The Art of Email Campaign Scheduling: How to Choose the Best Time to Send

Why Timing Still Matters in Email Marketing

Designing a visually compelling email, writing strong copy and thoroughly testing your campaign are all essential steps in the email marketing process. However, once your mailer is ready to go, one final decision can make or break your results: choosing the right time to send.

In an era where inboxes are becoming increasingly crowded and attention spans are shrinking, the timing of your email campaign plays a critical role in determining its open rates, click-through rates and overall success. While email platforms, audience behaviour and technology have evolved dramatically in the last decade, strategic scheduling remains one of the simplest and most effective ways to improve performance.

If you’re looking to improve your email marketing strategy, our Digital Marketing services can help you build campaigns that reach the right people at the right moment.

What the Research Says About Optimal Send Times

Historically, studies from Mailchimp and other platforms revealed interesting patterns in user behaviour. Their early research, based on over a billion emails, suggested:

• Email opens increase after 12pm
  
• The highest open rates occur between 2pm and 5pm
  
• Weekends see a noticeable drop in opens
  
• The majority of email engagement aligns with the traditional working day
  

While these insights remain useful, they were based on pre-2020 behaviour—before the rise of hybrid working, global remote collaboration, and the significant increase in smartphone-led communication.

Why These Trends Happened

The findings largely reflected typical office routines:

• After 12pm: Early morning inbox clearing was done, so new emails had more visibility
  
• 2pm–5pm: Post-lunch hours gave people time to check messages while productivity naturally dipped
  
• After 5pm: The commute or end-of-day wind-down reduced email activity
  
• Weekends: Leisure activities replaced daily inbox management
  

While these patterns still apply to certain audiences, email behaviours have diversified significantly.

How Email Behaviour Has Changed Since 2020

Technology and working practices have reshaped how and when people engage with their inboxes. With smartphones, tablets and wearable devices, users have become more “always on” than ever before. This means the traditional 9–5 email window is no longer the only reliable indicator of engagement.

Key behavioural shifts include:

1. Increased Out-of-Hours Checking

Push notifications, remote work and flexible schedules mean that many users check emails well outside of typical office hours—even late in the evening.

2. Saturday and Sunday Are No Longer Dead Zones

For consumer-facing brands, weekend performance has strengthened due to online shopping, leisure planning and more relaxed browsing habits.

3. More Variation by Industry

Business-to-business (B2B) audiences still show lower weekend engagement, while business-to-consumer (B2C) and e-commerce often see strong weekend performance.

4. Rise of Global Workforces

Remote working means many teams now span multiple time zones, making a single “best time” difficult to apply universally.

5. Higher Demand for Personalisation

Email automation tools now allow personalised send-time optimisation based on individual user behaviour—not just broad audience trends.

If you’re interested in integrating automation and behavioural personalisation into your marketing strategy, explore our Marketing Automation services to see how we can help.

B2B vs B2C: Why Your Audience Determines Everything

The biggest factor in deciding when to schedule your email campaign is not industry research—it’s your audience’s behaviour.

B2B Email Campaign Timing

For businesses targeting professionals, weekdays still outperform weekends in almost every case. Most recipients won’t check work emails on Saturday or Sunday, and if they do, they’re unlikely to engage with marketing content.

Sending a B2B campaign at the weekend can lead to:

• Lower open rates
  
• Lower click-through rates
  
• Higher chances of your email being buried by Monday morning
  
• Reduced engagement due to Monday inbox overload
  

Typical strong windows for B2B include:

• Tuesday – Thursday
  
• Late morning (10am–12pm)
  
• Early afternoon (1pm–3pm)
  

B2C Email Campaign Timing

Consumer-facing brands have far more flexibility. For B2C businesses, evenings and weekends often outperform traditional working hours.

People browse more casually and are more receptive to content related to:

• Shopping
  
• Leisure
  
• Travel
  
• Offers and promotions
  

Many e-commerce brands find that:

• Friday afternoons
  
• Saturday mornings
  
• Sunday evenings
  

are highly effective windows for conversions.

If you need support developing an email strategy tailored to your audience, our specialists are ready to help through our Email Marketing services.

How to Identify Your Own Best Send Time

Although there is plenty of industry research available, your brand’s optimal send time depends entirely on your subscribers.

To determine this, you should:

1. Analyse Past Campaign Data

Look at patterns in your previous campaigns. Identify:

• When open rates peak
  
• Which times generate the highest click-through rates
  
• When conversions tend to occur
  
• Whether weekdays or weekends deliver stronger results
  

Your email platform’s analytics tool will give you a clear picture of this.

2. A/B Test Different Send Times

Running split tests is one of the fastest ways to improve performance. Send half your audience an email at one time, and the other half at a different time. Compare results. Repeat consistently.

3. Use Send-Time Optimisation Tools

Modern email platforms such as HubSpot, Klaviyo and Mailchimp now use machine learning to analyse user behaviour and automatically deliver emails at the exact moment each individual subscriber is most likely to engage.

4. Consider Time Zones

If your audience spans multiple regions, segment your lists by location or use tools that automatically adjust send times.

5. Think About Your Content Type

News updates, promotional offers, educational content and product launches each perform better at different times.

Beyond Timing: What Else Drives Email Success?

Once you’ve identified your optimal scheduling window, you can start improving other key factors that influence engagement:

1. Quality of Your Mailing List

Regularly clean your list to remove inactive subscribers and improve deliverability.

2. Subject Line Effectiveness

Strong subject lines increase open rates more than timing ever will. Consider relevance, curiosity and clarity.

3. Email Design and User Experience

Ensure your emails are responsive, visually appealing and easy to read on mobile devices.

4. Personalisation and Segmentation

Tailoring messages to user behaviour dramatically improves relevance and engagement.

5. Landing Page Experience

A great email click should lead to an equally strong website or landing page. If you need support improving your website or digital experience, learn more about our Website Development services.

Need Expert Guidance on Your Email Campaign Strategy?

Email marketing remains one of the most powerful digital channels—when executed strategically. If you’re unsure about the best send times, need help setting up automated workflows or want to improve your overall email performance, Platform81 is here to help.

Speak to our digital marketing team today to get tailored advice for your business and refine your email approach for maximum results.

Contact Platform81 to optimise your next email campaign.