It is a question that every business has to consider, but what is the answer? According to the Ezine Editors and Publishers Association, NEPA, over the last three years companies have sent their Ezines and email marketing pieces on three main days of the week; Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Tuesday was the most popular day of the week with 23.6% and Wednesday came in second with 22.7%.
What does this mean for your business?
Should you go against the grain and send your ezine out on a Monday or Friday? Probably not, but consider your clientele first. Business to business Ezines traditionally do not fare well on Monday because it is the primary meeting day for most executives and decision makers and Friday is ineffective because many people are simply on their way out the door.
If on the other hand, you"re marketing to consumers, then a Friday ezine has the potential to be effective because your readers would have the weekend to consider your information and offers.
Bottom line when considering the day of the week that your ezine goes out, consider your specific market and customers. If your clients tend to purchase on Thursdays, then test sending your Ezine to them a day or two before. It may prove to be the key to up selling or increasing sales on that day.
Time of the day is also an important consideration to sales. Generally, for mailing to business recipients 11am to 3 pm tends to be the most receptive time. An ezine received first thing in the morning may risk being deleted or over looked during the first morning rush and emails received at the end of the day are often ignored or put off until another day.
If, on the other hand, your know that your clients tend to put in full days and you know they eat lunch at their desks or they often conduct lunch meetings, than a ezine received right before lunch may have a good chance of being opened almost immediately.
Depending on the frequency of your ezine, you may also want to consider what day of the month you send your ezine on. If your prospects and clients tend to make purchases at the end of the month, then a ezine received mid month is likely right on target to assist them with their buying decision. Also be aware that your customer"s budget and budget constraints can impact not only their buying decision but ultimately their decision to open your email.
One last factor to consider is your competition.
When do they send their ezines? Do you want your ezine to be in your prospect"s in-box with your competitors or is it better to stand out from the crowd? That may be determined by your product and the volume of purchases. If you"re marketing a high end augmented product, you might want to consider beating your competitors to the punch. If however, you"re marketing a consumer good or service, then frequency of your message may be more important than standing alone in their in-box.
Patience, persistence, and testing are the keys to finding the best schedule for your ezine and optimal ROI.
Busy decision makers are generally focused on a handful of priorities at any given time and an unopened Ezine may not be indicative of anything more than the fact that your prospect was too busy to open it. Continue to send your ezines, testing times, days of the week and even days of the month.
By testing not only your click through rates but determining who within each company is opening your ezine and when, you can modify your ezine schedule to impact your sales in the most optimal way.
Timing is everything, right?
When making a major buying decision it certainly is. Contacting your clients and prospects with your ezine at the optimal time in their decision-making process is tricky at best, particularly when it comes to marketing high-end, augmented products.
Variables to Consider:
How many decision-makers must decide to purchase your product? Coordinating all of the decision-makers to make a purchase is a feat in and of itself, but if all of the executives involved are receiving your ezine then you"re a step ahead of the game.
Are all the decision-makers aware of your products or services? Make sure that your ezine is getting into the mailboxes of the key people involved in purchasing, if they"re not, involve your sales force in updating your mailing list so that you"re getting into the hands of the decision-makers each month.
Where is your ezine in the company"s business cycle? Budgets generally run on a cycle, annual, quarterly etc. Your ezine isn"t going to hit the right time during the budget cycle every time. If you are able to factor budget cycles into your distribution schedule then that is a bonus (but it isn"t often a possibility).
What are your prospects" priorities? Let"s face it, everyone is busy and the simple fact of the matter is that your product or service may not be a priority to your prospect right now.
What you can do:
Patience. No, we"re not suggesting that you merely sit back and wait for a sale. However, once you"ve assessed all of the contributing variables, patience (combined with persistence and good tracking) will prove beneficial.
Persistence. Continuing to send out a quality ezine at regular and predictable intervals will pay off. Assuming that your ezine is reaching the executives required to make the purchasing decision, variables like budget and the buyer"s priorities will change. Just make sure that you"re there when they do.
Tracking. Perhaps the most important step that you can take is to carefully track your results. With the right ezine system you can track when your ezine is opened, who reads it, when they read it and what they read. This information will enable your business to not only optimize the information that you place in your ezine but also optimize when you send it for the best and most profitable results.
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