Best Time to Send Marketing Emails: Peak Open Rates

You've probably heard that the best time to send marketing emails is somewhere mid-week, between 9 AM and 11 AM. And while that’s not bad advice, it’s only the starting point. The idea of a single "perfect" time that works for everyone is, frankly, a myth. Your ideal window is completely unique to your audience and your industry.

The Myth of One Perfect Time to Send Emails

Everyone's searching for that magic bullet, that one simple answer like "send at 10 AM on a Tuesday." But relying solely on these generic benchmarks is a bit like a comedian telling a killer joke to an empty room. The timing might seem perfect on paper, but if the right audience isn't there to hear it, it just falls flat.

The reality is that your ideal send time is tied directly to your business. It's shaped by the daily routines of your subscribers, the nature of your industry, and the very message you’re trying to send. A promo for a weekend restaurant special just won't land with the same punch at 9 AM on a Tuesday as it would on a Friday afternoon.

Understanding Audience Habits

To really nail your timing, you first need to get inside the heads of your audience and understand their habits. For example, in the UK, a whopping 58% of users check their email first thing in the morning. This makes those early sends a great chance to grab immediate attention.

But don't stop there. With 42% of UK consumers checking their emails three to five times a day, other windows of opportunity pop up all the time. You can find more fascinating insights in this report on UK consumer behaviour data. What this tells us is that you have several chances to connect, but each one might be better suited for a different kind of message.

The goal isn't to find the one time everyone else sends their emails; it's to find the time your customers are most likely to listen. This means shifting your focus from generic industry stats to your own audience's data.

A Baseline for Your First Campaign

Of course, you have to start somewhere. While personalised testing is the ultimate goal, it helps to have a solid starting point. Think of these general recommendations as a reliable map to get you started before you begin exploring the terrain for yourself.

The table below summarises some common UK email sending times based on different marketing goals.

Baseline UK Email Sending Times by Goal

Use these data-backed recommendations as a starting point for your email campaigns before you begin testing for your unique audience.

Day of the Week	Recommended Time (UK)	Primary Goal	Rationale
Tuesday	10 AM - 11 AM	High Engagement	Subscribers have cleared their Monday morning backlog and are receptive to new information.
Wednesday	2 PM - 3 PM	Driving Clicks	A mid-afternoon slot can catch people looking for a break from their workday tasks.
Thursday	10 AM - 12 PM	Conversions & Sales	This is often the last big push before the weekend mindset kicks in, ideal for offers.
Friday	3 PM - 5 PM	Weekend Promotions	Perfect for retail, hospitality, or events, as people start planning their weekend.

Use this as your initial guide. In the sections that follow, we'll dive into how you can refine this approach and find out what truly works for you and your customers.

What Really Influences Email Engagement?

While industry-wide data gives us a decent starting point, finding the best time to send your marketing emails means getting to grips with what makes your specific audience tick. Think of it like a recipe. You can follow the general instructions, but the real magic happens when you start adjusting the ingredients to your own taste.

Your perfect send time isn't a single, static number; it’s influenced by several moving parts. Understanding these key factors is the first step to moving beyond guesswork and building a strategy that actually connects with your subscribers.

Your Audience and Their Daily Routine

By far, the most important factor is the daily life of your audience. Who are they? What does a typical day look like for them? An email that lands at the perfect moment for one group could be completely missed by another.

For instance, a B2B professional in London is probably glued to their inbox between 9 AM and 11 AM, ready to get on with their workday. But a new parent? They're more likely to be scrolling through their phone after 8 PM once the kids are finally asleep. Sending a B2B software update on a Saturday evening is a waste of time, just as a promotion for baby products will get buried in a busy Tuesday morning inbox.

Here’s a practical step-by-step guide to understanding your audience's routine:

1. Survey Your Subscribers: Add a simple question to your next newsletter, like "When do you prefer to hear from us?" or offer a small incentive for completing a short survey about their daily habits.
2. Analyse Past Behaviour: Look at your email analytics. When have your highest-performing campaigns been opened and clicked on in the past? Identify any patterns for different customer groups.
3. Create Audience Personas: Build 2-3 fictional profiles representing your ideal customers. For each one, map out a "day in the life," considering their job, family life, and downtime. This helps you visualise when they might be most receptive to your messages.

The Nuances of Your Industry

Every industry has its own rhythm, and your email timing needs to match it. What works for a high-street retailer is completely different from what works for a local gym or a freelance consultant. Context is everything.

A hotel, for example, might send an email promoting weekend getaways on a Thursday afternoon. This catches people just as they start dreaming about the weekend. Meanwhile, a fitness studio could send a motivational message on Monday morning to inspire members for the week ahead.

Your industry doesn't just define what you sell; it defines the moments your audience is most receptive to hearing from you. Aligning your send times with these moments makes your message feel relevant, not random.

How Your Audience Reads Emails

Finally, think about how your subscribers are reading your emails. With so many of us opening emails on our phones, device usage patterns have a massive impact on engagement. Mobile-first audiences tend to check emails in the bits and pieces of their day.

Take the daily commute. An email sent around 8 AM or 5 PM can grab the attention of subscribers scrolling through their phones on the train or bus. These are short, frequent check-ins, very different from the focused time someone might spend at a desktop computer. A clean, visual, and concise email is perfect for these on-the-go moments.

Understanding these factors is crucial for crafting an effective strategy. It’s also vital to maintain good sending practices to make sure your messages land in the inbox in the first place. You can learn more by reviewing a comprehensive anti-spam policy which helps protect both you and your subscribers. By combining knowledge of your audience, industry, and their device habits, you can start to pinpoint send times that deliver real results.

UK Industry Benchmarks: A Starting Point for Smarter Sending

While those broad, all-industry stats give you a decent feel for the landscape, the real magic happens when you zoom in on your specific sector. Every industry has its own unique rhythm, and finding the best time to send your emails is about tapping into the moments your customers are actually listening.

Think of it like a good pub landlord knowing exactly when the after-work rush will hit versus when the quiet regulars will pop in. It’s all about understanding your crowd. To give you a head start, we’ve pulled together some data-backed starting points for a few key UK sectors. This isn't guesswork; it's a solid foundation for your own testing.

Retail and E-commerce

For anyone selling online or on the high street, the game is all about catching people when they're in the mood to browse and buy. You want your email to land right when that shopping itch needs scratching.

• The Lunchtime Lull (12 PM - 2 PM, Weekdays): Countless office workers spend their lunch break scrolling through their phones. A flash sale or new product drop right at midday can land perfectly.
• The Evening Wind-Down (8 PM - 10 PM, Weekdays): Once dinner is done and the TV is on, people are relaxing with their tablets and phones. This is a golden opportunity for fashion, home goods, and lifestyle brands.
• Weekend Planning (Friday Afternoons): As the working week winds down, people's minds shift to the weekend ahead. An email promoting a weekend sale or an in-store event can plant a seed that drives both online orders and footfall.

Practical Example: A UK-based online clothing boutique wants to promote a new collection. They could schedule an email for 8:30 PM on a Wednesday. Their audience is likely relaxing on the sofa, scrolling for inspiration, and much more open to a little treat-to-self. The subject line could be "Your Cosy Night In Just Got an Upgrade ✨".

Hospitality and Leisure

If you're in the business of hotels, restaurants, or events, your timing is all about influencing future plans. You need to reach people when they're dreaming about a getaway or a nice meal out, not when they’re buried in their day-to-day.

Mid-week is often the sweet spot here. Sending an email on a Tuesday or Wednesday gives people plenty of time to get excited, make a plan, and book that table or room before their weekend diary fills up.

The trick is to connect with people during their 'dreaming' phase. A tempting offer for a weekend spa break sent at 10 AM on a Wednesday is worlds more effective than one sent during the Monday morning scramble.

Health and Fitness

In the fitness world, motivation is everything. Your emails need to land when people are setting goals and feeling ready to take action.

• The Fresh Start (Monday, 6 AM - 8 AM): Tap into that powerful "new week, new me" feeling. An early Monday morning email with a class schedule or a motivational boost can kickstart their week—and their engagement with you.
• The Mid-Week Check-in (Wednesday, 10 AM): By Wednesday, motivation can start to dip. A timely message with a new workout or a healthy recipe can be the perfect nudge to keep them on track and thinking about your brand.

B2B and Professional Services

When your customers are other businesses, it's all about fitting neatly into their working day. You need your email to arrive when they’re at their desk and receptive, but not completely snowed under. The mid-week, mid-morning slot (Tuesday to Thursday, 10 AM - 12 PM) consistently comes out on top.

By then, most professionals have dealt with the urgent morning tasks and are ready to consider new ideas, software, or services. It’s no surprise that the average email open rate in UK B2B campaigns has climbed to 36.7%—a well-timed, relevant message really can cut through the noise. You can find more insights on B2B email marketing trends over on sqmagazine.co.uk.

Practical Example: An accountancy firm targeting small business owners could send a newsletter with "End of Tax Year Tips" at 10:30 AM on a Tuesday. It’s the perfect time to reach decision-makers when they’re in a business mindset and actively looking for valuable, timely advice. The email could include a clear call-to-action like "Book a Free 15-Minute Tax Health Check."

How To Find Your Optimal Send Time, Step By Step

Industry benchmarks are a brilliant starting point, but that's all they are—a start. To really nail the best send time for your business, you need to stop borrowing from broad statistics and start creating your own. This means running a few simple, organised tests to see what actually makes your audience tick.

Think of yourself as a detective. The industry data gives you some solid clues, but now it's time to gather direct evidence from your subscribers. This step-by-step process will show you exactly how to do that, turning guesswork into a powerful, data-driven strategy.

Step 1: Start With Smart Segmentation

Before you can test a thing, you need to know who you're talking to. Sending a test campaign to your entire email list is like shouting a question into a crowded stadium and hoping for a single, clear answer. It just won't work. Instead, you need to break your audience down into smaller, logical groups, or segments.

How to create your first segments:

1. Log in to your email marketing platform.
2. Navigate to your audience or contacts section.
3. Create a new segment based on a clear criterion. Start with one of these:
   • Location: Subscribers where Country is UK
   • Engagement Level: Subscribers who have clicked a link in the last 90 days
   • Purchase History: Customers who have purchased more than twice
4. Give each segment a clear name, like "Active UK Clickers" or "Repeat Buyers".

By creating these smaller groups, your test results become much sharper and genuinely useful.

Step 2: Form a Clear Hypothesis

Once you have your segments sorted, it's time to make an educated guess—your hypothesis. This is just a simple, clear statement that you're going to prove or disprove with your test. A good hypothesis is specific and measurable.

Don't just say, "Let's see if Tuesday morning is better." Get specific.

A Solid Hypothesis: "For our segment of UK-based B2B leads, an email sent on Tuesday at 10 AM will get a higher click-through rate than the same email sent on Thursday at 2 PM."

See the difference? This gives your test a crystal-clear purpose. You know exactly who you're testing, what times you're comparing, and which metric decides the winner. This clarity is everything when it comes to drawing meaningful conclusions.

This infographic gives you a feel for how different UK sectors might approach their timing strategy.

As you can see, a B2B business might focus its analysis on the typical workday, whereas retail and fitness brands need to think more about when people are in the right frame of mind, often outside of office hours.

Step 3: Set Up a Simple A/B Test

Right, let's get the experiment running. An A/B test is your best friend here. All you do is create one email campaign but send it to two different halves of your chosen segment at two different times. The only thing you change between Group A and Group B is the send time. Everything else stays identical.

How to run the A/B test in your platform:

1. Create Your Campaign: Write your email as you normally would.
2. Select Your Segment: Choose the segment you created in Step 1 (e.g., "Active UK Clickers").
3. Find the A/B Test Option: Look for a button that says "Create A/B Test" or "Split Test". Select "Send Time" as the variable you want to test.
4. Schedule the Sends:
   • Schedule Version A to send to 50% of the segment at your first test time (e.g., Tuesday at 10 AM).
   • Schedule Version B to send to the other 50% at your second test time (e.g., Thursday at 2 PM).
5. Launch the Test: Confirm the settings and schedule the campaign.

Most modern email platforms, like Astonish Email, have A/B testing and scheduling tools built right in, making this whole process a doddle. You can learn more about how our email marketing platform features make testing like this straightforward.

Sample A/B Testing Plan for Send Time Optimization

Test Group	Segment	Send Day	Send Time	Metric to Track
Group A	New Subscribers (Last 30 Days)	Wednesday	8:30 AM	Click-Through Rate
Group B	New Subscribers (Last 30 Days)	Wednesday	7:00 PM	Click-Through Rate
Group C	VIP Customers (High Spend)	Friday	11:00 AM	Conversion Rate
Group D	VIP Customers (High Spend)	Sunday	8:00 PM	Conversion Rate

This table shows how you can run multiple tests across different audience groups, focusing on the metrics that matter most for each one. Over time, this builds a complete picture of your audience's habits.

Step 4: Analyse the Right Metrics

Once your emails are out and people have had a day or two to interact, it’s time to see what happened. It’s easy to get fixated on the open rate, but honestly, that metric only tells you half the story.

To really understand performance, you need to look a little deeper.

• Open Rate: A decent indicator of who was intrigued by your subject line. It’s a start.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): This is where it gets interesting. This tells you who was engaged enough by your email to actually do something and click a link.
• Conversion Rate: This is the gold standard. It tracks how many people went on to complete your goal, whether that's making a purchase, booking a demo, or downloading a guide.

Compare the CTR and conversion rates for Group A and Group B. Whichever time slot delivered the better results is your winner for that specific segment. And while this guide focuses on general marketing, these data-backed tips for the best time to send a cold email offer some fantastic, specific insights that can help refine your thinking.

By repeating this simple, four-step process for your different segments, you’ll slowly build a powerful, evidence-based strategy that's unique to your business. No more guessing.

Why Personalization and Timing Must Work Together

Nailing the best time to send marketing emails is a huge win, but it’s only half the story. Think of it like this: you’ve planned the perfect moment to give someone a gift, but when they open it, it’s something they’d never, ever use. The timing was spot on, but the gift itself just didn't connect.

That’s exactly how timing and personalisation work in email marketing. Sending a generic, one-size-fits-all email at the statistically “perfect” time will almost always underwhelm. The real magic happens when the when and the what work in harmony, creating a message that feels like it was crafted just for one person.

The Power of Relevant, Timely Messages

A cart abandonment email is a classic example. Its power isn’t just that it shows the products someone left behind; it’s that it lands in their inbox an hour after they left your site. The timing makes the personal touch even more relevant, catching them while those items are still fresh in their mind. That synergy turns a simple reminder into a genuinely helpful nudge.

This idea holds true for every campaign you send. An email that lands at the right moment and speaks directly to a subscriber’s interests, location, or past purchases is always going to be more powerful than one that only gets the timing right.

Timing gets your foot in the door, but personalisation is what invites you in for a cup of tea. One without the other is a missed opportunity to build a real connection.

This isn’t just a nice-to-have, either; it directly affects the health of your list. UK consumers are famously savvy about their inboxes. Research shows a staggering 84% are ready to unsubscribe from generic messages, and 29% will ditch a brand after just two or three irrelevant emails. Badly timed or impersonal emails don't just get ignored—they actively push people away.

How to Blend Timing with Personalisation

Getting these two elements to work together isn't as complicated as it sounds. It really just comes down to using the data you already have to make smarter decisions. Of course, storing and managing this information securely is paramount, so it’s always a good idea to be familiar with your provider’s approach, like reviewing their data retention policy.

Here’s a practical step-by-step guide to get started:

1. Segment Based on Behaviour: Create a segment of customers who haven’t purchased anything in over six months. In most email tools, this looks like: Subscribers where Last Purchase Date is more than 180 days ago.
2. Craft a Relevant Offer: Instead of the usual newsletter, design an email with the subject "We've Missed You! Here's 15% Off". Use merge tags to show them products related to their last purchase.
3. Test a Strategic Time: Set up an A/B test. Send the email to half the segment on a Thursday at 11 AM (a classic "sales" time) and the other half on a Sunday evening at 8 PM, a time when people are often relaxing and browsing online.
4. Analyse and Adapt: Compare the conversion rates from both send times. The winner becomes your new go-to time for re-engagement campaigns.

This simple process combines a specific audience (segmentation), a relevant message (personalisation), and a strategic moment (timing) to build a campaign with a much greater chance of success.

If you're keen to go deeper, there are great guides out there on mastering personalization in email marketing. By bringing these two forces together, you stop just sending emails and start building the kind of customer relationships that fuel real, lasting growth.

Right, let's pull all of this together. Finding that perfect send time for your marketing emails isn’t about chasing some mythical, one-size-fits-all number. It’s about creating a living, breathing process of listening, testing, and adapting.

You now have a solid framework to ditch the guesswork and start making decisions based on what your own data is telling you. We've talked through why getting to know your unique audience is the absolute first port of call. Their daily rhythms, not broad industry stats, are where the real insights are hiding.

Time to Put It All Into Practice

Think of those industry benchmarks as your starting grid – they give you a sensible place to launch from. But the real gains? They come from following the step-by-step testing plan we’ve laid out. This is how you uncover what genuinely gets your customers to open, click, and ultimately, buy.

The real goal here is to stop worrying about what works for everyone else and discover what works for you. This cycle of testing, learning, and refining is what elevates good email marketing into great email marketing.

Your next move is straightforward but incredibly powerful. It’s time to put this knowledge to work and take proper control of your email strategy.

Your First Steps From Here

Here’s a simple plan to get the ball rolling today:

1. Pick a Segment: Don't try to boil the ocean. Start with one clear group from your audience – maybe new subscribers or customers who bought in the last month.
2. Form a Hypothesis: Make an educated guess. Something like, "I bet our weekend shoppers will respond better to an email on a Friday afternoon than one on a Saturday morning."
3. Schedule Your First Test: Jump into your email platform’s A/B testing tool and set up a simple comparison to test that theory.

This is how you build momentum. Every test you run adds another piece to the puzzle, slowly revealing the habits and preferences of your audience. Before you know it, you'll be fine-tuning your timing for a real, measurable impact on your business.

Frequently Asked Questions

Even with a solid plan, you're bound to have a few lingering questions as you start digging into the data. Let's tackle some of the most common ones I hear from businesses trying to nail down their email timing.

How Often Should I Test My Email Send Times?

This is a great question, and the simple answer is: it’s not a one-and-done job. Your audience's habits will shift over time, new people will join your list, and your business will change. What works wonders today might be just average in six months.

As a general rule, I recommend running a fresh set of A/B tests on your main audience segments at least once a quarter. You should also definitely run new tests whenever something big happens, like:

• A sudden, significant jump in your subscriber numbers.
• The launch of a major new product or service.
• Expanding to a new audience or part of the country.

Think of it as a regular tune-up to keep your email engine running smoothly.

Does The Day Matter More Than The Time?

Ah, the classic "chicken or egg" dilemma of email marketing! The truth is, they’re both critically important, and they work together. The day of the week sets the scene, but the time of day captures the right moment.

For a B2B company, the day (a weekday) is probably the bigger factor because you need to catch people when they're in a professional mindset. Similarly, for a retail brand advertising a weekend flash sale, Saturday morning is a world away from Monday afternoon.

On the other hand, if you send a daily roundup, the specific time might be more crucial as you're trying to become part of a person's daily routine, like their morning coffee or evening wind-down. You can’t really separate them; you have to test different combinations to find your sweet spot.

Should I Use My Platform’s AI or Smart Sending Feature?

Most modern email platforms, like Astonish Email, offer some kind of AI-powered "send time optimisation". These clever tools look at each subscriber's past open times and try to deliver your email at the exact moment they're most likely to see it.

These AI features are brilliant for fine-tuning delivery, but they shouldn't completely replace your own testing. They work best when they have a good starting point.

Here’s a practical way to combine both approaches:

1. Run Manual Tests First: Use the A/B testing methods we've discussed to identify your "winning" send day and general time window for a key audience segment (e.g., you discover Thursdays between 2 PM and 4 PM work best for your VIPs).
2. Schedule with AI: For your next campaign to that segment, schedule it for your winning window (Thursday afternoon).
3. Activate Send-Time Optimisation: Now, turn on the AI feature. The platform will use your 2 PM - 4 PM window as the baseline and then individually adjust the delivery time for each person within that period, based on their unique open history.

Use your tests to set the strategy, and let the AI handle the final, personalised touch.

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Ready to stop guessing and start knowing exactly when to hit 'send'? Astonish Email makes it simple to segment your audience, schedule A/B tests, and get the insights you need with clear, real-time reports. Find your perfect send time and grow your business today.