The Best Days and Times to Send Your Emails For Maximum Conversions

Hey it’s Max from The Inbox Newsletter.

You’ve got the perfect subject line, clean design, killer copy.

So why are your emails still underperforming?

It could be because the when is just as important as the what.

Key Takeaways:

• Midday (11am–2pm) tends to perform best for emails—people are more available and less distracted.

• Early morning inboxes are cluttered and make it harder for your email to stand out.

• Night emails can get high phone opens but low next-day action—bad for conversions.

• Day of the week doesn’t matter as much—test and learn what works for your audience.

• SMS performs best in the evening when people are relaxing and ready to take action fast.

Why Midday Emails Win

There’s a reason the 11am–2pm window is the gold standard for email sends.

This is when people have settled into their day, cleared the morning rush, and are more likely to check in on their inbox, especially during lunch breaks.

You catch them when they’re not overwhelmed, not distracted, and still have time in the day to take action.

We’ve run enough sends across brands to see that mid-day tends to get the best engagement (and more importantly, conversions).

The Problem with Morning Sends

Most people wake up to an avalanche of emails. If yours isn’t top 3 in their inbox, it’s probably getting archived or buried by 9am.

Even if open rates seem decent, morning sends often have lower click and conversion rates because people are in hustle mode with work, not shopping mode.

Late Night Sends: Not Enough Time

At night, people are scrolling on their phones. Maybe, you’ll get opens. But what happens after that?

They read, they think “oh I’ll check this out later,” and then… they don’t. The next morning your email’s already old news, pushed down by 50 other unread messages.

So even if open rates spike, the follow-through usually doesn’t.

Also, if you send an email at 6pm you only have 3-4 hours for people to potentially open that email before going to bed (people rarely look at marketing emails the next day).

If you send at 12pm you have 9-10 hours for people to check their email and see your message.

Day of the Week? Less Important Than You Think

We get asked this a lot: What’s the best day to send?

Truth is, it barely matters. Send Monday, Tuesday, or Friday. There’s no silver bullet.

What matters more is your consistency and testing.

You should be sending emails 3-4 times per week, and if you’re sending at that volume the exact says won’t matter all that much.

Every brand has different behavior patterns. Test different days and times, track your numbers, and double down on what works.

What About SMS Timing?

Now, SMS is a different beast.

Unlike email, which people dip into throughout the day, SMS gets read immediately.

That makes evening the prime time.

People are home, relaxing, phone in hand. T

hat’s when you want to hit them with a quick, urgent text—especially for flash sales, last-chance reminders, or product drops.

Late afternoon to evening (5pm–8pm) is the SMS sweet spot.

You’ll catch them when they’re most likely to take action now.

Final Thought

Timing won’t save a bad email lol

Focus on content first and making sure customers actually want to see your emails… only then can you worry about timing.

Email Inspiration Of The Day

Brand:
Duck Camp

Email Design:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16PMlieQNci0zTe25Jmx7_LM7E8BBZEGI/view?usp=sharing

Notes:
Great great job here with using minimal copy but creating a banger email.

Template of The Day

If you want access to a bank of 134 mix and match templates like this equating to over 5,000+ possible email designs, click here » 

Helpful Links Of The Day

• Watch me design a GymShark email

• List growth tips

• Crazy A/B test ran for a client

Reply to this email if you have any questions or further content you want covered.

Cheers,

Max

PS - If you run an ecommerce brand above $50k/mo and you want to have a free email strategy consultation with me, book a call here »

PPS - I have a few different products you can buy. If you purchase any one of these products you get access to my private community of 850+ members with daily posts from me, access to me for support 24/7, and private calls.

• Ecommerce Email Mastery: A 60 lesson course breaking down everything you need to know about ecommerce email marketing in the most concise and organized manner. learn more »

• Mix and Match Email Design Templates: 134 email section templates that can make 5,000+ unique email designs with, learn more »

• QuickFlow Templates: All core 7 core email marketing flows fully templatized with examples, learn more »