Why email marketers have got it wrong

Thinking of launching an email marketing campaign to boost your client numbers? Contrary to popular opinion, lunch time is the worst time to send it, a new study has found.

The effectiveness of marketing emails drops markedly during the lunch hour, according to a new consumer study carried out by marketing provider Pure360.

The research analysed 660,000 emails sent by 34 companies and discovered that just 9% of emails sent between noon and 2pm were opened. Of those that did grab readers’ attention, 62% were news or magazine alerts, making it one of the most ineffective times of day to send marketing promotions for goods or services.

Users were more likely to be looking for a ‘morning boost’ between 9am and 10am, making it a great time of day to send promotions for consumer products and leisure activities.

Accountants are most likely to enjoy their greatest success in the post-lunch period, or in the evening between 5pm – 7pm, when users are more receptive to business promotions.

The daily email life cycle
The research pointed to a daily ‘life cycle’ of email habits, with certain times of day falling way behind others in terms of their effectiveness:

• The abyss (10pm – 9am): This was deemed the most ineffective time to send email promotions, with researchers labelling it the ‘black hole’ of email communications.
   
• Consumer am (9am – 10am): The start of the working day was found to be the second most prevalent opening time for promotional emails, when employees allowed themselves to be most distracted by offers on clothes, live events, restaurants and consumer goods.
   
• Do not disturb (10am – noon): Staff chose to focus most on work during these hours, and subsequently did not open marketing emails.
   
• The lunchtime news (noon – 2pm): Counter-intuitively, consumers were unlikely to open marketing emails during their lunch period, choosing instead to spend time on news and magazine alerts.
   
• In the zone (2pm – 3pm): In the immediate post-lunch period consumers remained focussed on work, responding only to email offers relating to financial services.
   
• A life-changing afternoon (3pm – 5pm): This is the time of day most associated with job related apathy, when consumers begin thinking about their personal situation. As a result, emails relating to property and financial services typically enjoy more success at this time than any other type of promotion.
  
  
• Working late (5pm – 7pm): Research found a dramatic rise in recipients opening holiday promotions during this period. Surprisingly, B2B promotions also enjoyed success within this timeframe, with 26.4% of these being opened.
   
• Last orders (7pm – 10pm): Consumer offers such as clothes, sports and leisure promotions enjoyed the most success at this time of day, with recipients more likely to respond in their own time.