Just the other day, I read and wrote about the importance of timing in social media marketing. I learned how significant of an impact that timing can actually make in marketing, and was surprised by the results of the report. However, timing is not only important in social media, but it is also important in many other types of marketing, such as email. Timing in email marketing is just as important as it is in social media marketing, and it allows marketers to target specific email users based on their activity, without having messages trampled by the constant stream of messages in consumer inboxes. The right timing in email marketing could even help to boost certain brand goals.

This is all according to a study that StrongMail, an email and cross-channel marketing solutions company, conducted in September. In the results that were reported by eMarketer,  US consumers told StrongMail that if marketers were able to make sure that certain emails arrived into their inboxes at specific times, engagement would increase as well as marketers’ ability to offer certain types of promotions that heavily depend on the timing of their arrival. In a graph, eMarketer details some of the numbers from the study.

In a survey of marketing professionals in the US, asking what the main benefits of having promotional emails arrive during a set delivery window were, 54.6% of respondents felt that the most important benefit was increased engagement. After that, 52.4% said that the main benefit was the ability to run more time-sensitive promotions, as were mentioned earlier. 33.2% even said that a set timing window increased their revenues, and 25.3% said that it has improved their customer service. As one could imagine, the right timing could increase marketers’ competitive advantages, and 23% of respondents said that this was a main benefit. Only 9% said that timing had no benefit in email marketing.

Email marketing that is based on timing includes things like transactional or triggered emails, like those sent after a cart is closed out of or when an order is complete. Timing is in fact of great importance, in that if the timing on these marketing techniques is wrong, then they will most likely end up making no sense to the consumer. When marketing professionals were asked what their timing goals were for these timing-based emails were, 27.2% leaned toward 15 seconds to a minute after the triggering action. However, 19.9% said that over 15 minutes was a reasonable timing goal for their email marketing techniques.

Of course, all marketers are different, and they each have their own tactics in creating success. But there is no doubt that timing plays a major role in most marketing campaigns, especially in the digital marketing world. Digital marketers are reaching people on the internet, where there are no rules or set schedules, so it is obviously going to be harder to consider timing online. However, if you are able to consider timing in your marketing actions, then the results will most likely take a turn for the better.

Written by Michael Levanduski

Michael Levanduski is a news reporter at Performance Marketing Insider. He’s been a writer at one level or another for the past 15+ years. He has three kids and lives in Grand Rapids, MI.

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