When you send out an email, what do you test?

(Do you test anything?)

Just like sales pages and squeeze pages, emails need to be split tested to ensure that you are making the most money with each email that you send.

Some of things that you can test include the subject line, the message content, personalization, and even how the links look.

However, one thing that is often left out of testing is the time the email is sent.

When is the best time to send out an email?

A long long time ago I had heard that the best time to send an email was 8am. I adopted this idea and have had above average results with open-rates and click-through rates.

Then I attended the Big Seminar 8 back in October and heard Matt Bacak speak, and he said the following:

“By the way, the best time to send out your emails is on Tuesday and Thursday at 1pm.”

He claimed to have tested it out with his list and found that this time works best.

I thought to myself: “Well, if multi-millionaire Matt Bacak tested this out and found that it works, maybe I should give it a try!”

And so I did.

The results?

Well, let’s just say that I will rarely send out email on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

My open-rates have increased (even more) and my click-through rates have done even better.

But there is still one more question:

When is the best time for YOU to send out an email.

You see, Matt Bacak and I cater to the same market, so it would stand to reason that our test results would be the same.

But what if your market is something completely different? Would the times still hold then?

And if they don’t, how do you find the best time to send out an email?

Actually, the answer is simple:

TEST IT!

Sorry for yelling that last line, but it really is the answer to most questions.

What is the best headline? Test it!

What is the best font? Test it!

And so on…

However, this begs one more question:

How do I split test email send times?

Here is a step-by-step walk-through using Aweber (the absolute best auto-responder in the whole entire world):

Step 1: Go to Messages -> Broadcast.

Step 2: Click the button that says “Create Split Test Broadcast”

Step 3: Choose the percentage divide for your list. (e.g. 50% and 50%)

The percentages should be equal (e.g. 25-25-25-25 or 33-33-34 or 50-50). However, what percentages you choose depends on your list size.

If your list is 2000 or less, you should choose 50-50. If you have between 2000 and 5000, choose 33-33-34. If you have a list of 5000+, then choose 25-25-25-25.

The more you can divide up your list, the more times you can test.

Step 4: Create identical messages (same subject line and body text).

Step 5: Set up click tracking and message open tracking.

Step 6: Use different times for each email group.

Try testing out the following times: 8am, 9am, 10am, 12pm, 1pm, 4pm, 5pm, 8pm. (Time zones are usually in EST, but I’ll talk more about this in a moment). Make sure they are all on the same day.

If you want to test different days then use the same time for each day.

Queue all the emails to be sent out, and then sit back and wait for them to send.

Step 7: Check the stats at least 24 hours after all messages have been sent.

This process should help you to zero in on the best times to send out email to your list(s).

To your success!

Matthew Glanfield

P.S. Post your comments on what you think!