When is the Best Time to Send an Email? B2B Email Marketing Tips

Speak to any sales rep and they’ll tell you the spend most of their time sending emails. That’s not an exaggeration, either: studies vary, though some evidence suggest that salespeople spend up to 60% of their work week is dedicated to email marketing and email engagement. That’s a heck of a lot of time - especially when your open rate may only be around 22.5%. The majority reported by industry surveys aligns with this open rate, highlighting a consensus on typical email engagement levels.

But what if we told you there were ways to improve your email marketing campaigns’ open rate, click through rates, and conversion rates to make your marketing emails more effective? And no, it doesn’t just come down to a better subject line or more personalization.

Today, we’re going to take a deep dive into email marketing timing. We’ll ask: when’s the best time to send an email? Why does it matter? How can we increase engagement? And how can we optimize our marketing email campaigns for maximum impact?

So if you’re one of those sales reps whose job it is to make your company’s email marketing strategy come to life, listen up. You don’t want to miss our expert insight and actionable advice on the best time to send an email.

This article was originally published in March 2022 and last updated in June 2024.

The dynamics behind B2B marketing emails

If you’re reading this, you’re probably all too familiar with marketing emails. You know all about subject lines, promotional emails, and click through rates. But let’s take a look at some of the specifics of B2B email marketing, as it’s crucial if you want to make your B2B marketing emails more efficient. Keep in mind that the best time to send an email can vary for different audiences, such as by industry vertical or customer segment, so tailoring your approach is essential.

Analyzing your own data and learning from other marketers can also help you refine your email timing strategy.

What are the differences between B2C and B2B emails?

Whereas B2C sales emails are more general and consumer-driven, B2B email campaigns tend to cater to a more focused, often niche audience with particular business needs. That means the target audience, and therefore the best time to send the email, is completely different.

What’s more, B2B transactions generally involve a longer and more complex buying cycle compared to B2C. This is due to factors such as budget approval processes, the need for consensus among multiple stakeholders, and the consideration of long-term ROI. Optimal send times and open rates can also vary depending on the industry and the specific needs of the audience.

Target audience behavior

Understanding the daily routines and work patterns of your B2B audience is crucial. Think about it: what’s your work day like? How do you interact with emails?

If you’re anything like the rest of us, you probably check your inbox at the start of your work day, throughout the morning, around lunch time - and rarely after 5pm!

Although specifics may vary across different industries, it makes sense that the best time to send a B2B email will align with your prospect’s schedule.

It’s also super important to understand the decision-making hierarchies within your prospect’s company, as this will determine the timing and content of your emails. For example, executives might prefer early morning emails, while middle managers may engage better later in the day after attending to their immediate tasks.

To truly optimize your email timing, analyze your own campaign data and draw your own conclusions about when your specific audience is most responsive.

Why timing is so important to email marketing campaigns

The best way to assess the effectiveness of your email campaign is by analyzing data such as open rates and click through rate. So let’s use those key metrics to examine the importance of timing for B2B email campaigns. Marketers can use data-driven insights to determine the best times to send email campaigns, helping to maximize engagement and improve overall campaign performance.

• Open rates

Of course, open rates are the most significant metric for email marketers. You need to know what percentage of your emails are getting opened. And while things like subject lines and personalization play a role in your open rate, so does timing.

Emails sent at times when recipients are most likely to check their inbox - typically during working hours - naturally have a higher chance of being opened. For instance, emails sent early in the morning or late in the morning often see higher open rates than those sent mid afternoon, simply because these times align with when professionals are starting or refocusing on their day’s tasks.

• Click through rates

Click throughs - the number of people who actually follow the links in your email - are also crucial. High click through rates often go hand-in-hand with high open rates, but are less obviously impacted by timing. After all, surely it’s the content that determines the email performance, not the email timing?

Well, yes and no. High quality content is certainly key, but time optimization plays a role, too: even if an email is opened, if it is sent at a time when recipients are too busy or distracted to engage with the content, the click through rate will take a blow. Think about it: when you receive a sales email during the Monday morning rush, do you have time to click through? A/B testing the same email at different times can help identify the optimal send time for maximizing click through rates.

Email list segmentation for better timing

When it comes to optimizing your email marketing campaigns, timing isn’t just about picking the right hour or day—it’s also about understanding who you’re sending to. That’s where email list segmentation comes in. By dividing your email list into targeted groups based on factors like demographics, behavior, or purchase history, you can fine-tune your email marketing strategy to deliver marketing emails at the best time for each segment.

Let’s say you’re running an e-commerce business. You might have frequent buyers who tend to check their emails during early afternoon hours, while occasional buyers are more likely to open emails in the morning. By analyzing data from your previous email campaigns—using tools like Google Analytics—you can spot these patterns and adjust your send times accordingly. This data-driven approach means you’re not just guessing the optimal time to send emails; you’re basing your decisions on real engagement metrics like open rates, click through rates, and conversion rates.

Segmentation also helps you tackle time zone considerations. If your subscribers’ inboxes span multiple regions, you can use email automation to deliver emails at the right time for each group, no matter where they are. This ensures your promotional emails land when your audience is most likely to engage, rather than getting buried in the inbox at the wrong time.

By segmenting your list and analyzing engagement patterns, you can send marketing emails that are more relevant and timely—leading to higher open rates, better click through rates, and ultimately, more conversions. Whether you’re sending a targeted email blast to a specific segment or fine-tuning your overall email marketing strategy, segmentation gives you the power to reach the right audience at the right time.

In short, email list segmentation is a game-changer for send time optimization. It allows you to deliver high quality content to each unique audience at the optimal time, maximizing the impact of your marketing efforts and helping you make more money from your email campaigns. If you want to get the most engagement from your subscribers, start segmenting your list and let the data guide your timing decisions.

The best day of the week to send B2B emails

Okay, now it’s time to get stuck in. When is the best time to send an email really?

Unfortunately, there’s no short answer here. However, we can explore the data. Let’s start with which day of the week is best for sending emails. In general, weekdays tend to generate higher engagement rates for B2B emails compared to weekends.

1. Mid week (Tuesday to Thursday)

While there’s no conclusive evidence on the best time to send an email, most studies show that Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday offer the best time to send. There are a few ways to explain this (even if it’s mostly speculative):

By the middle of the week, most prospects will have settled into their work week and cleared their most urgent tasks. They could have more time to engage with digital marketing. Sending email blasts during mid-week can maximize open and click-through rates, making it an optimal window for mass email campaigns.

2. Monday

Monday offers pros and cons for email marketing: while it’s the start of a fresh new week, Mondays (especially Monday mornings) are often hectic, as prospects are responding to urgent emails and organizing their week.

Without seriously good subject lines and perfect timing, email campaigns delivered on Mondays may see mixed email engagement.

3. Friday

Be honest: is Friday your most productive day of the week? If you said ‘yes’, we salute you. For everyone else, however, you can see what we’re getting at.

The truth is, Friday isn’t the best time to send an email because people are wrapping up their work week and looking forward to the weekend. Even if a subject line does catch their eye, they’ll probably just leave it until next week.

Open rates on Fridays hover around 15%.

The best time of day to send emails

Of course, email timing isn’t just about the day of the week - it’s about finding the optimal time of day, too. It stands to reason that the best time to send an email is during business hours; but when exactly is most effective? In addition to timing, creating an engaging HTML email with a balanced approach to design and functionality can further improve engagement when sent at optimal times.

Again, send time optimization isn’t an exact science (and time zones must be considered) but there are some general principles to reaching your target market.

1. Mid morning

Most research concurs that mid morning - between 9am and 11am - is the best time to send marketing emails. Such emails have the highest open rates. That can be put down to several factors; basically, though, that’s when most B2B prospects are opening their inboxes and organizing their day.

2. Early afternoon

Sales emails send between 12pm and 3pm also see a high click to open rate. Think about it: if you can time to send emails when prospects are coming back from their lunch breaks and checking their inboxes, you have an advantage. Your prospects will be refreshed and ready for an afternoon of work.

3. Early morning/late afternoon

Some studies suggest that catching prospects super early can be advantageous, though generally it’s not considered the best time to send an email. Your subject line will likely get overshadowed in the following hours.

Likewise, sending an email blast in the late afternoon leaves your email sitting in an inbox until the following morning.

Time your email marketing strategy to perfection

We all know about the importance of a killer subject line and personalized messaging in email marketing, but fewer salespeople recognize the importance of timing. This is despite the fact that google analytics and independent data confirm that timing significantly effects email engagement.

For example, when marketing emails occurred in the middle of the week, they saw more engagement than when they were sent on a Friday or Monday. Likewise, mid morning and early afternoon come out on top as the best time to send an email, as B2B prospects are most active during these work hours.

There's a logic to email campaign timing, but it can take a while to master. If you want to engage your own audience and reach more prospects' and subscribers' inboxes, check out our extensive blog. We have dozens of articles on everything from writing the perfect subject line to optimizing your email campaign.

What's more, our lead generation and appointment setting pages explain exactly how we've helped hundred of companies achieve their revenue goals!