Email Marketing Campaign Benchmarks for 2025: What Time of Day Should You Send Emails?

Email marketing continues to be one of the highest-ROI digital channels, but success in 2025 isn’t just about catchy subject lines and flashy designs. It's about timing, specifically, knowing when to land in your audience’s inbox.

The right timing can mean the difference between a conversion and the trash folder. With evolving consumer behavior, hybrid work schedules, and AI-driven inbox prioritization, the benchmarks for email marketing success are shifting.

In this blog, we’ll explore:

• The best times to send marketing emails in 2025

• Email performance benchmarks across industries

• How personalization and segmentation impact timing

• Emerging trends that marketers need to watch

• Tools to help you optimize your campaigns (including Deco.ai)

Why Email Timing Still Matters in 2025

Despite automation, machine learning, and hyper-personalized campaigns, timing significantly influences engagement rates. Why? Because most people check emails at predictable times, even if inboxes are smarter, habits remain human.

According to recent studies by Litmus, HubSpot, and Campaign Monitor:

• 21% of emails are opened within the first hour of delivery.

• Timing correlates with open rates, but it also affects click-through rates and conversion intent.

Best Times of Day to Send Emails (2025 Data)

1. Early Morning (6 AM - 9 AM)
People tend to check their inboxes first thing in the morning, especially professionals starting their workday.

• Best for: Newsletters, daily updates, B2B content

• Open rates: 18–25%

• CTR: Moderate

• Best days: Tuesday, Thursday

2. Mid-Morning (10 AM - 12 PM)
This window performs well for product promotions or event invitations. Users have settled into their day but aren’t yet overwhelmed.

• Best for: Product announcements, e-commerce offers

• Open rates: 22–28%

• CTR: High

3. Afternoon (1 PM - 3 PM)
Afternoons are mixed. Many people check emails during lunch or in breaks between meetings.

• Best for: B2C engagement emails, reminders, flash sales

• Open rates: 16–20%

• CTR: Lower than morning slots

4. Evening (5 PM - 8 PM)
People often catch up on personal emails in the evening. This can be an excellent time for content-heavy or emotional storytelling.

• Best for: Nonprofits, newsletters, long-form editorial emails

• Open rates: 20–26%

• CTR: Depends on the audience

5. Night (9 PM onwards)
This time is generally less effective. Most people are winding down or switching off devices.

• Best for: Niche audiences or global campaigns

• Open rates: 10–15%

• CTR: Very low

Factors That Influence Ideal Send Time

1. Audience Demographics
Younger audiences (18–30) are more active in the evening, while professionals aged 30–50 are more responsive in the morning.

2. Device Usage
More than 55% of emails are opened on mobile. Mobile users check email at different times than desktop users—often earlier in the day or late at night.

3. Time Zones
For national or global campaigns, segmenting by time zone is essential. What’s 10 AM in Delhi is 6:30 AM in Berlin.

4. Email Type

• Newsletters: Morning works best

• Promotions: Mid-morning to early afternoon

• Reminders/Events: Day before or morning of, around 9–10 AM

• Long-form content: Evenings or weekends for better dwell time

Email Marketing Trends to Watch in 2025

• AI-Powered Send-Time Optimization: Tools like Mailchimp and HubSpot now use machine learning to determine optimal send times for each contact.

• Hyper-Segmentation: Sending based on micro-segments like behavior, past open times, and timezone is more impactful than one-size-fits-all timing.

• Interactive Emails: Emails that act like mini web apps (polls, carousels, forms) are seeing higher engagement but need precise timing to be effective.

• Dark Mode & Accessibility: Optimizing for all devices and display modes is no longer optional—ensure your emails are legible at any time of day.

• Privacy-First Metrics: Open rate accuracy has declined due to Apple Mail privacy updates, so CTR and conversion metrics are now more reliable indicators.

How to Find Your Best Time to Send

While benchmarks help, your audience data is gold. Here’s how to uncover your sweet spot:

• A/B Test Send Times: Vary timing across segments and track which performs better.

• Track Engagement Windows: Analyze when users open and click, and group by behavioral patterns.

• Use Tools: Platforms like Deco uses analytics to create email content for you and even analyze past performance.

• Monitor Competitor Timing: Subscribe to their emails and see when they land. It's not to copy, but to understand the rhythm of your industry.

Tools Like Deco Can Take the Guesswork Out

As email competition intensifies in 2025, timing remains one of your most powerful levers. But manually tracking performance, segmenting by time zones, and optimizing across devices is no easy feat.

That’s where smart tools like Deco step in. With features like send-time intelligence, audience insights, and performance benchmarking, Deco helps real estate marketers, e-commerce businesses, and growth teams deliver the right message at the right moment consistently.

Because in email marketing, being good isn’t enough. You have to be timely.