Best Time to Send Marketing Emails

Hello!

How many times have you spent hours crafting the perfect email, only to see just a fraction of recipients actually open it?

Believe me — we know the frustration. Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to promote content and products, yet getting people to open your emails can still feel like an uphill battle. The good news? Improving open rates is far more achievable than it seems.

One of the simplest levers you can pull is timing. Sending emails at the right moment can meaningfully lift open rates, click-through rates, and ultimately drive more traffic to your site or blog. In this article, we break down the best times to send marketing emails throughout the year, backed by data and practical recommendations.

Tuesday Is Your New Favorite Day of the Week!

Okay, so maybe Friday is still your actual favorite day of the week.

When it comes to marketing emails, however, a study from HubSpot found that messages sent on Tuesdays enjoy a 20% higher open rate compared with the average across all other days.

Monday and Wednesday follow closely behind, both achieving 18% above-average open rates. Thursday and Friday trail at 15% and 8%, respectively.

The pattern is clear: engagement gradually declines as the workweek progresses, with the middle three days delivering relatively similar performance. Weekends, by contrast, see a sharp drop-off. Saturday and Sunday post open rates of –107% and –82% relative to the weekly average, making them the weakest days to hit send.

While the day-to-day differences are statistically meaningful, they are not enormous. The gap between Tuesday and Thursday is modest, yet even small lifts can compound over time. The key is to test what works best for your specific audience rather than relying solely on industry benchmarks.

So, What Is the Best Time to Send Marketing Emails?

A 2026 study from GetResponse found that open rates peak at 10 AM and 1 PM, with a secondary spike at 6 PM. These windows align with typical daily rhythms: checking email upon arriving at work, during lunch, and after returning home in the evening. Even as remote and hybrid work arrangements have become more common, this pattern remains remarkably consistent.

Weekend timing follows its own logic. According to HubSpot data, if you do send on Sunday, aim for the evening window between 8 PM and 10 PM. Emails dispatched at 9 PM on Sunday achieve a 35% higher open rate than average — likely because recipients are mentally preparing for the week ahead.

These benchmarks primarily reflect 9-to-5 professionals. If your audience skews differently — for example, stay-at-home parents or shift workers — you should adjust send times accordingly and validate them through testing.

So, What About Click-Through Rates?

You may have noticed in the data that while open rates fluctuate throughout the day, click-through rates stay relatively stable. This is encouraging: once someone opens your email, the decision to click is driven far more by content relevance than by the exact hour it arrived.

Your Audience Is Unique; Your Email Schedule Should Be Too

The challenge with any “best time” recommendation is that everyone has access to the same data. As a result, inboxes become flooded between 10 AM and noon on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. The Radicati Group estimates that the average consumer now receives nearly 120 emails per day.

In such a crowded environment, off-peak sends can help your message stand out. That said, the weekends or midnight are not universal solutions. Your audience’s habits should dictate your strategy, validated through rigorous A/B testing.

So, What About the Holidays?

When executed strategically, holidays can be excellent opportunities for promotional campaigns. However, inbox volume surges dramatically, so both timing and creative execution become critical.

Holiday behavior deviates from standard patterns. Below is a breakdown of how major U.S. holidays typically affect email performance.

Thanksgiving

Open rates begin to decline on Thanksgiving Eve and remain suppressed until the Monday after the holiday. Engagement then rebounds sharply, reaching 106% of the daily average by the following Wednesday. The safest approach is to wait until the week after Thanksgiving, especially as Cyber Monday continues to grow in importance.

Christmas

Open rates drop sharply from December 22 onward and stay low through the start of the new year. Click-through rates follow a similar trajectory, falling 42% on Christmas Eve and 72% on Christmas Day as people focus on travel and celebrations.

New Year’s

Engagement remains subdued in early January. Between January 5 and January 8, open rates typically rise by about 12%. Waiting until the post-holiday backlog clears gives your message a better chance of being noticed.

Memorial Day

Most recipients are on vacation during the Memorial Day weekend, causing open rates to drop roughly 32% on the Monday. From the following Tuesday onward, however, engagement runs 19% above average for the rest of the week.

Fourth of July

Open rates peak on the Thursday before the holiday, when people are actively planning celebrations and are more receptive to promotional offers. Performance declines on the holiday itself and on any observed days off.

Other Holidays

Days such as Veteran’s Day, Labor Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Presidents’ Day generally follow normal patterns. Minor dips may occur if schools are closed, but otherwise you can maintain your regular schedule.

Timing Is — and Isn’t — Everything

While optimizing send times can improve open rates, the quality of your content ultimately determines whether readers engage. With inboxes overflowing, subject lines, preview text, and body copy must work harder than ever to stand out.

Words that convey urgency — “Last chance,” “Can’t-miss offer,” “Ends tonight” — can boost engagement. Equally important is mobile optimization: approximately 91% of people check email on their smartphones daily. If your emails are not responsive, you risk losing readers before they even reach your content.

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Key Takeaways

Adjusting the day and time of your sends can deliver measurable improvements in open rates. During holidays, however, standard timing rules shift, and most people simply check email less frequently. Content quality and mobile optimization remain non-negotiable if you want to cut through the noise and drive meaningful results.

Finding the optimal send window for your audience takes testing and iteration, but the payoff is more efficient and effective email marketing campaigns.

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