Amy's thoughts
When is the best time to send a PR email?
Although the vast majority of successful PR pitches will be conducted over the phone, the humble PR email does (and always will have) it’s place in the industry.
There will always be those times where your contact is in meetings all day, or just doesn’t make their phone details available to PR professionals.
A recent study by email software provider GetResponse studied email open rates and click through numbers in an attempt to define exactly what time is the best time of day to send an email pitch.
GetResponse analysed more than 21 million emails sent by its clients during the first quarter of 2012. Among the findings:
• 23.63 per cent of all emails are opened within the first hour. That number drops off as the hours go by
• Most emails are sent from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m.
• The hours that see the most click-throughs are 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., and 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.
• The hours that see the most opens are 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., and 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.
The best time to send an email pitch is when your contact is likely to be reviewing their inbox. An email sent too early on in the day may be missed or simply deleted amidst all other junk mail to clear space.
Emails reach their best results in the first hour of receipt. Within the second hour, the results drop by half, and within the third hour the results drop by another 30 per cent. 5 hours after delivery, the results drop more than 90 per cent.
You can infer from this that the best time to send an email pitch is either early morning, or mid-afternoon, to maximise the potential of it being opened.
