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The best time to send an email (2024 research)

Reading Time: 9 minutes

Knowing the best time to send emails will help you reach audiences when they’re most likely to open, read, and convert.

Our research shows that peak engagement times and clickthrough rates vary significantly throughout the month. For instance, the prime time for email opens is at 8 PM (59%), and conversions perform strongest on the first and last days of each month.

Omnisend helps you turn these insights into action by scheduling timezone-based campaigns and automatically including newly qualified subscribers before sending.

Join us below for in-depth research into the best sending times for business emails, email blasts, newsletters, and more.

Schedule your precisely timed email campaigns with Omnisend

The best time to send emails: TL;DR

We analyzed customer engagement patterns across time zones to determine peak performance periods for open rates, clickthroughs, and conversions.

  • When are the best days of the week to send emails?
    Tuesdays and Fridays are your optimal days for sending emails, as they consistently show higher open, conversion, and clickthrough rates.
  • What times of day will your emails have the most impact?
    Send your emails at 2 PM, 5 PM, or 8 PM to maximize engagement, as recipients are most active during these hours.
  • Which days of the month should you schedule your emails for the best results? 
    For optimal performance, target these specific dates:
    • Open rates: 10th and 24th
    • Clickthrough rates: 2nd and 26th
    • Conversion rates: 1st and 30th

Why email sending time matters

The timing of your emails can greatly impact your overall email marketing and its effectiveness. Here are three key benefits of knowing the best time to send email messages:

  • Increases open rates: Emails sent at the appropriate times (2 PM, 5 PM, and 8 PM) have higher chances of being noticed and opened by recipients. This is because they align with peak email-checking times.
  • Boosts clickthrough rates: The best time of the day to send email messages can vary depending on your audience’s routines and habits. Sending emails when they have more time to engage can increase their likelihood of clicking on links and interacting with your content.
  • Improves conversion rates: Even if a recipient opens your email, they’ll only convert to customers if they take action. By timing your emails right, you increase the chance that your emails aren’t only seen but also acted upon.

What is the best day to send an email?

First, let’s look at the data to determine when you should send an email during the week. This question is actually a bit more complex than it may seem at first. Specifically, it’s a question of what you’re optimizing for. 

Most people want the highest opens, but it’s also important to consider the clickthrough rate and conversion rates. 

Let’s look at these separately:

Which day to send emails for best open rates

weekday vs open rate

Tuesday has the highest average open rate of 11.36%, but Wednesday and Thursday are very close, with 11.33% and 11.29%, respectively.

Takeaway: The middle of the week, Tuesday-Thursday, will likely be the best time to send marketing emails for high open rates.

Which day to send emails for best clickthrough rates

weekday vs clickthrough rate

The winning days here are much clearer. Friday and Sunday are the best for clickthrough rates, with an average of 13.58% and 13.57%, respectively. 

The third-best day of the week for clickthrough rates is Wednesday, which is still in line with our insight above about sending emails on Tuesday-Thursday.

Monday is the worst day of the week for clickthrough rates, coming in at only 13.07%.

Takeaway: For maximum clickthrough rates, prioritize sending emails on Fridays and Sundays while avoiding Mondays, which consistently show lower engagement.

Which day to send emails for best conversion rates

weekday vs conversion rate

This time, it isn’t really close. The conclusion is clear: customers who click on emails on Fridays are more likely to buy compared to the other weekdays.

Next in line are Thursday, Sunday, and Monday, which have a conversion rate range of 5.32-5.34%.

Takeaway: For the highest conversion rates, schedule your emails for Fridays, as they significantly outperform other days for turning clicks into purchases.

Best day to send emails: Results

Omnisend data shows that:

  • The best day of the week to send emails for open rates: Tuesday 
  • The best day of the week to send emails for clicks: Friday
  • The best day of the week to send emails for conversions: Friday

Overall, we’d still give it to the middle of the week, Tuesday-Thursday, for good days to get the overall best results for your emails. Friday is also worth a try.

However, as always, test this to see which day works best for your brand. Some Omnisend clients are seeing success in sending out emails on low-competition days like Sundays.

The best time to send emails

Our 2024 data reveals a surprising peak of open rates at 8 PM (59%), followed by 2 PM (45%) and 11 PM (40%). These times consistently outperform traditional sending windows across local time zones.

For clickthrough rates, two distinct periods show the highest engagement: early morning (5-6 AM) due to low inbox competition and early evening (5-6 PM) when people finish their workday. The traditional 6-11 AM window maintains steady performance for both opens and clicks.

Let’s see what the data says:

When to send an email for best open rates

local sending time vs open rate

Email open rates peak at unexpected hours, with evening sends at 8 PM achieving the highest engagement (59%). Mid-afternoon sends at 2 PM capture 45% of opens, while late-night emails at 11 PM still maintain strong performance at 40%.

Takeaway: Send your highest-priority emails at 8 PM to maximize open rates, but 2 PM and 11 PM also provide strong engagement windows for reaching your audience.

When to send an email for best clickthrough rates

local sending time vs clickthrough rate

Here, we’ve got a few more surprises. We’ve got two sets here:

  • 5 AM and 6 AM
  • 5 PM and 6 PM

In terms of evenings, that makes a lot of sense since people read and click on relevant emails after work.

As for the 5 AM—6 AM high click rates, that’s most likely a result of low competition: whoever’s up at that time and receives an email will check and click on it because there aren’t that many new emails in their inbox.

Takeaway: Target two key time windows: early morning (5-6 AM) when inbox competition is low and early evening (5-6 PM) when people are most engaged after work. While 6-11 AM shows consistent performance, avoid sending between 7 PM and 7 AM for most campaigns.

Best time to send an email: Results

Overall, for both open and click rates, we’re seeing that the classic early morning 6 AM-11 AM have good opens and clicks. After lunch, we have even better open rates (compared to morning opens), but click rates drop a bit.

In general, sending emails from roughly 7 PM-7AM should mostly be avoided — unless your tests show that it works for you. It’s possible that the best time to send a newsletter for your store is later at night.

If you’re using a good email marketing platform, you can schedule your newsletters to go out according to your customers’ time. For example, with Omnisend, you can schedule your email to hit all of your customers at 8 AM their time.

scheduled campaigns

Best days of the month to send an email

Beyond considering the optimal week days and times, successful email marketing requires strategic planning throughout the month.

While triggered emails (like welcome messages) should be sent immediately after user actions, scheduled campaigns like newsletters need consistent, predictable timing that aligns with your audience’s engagement patterns.

Recent Omnisend data reveals clear patterns for monthly email engagement, helping you optimize your sending schedule for maximum impact.

First, let’s look at open rates:

the best day of the month to send emails vs open rates

As you can see, two days stand out: the 10th (10.19%) and the 24th (10.18%). 

After that, the 3rd, 26th, and 27th bring in average open rates in the range of 10.12-10.13%. The 29th is the worst, at 9.91%.

Takeaway: Schedule emails for the 10th and 24th of each month to capture peak click rates above 10%, and avoid end-of-month sends around the 29th when engagement drops off.

Let’s look at the clickthrough rates by day of the month:

the best day of the month to send emails vs click rates

Here, both the 2nd and 26th have the highest average conversion rates of 14.33%, quickly followed by the 7th (14.3%) and 6th (14.24%). The worst days of the month are the 14th (13.64%) and the 12th (13.68%).

Takeaway: Plan your campaigns for the 2nd and 26th to achieve maximum clickthrough rates of 14.33%, with strong alternatives on the 6th and 7th.

Lastly, the average daily conversion rates:

the best day of the month to send emails vs conversion rate

Our data shows that conversion rates peak at the beginning of each month, with the 1st delivering the highest rate at 5.52%. The strong performance carries through to the end of the month, with the 30th showing similar engagement levels.

Monthly engagement hits its lowest point on the 23rd (4.81%), creating a noticeable mid-month dip. Customers’ activity begins trending upward again around the 20th as they approach their next pay period.

Takeaway: Schedule promotional emails at the beginning and end of each month to align with customer payment cycles when purchasing power and conversion readiness are at their peak.

What is the worst time to send emails?

  • Mondays consistently show the lowest clickthrough rates at 13.07%, making it the weakest day for email engagement
  • Mid-month sends around the 23rd have poor conversion rates, dropping to 4.81% 
  • Late-night emails sent between 7 PM and 7 AM generally show poor engagement and conversion rates, except for the 8 PM window
  • The 29th of each month shows the worst click rates at 9.91%, likely due to end-of-month financial constraints and general subscriber fatigue

5 key factors to focus on beyond the best time to send an email

Besides timing, there are other important things to consider if you want great results from your newsletter campaigns:

Clean up your contact list

While list building is crucial to long-term success in digital marketing, quality is more important than quantity.

Make sure you:

  • Review your contact list at least once every six months to remove any inactive subscribers
  • Don’t send messages to users who aren’t interested in your brand, as this can hurt your deliverability
  • Limit your newsletter to active subscribers to improve your sender reputation and help you prioritize customers who are more likely to convert

Optimize your email frequency

Along with email timing, frequency is another factor that can have a surprising impact on each campaign.

Sending more emails won’t necessarily lead to more orders. Instead, it may make customers ignore your messages or even unsubscribe.

On the other hand, sending campaigns too infrequently may cause you to miss out on important opportunities for engagement and sales. 

While once per week is a good starting point for most newsletters, the only way to optimize your email frequency is to test out different strategies over time.

Understand your target audience

Knowing your target audience is the most important thing in all of marketing. 

If you sell to customers in their 20s, you might not have any trouble generating interest in a 10 PM email. 

On the other hand, stay-at-home parents are more likely to open promotional emails during business hours compared to subscribers who are busy at work.

The perfect time for one of those groups is unlikely to be as convenient for the other.

Double-check your subject line

It’s easy to make subject lines afterthoughts for each campaign. 

The problem with this approach is that the subject line is your best chance to get customers to open the email. 

Consistent testing is the best way to ensure that you’re fully optimizing each message. Check out our guide to the top email subject lines if you’re looking for a little inspiration.

You can test your subject lines with our free subject line tester.

Leverage email automation

With marketing automation, you can configure emails to be sent at specific times and then focus on other tasks.

Keep in mind that automated emails can still be personalized in a variety of effective ways.

For example, you might trigger a cart abandonment reminder to send 24 hours after a user leaves your site. Include the customer’s name and unique product recommendations based on their browsing history.

Even though this email is “automatic,” it’s still highly relevant to each user’s behavior.

With this, you don’t have to worry about the best (manual) time. These messages go out based on your customers’ time (and actions). You can also consider combining emails with text messages and look at the best time to send them.

Wrap up

Your email campaigns will reach peak engagement on Tuesday evenings around 8 PM when your audience has settled in at home and is actively checking messages. 

Engagement rates surge to 59% during this prime window, significantly outperforming traditional sending times. The 2 PM lunch period offers another substantial opportunity.

There’s also an “early bird” opportunity: emails sent between 5 AM and 6 AM show high clickthrough rates due to minimal inbox competition. The same engagement spike occurs between 5 PM and 6 PM when people finish work.

Timing your promotional emails around paydays — the first and last days of each month — drives the highest conversion rates at 5.52%. 

However, avoid scheduling important campaigns on Mondays or the 23rd of each month, when engagement consistently dips to its lowest levels across all metrics.

Join Omnisend to send emails to your audience at the best times
Bernard Meyer
Article by

Bernard is the Sr. Director of Communications & Creative at Omnisend, with a passion for good research, helping ecommerce businesses with their marketing automation needs, and beating absolutely everyone in Mario Kart 64.


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