An analysis from software provider GetResponse of 21 million emails sent by its clients offers some interesting findings:
- Nearly one quarter of all emails were opened within the first hour. That dropped to less than 5% by the fourth hour
- More than 38% of emails were sent between 6 a.m. and noon. That was followed by 29.7% between 6 p.m. and midnight, 25.8% between noon and 6 p.m., and 5.9% between midnight and 6 a.m.
- The hours in which most e-mails were opened were 8 a.m., 9 a.m., 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.
- Click-throughs followed a similar pattern with 8 p.m. replacing 4 p.m. as a high-frequency period
And a final caution. If your message is going national or global, keep time differences in mind. A 9 a.m. Eastern time send is 3 a.m. in Hawaii, 5 p.m. in Moscow and 11 p.m. in Sydney.