The best day of the week to send email in the third quarter was Wednesday, according to the most recent eROI benchmark study of email-campaign clickthrough and open rates (via Direct magazine).
According to eROI’s Q3 data:
- The average open rate on Wednesdays in the third quarter was 25.4%, and the average click rate was 3.9%.
- The second-best day for email was Monday, which had an average open rate of 24.7% and click rate of 3.1%.
- The highest average click rate – 5.0% – was on Saturday, which had the lowest open rate, however: 18.7%.
- The third-highest open and click rates were on Thursday: 23.6% and 3.7%, respectively.
Time of Day
As for the best time of day for open and click rates, during the heaviest email volumes (8 AM to 5 PM), there’s a marked upward trend as time passes, eROI said. That is, both open and click rates gradually increase:
- From a low of 2.6% at 8 AM to a high of 6.4% at 4 PM (down to 5.2% at 5 PM), in the case of click rates.
- From a low of 21.4% at 8 AM to a high of 34.1% at 5 PM, in the case of opens.
Consumer-Focused Industries
Benchmarks for various industries targeting consumers varied significantly in the third quarter, eROI found:
- The travel & lodging category was No. 1, with nearly half of email subscribers (46.7%) opening their emails and nearly 10% clicking through.
- Retail (brick and mortar) companies were at the back of the pack with a 19% open rate and a 1.6% click rate.
- In between were gaming, e-commerce, clothing, sports, food service, entertainment, publishing – in ascending order.
The Q3 report is available via eROI’s Resource Center (see “Quarterly Studies” section). Also see the second-quarter study results: “Wednesday Hump Applies to Emails, Too.“
