Is Friday the New Tuesday for Email Campaigns?

BY Kathy Crosett
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Email marketing continues to be an effective way for businesses to grow revenue. Consumer responses to these messages changed in the past year, prompting businesses to ask, “Is Friday the new Tuesday?” for this form of marketing.

Your clients may have increased their email marketing efforts in 2020. Traditional retail stores were forced to shift to digital operations as a result of the novel coronavirus outbreak. And one of the best ways to stay in touch with customers proved to be email. In the U.S., the average open rate was 17.60%. And the CTR rate was 2.60%.

Is Friday the New Tuesday?

Globally, consumer attention to email messages varied by date of the week. An analysis of email activity by Campaign Monitor shows that Fridays had the highest email open rates, 18.9%, compared to other days of the week. In addition, Fridays and Wednesdays were tied with the highest click-​to-​open rate, 14.5%. Fridays also proved to be the day consumers were ready to click all the way through to read an email: 2.7%.

CTR By Industry Vertical

Last year, the CTR rate varied significantly by industry vertical. The global benchmarks are as follows:

  • Government, politics 6.00%
  • Education 4.30%
  • Nonprofit 4.10%
  • Ag, forestry, fishing and hunting 4.00%
  • Health care services 3.70%
  • Real estate, design, construction 3.50%

Clearly, consumers paid attention to emails they received from political candidates during the especially contentious presidential election. Since many of us were locked down or practicing social distancing, we were looking for new pastimes. That tendency might explain the higher-​than- average interest in emails about education, hunting and fishing. In addition, research shows that homeowners stayed busy fixing up their properties as well last year. Clients that operate in these vertical may be able to increase revenue by continue to target consumers with well-​crafted email promotions.

Unsubscribe Rates

Analysts also tracked unsubscribe rates. The average U.S. unsubscribe rate is 0.1%. Some industries experienced a much higher rate last year. This includes wellness and fitness marketers (0.4%). Fitness marketers, and gyms in particular, were likely struggling with the best way to shift their messaging and programs from in-​person to online experiences. Over time, some of that messaging missed the mark and consumers unsubscribed. Your clients should strive to avoid this outcome. 

As the era of cookies fades, marketers will need proprietary client information in order to personalize their messages and promotions. Growing their database of customers gives them a leg up on the competition. You can help by pitching your email management and marketing services. 

With proper management, your client’s email marketing system can be tweaked to send messages to consumers who appreciate weekly promotions versus monthly outreach. There’s no substitute for developing the right subject line. This one detail makes all the difference when it comes to intriguing customers enough to open the message. Remember that the average person receives over 120 email messages a day. If your clients wants to attract attention, they must deliver a compelling subject line and content and an offer.

To learn more about which consumers respond best to email campaigns, check out AudienceSCAN from AdMall by SalesFuel.


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