Q: Resorts send more emails at the beginning of the hour, but does that hurt performance?

Last week we found that resort send volume during the first 5 minutes of the hour is about 3.5x higher than any other 5-minute stretch. But does this increase in volume hurt performance and create an opportunity for marketers to send later in the hour? That was our question. Here’s our answer.

The Goods
To find our answer we used the exact same sample of emails from the volume analysis. We again grouped them by their send times in five-minute intervals (X:00-X:04, X:05-X:09, etc.) and found the average open rate for each group.

Of the 12 intervals we looked at, the lowest two points in terms of open rate were also the highest two points in terms of send volume. There are a few ups and downs after that, but the average stays consistently above the early parts of the hour.

What This Means
Before you start sending every campaign at X:55, pay close attention to the chart’s scale. To show more detail, the range only spans 16.0% – 17.2%. In other words, the span between the lowest and highest points was almost exactly 1.0 percentage-point or 6.0% overall.

So, yes, the increase in volume at the start of the hour may impact open rates. And, yes, emails sent later did perform better. But if you start sending at later times, make sure your expectations match the scale. You may see a difference, but it will likely be a small one.

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