What's the Best Day of the Month to Send a Newsletter?


Wouldn't it be great if I had a magic bullet for you? The thing is, if I did, everyone else would be sending their newsletter on that day and it would no longer be magic. What I can do instead is give you some suggestions to help narrow it down.

Is your schedule dependent on others?

For example, if you're a real estate professional, you'll want to send your newsletter after mortgage rates have been adjusted so you can include that information. If you plan to curate content from certain bloggers, and they all post in the middle of the month, you don't want to plan your newsletter for the first week. Think about what, if any, information in your newsletter is dependent on others and plan around it.

Send when your contacts are using their email.

This means that if your contacts are opening your newsletter at work, you want it to arrive during a workday. And you typically don't want this to be right after a weekend or holiday when clearing out the inbox is a priority. So mid to late morning on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday is your best bet.

If your contacts are consumers, reading email on their phones or at home, it's harder to pin down a "best" day or time. You can experiment and you can also ask your contacts.

Don't pick a date, pick a day.

The day of the week is more important than the day of the month. Consider all the people who commit to sending a newsletter on the first of every month. What do you think their open rate is like on July 1st (in Canada)? Select something like the second Thursday each month, or the third Wednesday.

If individual consumers are your target market, you would send earlier in the week if you sell commodities, and on payday or right after if you sell luxury items.

Be consistent.

Once you settle on your schedule, stick to it. If you let it slide to the last day of the month, you'll be competing for attention with everyone else who did the same thing.

When you schedule the recurring item in your calendar to send out your newsletter, also back up 2-3 days and schedule your newsletter prep time. Prepping and sending at the last minute is a recipe for mistakes.

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