your messages. More importantly, it allows you to not be the
person that sends emails over weekends or in the middle of the night. You simply
schedule a more appropriate time. It is more than polite to respect other people’s
free time. It can also be beneficial while communicating with people from different
time zones. You can always pick the best time to send your email. Another great
use would be to schedule your email inquiry to be sent during business hours, so
you increase the chance of getting a response.
However, we need to first distinguish between an email that is only delayed and an
email that is send at specific time. There is not that big difference but “send later”
and “delayed send” should not be mixed up as each has its own purpose. In theory,
delayed send also allows you to send your emails later, but usually only by a few
minutes. The core idea is to give you time to quickly react in case you decide to edit
or even cancel your message after hitting the Send button. Send later on the other
hand allows you to set a specific time to send your messages, be it 30 minutes from
now or several years in the future.
How to schedule email
How to send an email at a certain time? The
functionality is similar for various email
providers. Outlook and Gmail both allow you to send email at specific time. But we would like
to demonstrate how you can use this function in eM Client, which can be your Email schedule
program. When you send either a
delayed message or you use schedule send, the email is simply moved to your local outbox in the
favorite folder where it stays until the timer sets off. Both functions are easily accessible in
application interface.
Delayed send is a core feature
and it allows all your messages to be delayed for up to ten minutes. You can turn
this feature on in Menu > Settings > Mail > Send.
Send later is only available to free users during the one-month trial period and you
can use it while creating any message. Send later can be accessed via the small
arrow in the send button in the left top corner. When clicked upon, a small dialog
window pops up which allows you to adjust the timer to your liking.
Both these options allow you to navigate to your outbox and right-clicking on your
message gives you options to simply cancel the message or change the scheduled
time if you need to.
Combined with other useful features eM Client has to offer, such as Watch
for reply,
you are sure to never miss an important email or deliver it right on time.
Best time to send an email
We have now discussed how to send an email at
a specific time. For those who are interested in more details, we have put together a list of
frequently asked questions and will answer them to shed more light on the topic.
Before we begin, let us explain, there is no
clear answer to the question of when is the best time to send an email as most of the time,
emails get widely different attention based on your target audience. There are multiple studies
on email market campaigns such as the one from 2019 from Klaviyo, but most of them specifically
mention the most important thing during the campaigns is to know your market. To put this in
perspective, should you wish to target mothers with a campaign offering a child vitamin, do so
in the afternoon, as most mothers are busy during the day caring for the kids. Even so, we will
try to help you with our answers, there is no best one.
1. Is there a best day and time to send email?
Based on the study by campaignmonitor this
differ widely based on the industry you are in. It may wise to send informative emails early in
the and actionable later in the week. As these shows higher open rates and therefore higher
possible revenues.
2. What is the best time to send email?
Similar study from Omnisend also concludes
the likelihood of your email being opened is highest during morning hours, but the order rates
are highest in the afternoon. It is worth mentioning, messages being delivered show a very
decent rate between open rate and also orders.
3. Is there best time to send emails on Friday, Saturday or Sunday?
You should avoid sending your campaigns on
Friday, as this does not show to produce the best results. However, the above study shows that
about 20% of email campaigns is sent on Saturday, which also yields decent open rates. It might
be wise to deploy your campaign on Saturday and both Sunday, as Monday and Tuesday data shows
decent order rate.
To conclude the problem, the first and
foremost thing while running your email campaign is to know your audience. There are some
general guidelines, but as each business is governed slightly differently, you should experiment
a little to yield the best results.