Best Time to Send Cold Emails: See What Works the Most

When it comes to sending cold emails, timing is nearly as important as crafting amazing content.

Think about it, you might spend hours creating the perfect message and a killer subject line to accompany it—but, send it at the wrong time and it might not get noticed.

Understanding the best time to send cold emails is critical to the success of your campaigns.

The problem is that different studies report different results, so it’s hard to say exactly when the best time is.

That’s why this guide looks at findings from four recent studies on this topic. Hopefully, this will help you identify the perfect time to send cold emails and boost your campaign engagement.

But to begin with, let’s remind you of some of the basics of cold email campaigns.

What Is a Cold Email?

Sometimes known as a cold outreach email, a cold email is any message to someone who doesn’t know your brand in which you ask them to do something.

There are plenty of examples of when you might use a cold email:

• To ask the person to buy or consider your product or service.
• To ask to partner with another brand by having them build backlinks to your website.
• To recruit people.

For this article, we’re going to assume you know the basics. But if you want to find out more, check out our article on cold outreach.

Does Timing Matter for Email Marketing?

Yes, it does. And as mentioned above, get it wrong and your message won’t get noticed.

To put this into context, let’s think about how we check our emails.

If you’re like me, by Friday afternoon you just want to finish up for the weekend. I usually ignore any low-priority emails at this time and I avoid reading work emails on the weekend.

Then Monday morning arrives. I’m focused on the week ahead; any low-priority emails from last week get forgotten forever—including (or especially) cold emails.

Poor open rates are spam signals

There’s another reason why people ignore your cold emails—that’s because your domain may have been blacklisted by spam filters.

The problem is that email servers can’t read messages to decide whether they are spam or not. Instead, they use signals from their users.

These signals include:

• Whether people mark your messages as spam.
• When many recipients delete them without opening.
• When they mostly ignore your emails.

If too many people ignore your cold emails, spam filters might start blocking your campaign altogether.

Best Time to Send Cold Emails Research

Now you’re up to speed on the basics of cold email campaigns, let’s look at those research studies mentioned in the introduction.

They are:

• Best Time to Send an Email: User Data Study by Industry by Brevo
• 2023 Email Marketing Benchmarks by GetResponse
• The Best Time To Send Emails by Omnisend
• The Best Time to Send an Email by Hubspot

The results of all four studies were published in 2022 or 2023.

What Is the Best Day of the Week to Send Cold Emails?

The studies generally agree that weekdays are the best days to send cold emails. But there is some variation on which day is most effective.

Brevo

Brevo reported that 85% of all email opens and 95% of all clicks happen on weekdays.

Marketing emails sent on Tuesday and Thursday account for the greatest share of opens, with 19% and 20% respectively. Wednesday also scores high for open rates.

However, emails sent on Wednesdays have the most click-throughs at 35%, followed by Tuesdays. Marketing emails sent on a Thursday actually have a lower click volume.

This graph shows that people are likelier to act upon emails sent on a Wednesday. Brevo suggested that as the week progresses, people become fatigued and are less likely to follow calls to action.

GetResponse

GetResponse’s research found that any weekday is good for open rates. All campaigns studied have an average open rate of over 26%, but Tuesdays have a slight edge  at 27.5%.

Omnisend

Omnisend reported the best open rates are on Tuesdays at 11.36%.

Interestingly, the company found that click-through and open rates are highest on Fridays at 13.58% and 5.74%, respectively. This goes against Brevo’s findings.

Omnisend also studied which days of the month are best to send emails.

Here’s what they found:

• The 10th is best for open rates
• The 2nd is best for click rates
• The 1st is best for conversion rates

They suggested this could be connected with the dates people get paid their wages.

Hubspot

Hubspot asked US marketers which day of the week their email campaigns generate the most engagement.

Here are the results:

• 24.9% said Tuesday
• 22.6% said Monday
• 21.3% said Wednesday

This is surprising, as Mondays are often cited as one of the worst days to send a cold email.

When Is a Good Time to Send a Cold Email?

So, what do these studies say about what time of day is best to send a cold email? Here, the answers are even more fragmented.

Brevo

Brevo found that open and click volumes both peak at 10 a.m. In the afternoon, opens peak at 3 p.m. and click-throughs peak at 4 p.m.

Interestingly, it stated that click-through rates increase in the afternoon and then remain high into the evening.

Brevo suggested this might be due to people checking their emails at home or while on public transport. At these times, people’s inboxes are usually less cluttered, so marketers have a better chance of capturing people’s attention.

GetResponse

GetResponse had some unusual results. It found that email campaigns with the highest open rates are either sent in the very early morning at 4-6 a.m. or later in the afternoon at 5-7 p.m.

The company said this could be because not many people send emails at this time, so there is less competition for people’s attention.

What is the best time to send an unsolicited email?

What is the best time to send an unsolicited email? is a question that many marketers and professionals ponder. The answer depends on various factors including the recipient’s behavior patterns, time zone, and the nature of the content. Generally, research suggests that weekdays, particularly Tuesday to Thursday, during mid-morning or early afternoon, are effective times.

This is because most people are active in their work routine and more likely to check their emails. However, it’s important to avoid early mornings or late evenings, as emails sent during these times are likely to be overlooked or lost in the influx of incoming work emails. Ultimately, the best time can vary based on the audience and the purpose of the email, and it might require some experimentation to determine the most effective timing for your specific audience.

Omnisend

Omnisend also had some surprising results. Here are the send times with the best open rates:

• 8 p.m.: 59%
• 2 p.m.: 45.39%
• 11 p.m.: 40.36%

Click-through rates are a different matter. Spikes are seen at 5 a.m. and 6 a.m., as well as 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Hubspot

Hubspot found that 62.5% of all email campaigns are opened between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., with 34.9% opened before noon.

Our Conclusion: Research Your Industry

These studies point to one fact we’ve thus far managed to establish: there is no clear agreement on the best time to send a cold email.

The research results broadly indicate that Tuesdays during business hours tend to get better open rates. Weekends and night times are generally a bad time to send cold sales emails.

But the truth is, the best time to send a cold email depends on your audience.

To illustrate this point, Brevo broke its study down into industries and found a significant variation between them:

It’s a good idea to research your target audience and find out:

• When are they most likely to check their emails?
• Will your cold emails be read on personal or work accounts?
• Will your cold emails be read on mobile or desktop devices?
• When will they take action on noncritical tasks?
• When will they be in the mood to buy things?

Things to Consider When Choosing a Time to Send Cold Emails

Here are some general tips to time your cold emails perfectly.

Time zone

Today, many businesses serve customers worldwide. It’s therefore important to consider your recipients’ timezone when sending cold emails—otherwise, it’s impossible to plan when they will receive it.

Your email marketing software may provide tools to manage this problem. But if it doesn’t or you’re not using software, segmenting your email list into different time zones is a good idea. This allows you to schedule the same message to times that suit each time zone.

Audience behavior and demographics

You need to send your emails at a time when your target audience is checking their emails, but not too busy to read low-priority messages like yours.

For the majority of B2B emails, this will most likely be during office hours.

But let’s say you run a special-interest website that covers people’s hobbies. In this case, your target audience may wish to read your emails during their personal time.

Younger people are also more likely to use devices 24/7—so you could even send emails late in the evening and get a good response.

Device type

The device types your audience use will also make a difference. For example, if they are heavy smartphone users, then it’s more likely that they’ll check their emails throughout the day.

However, laptop or tablet usage tends to be restricted to certain times, tasks, or locations, so your email campaign must consider these aspects.

Use A/B testing

A/B testing is when you divide your email list into two parts and send slightly different versions of the same email to each group. You will then be able to see which email was more successful.

This allows you to experiment and incrementally improve your email campaigns.

A/B testing is critical to get your cold email timing right. By sending each version at two different times, you can start to zero in on what works.

You will probably find that different timings work better for different types of messages. For example, the beginning of the month might work better if you want recipients to make a purchase, as this is often when people get paid.

Use scheduling

Scheduling allows you to set your email campaign to be sent at a certain time.

For example, let’s say we agree with Omnisend’s research that emails sent on a Tuesday are more likely to be opened, but that click-through rates and conversions are higher on a Friday.

You can schedule an initial email to land in their inboxes on a Tuesday and then set an automatic follow-up for Friday to be sent to anyone who hasn’t replied.

The logic is that the person will read your message on Tuesday and act upon it on Friday when you remind them.

Plan your follow-ups

On a similar note, don’t forget to plan when you will follow up. Usually, it’s a good idea to follow up within a few days, whether that’s with a response or a reminder.

Leave it too long and they will forget who you are or think you’re not serious.

Don’t forget the basics

Timing is an important element of cold email campaigns. But it’s more important that the emails themselves are good quality.

This involves:

Using a professional email address with your name

Many people won’t trust emails from personal accounts that end in @gmail.com or @outlook.com. Equally, anything that begins with noreply@ or sales@ will seem impersonal. People will decide that it is a generic mass email and will likely ignore it or mark it as spam.

Writing compelling email subject lines

Subject lines are critical in cold email outreach. You need to compel the reader to open your email and read it. This means you need to create both trust and curiosity at first glance.

Keeping the email short and sweet

Most people don’t want to spend ages to read emails, especially if they are busy—so keep your email content short. Ensure it’s less than 200 words and get straight to the point by explaining:

• Who you are
• What you want
• Why they can trust you
• What to do next – give them clear instructions

Personalizing your messages

People are more likely to open and respond to personalized messages. According to Zippia, personalizing your subject lines increases open rates by 50%.

However, it’s not just the email subject line that needs to be personalized. The email content is also important. Show the person that you understand their business and their role there. More importantly, show that you understand the challenges they face and explain how your product will help overcome them.

A good way to grab their attention is to use image personalization. For example, Hyperise offers a toolkit that allows you to dynamically personalize images, GIFs, and videos with enriched data.

This strategy catches your recipients off guard and immediately draws their attention—they’re expecting a boring text email but instead get a personalized image.

In psychology circles, this is called a pattern interrupt and it can help improve conversions by up to three times.

Final Word

The main takeaway from this article is to research your audience to understand when they are most likely to read their emails. Then keep testing to see what works.

But don’t focus too much on timing. It’s more important to direct your efforts toward your email content. Craft a compelling subject line, keep your content short, and use a professional email address.

And to really make your email campaigns pop and boost your responses, add personalized images. You can do this by registering for a free trial of Hyperise and trying it for 14 days.