One of the best ways to get to know the people who are most likely to buy what you make and offer is to create a newsletter. While this may sound old school, there are many good reasons to still send an online update like this.
One big reason is that you own it, and people are more likely to buy from your email than from your social media profiles.
In fact, Forbes says that 50% of people said they buy from a marketing email at least once a month. This shows that email campaigns are effective in driving regular sales.
It can sound like a big project to set up your email marketing and to nurture your email list on a regular basis. In my experience, it’s pretty achievable and not all that difficult to get up and running. Especially when the payoffs are so big.
Once you get your email list up and running, or if you’re thinking about all the things involved with it, you may run into this question…
What’s the Best Day of the Week to Send a Newsletter?
Just like art, this is subjective. Even with knowing that, there are some guidelines that you can think about when deciding when to send your newsletter.
What Do the Stats Say?
You may be able to look at data from within your email service provider to see when your emails are opened. This is usually a paid feature so if you’re like most artists and small business owners, you may be using the free account and not have access to this.
On my free Mailchimp account, it shows me just the first 24 hours so not a lot of data there to go on.
However, Mailchimp says that weekday mornings often see higher open rates overall. To me, this makes sense because the day hasn’t gotten away from the reader. And mornings are when they may be more focused on cleaning out their inbox.
They also say that the best time to send email newsletters is at 10AM in the recipients’ own time zone. You can set up your email service provider to send this way but you’ll likely have to pay for this feature.
Is it worth it to pay for this feature? It may not be if most of your audience is in a single time zone. Also, I’ve seen stats from other studies that differ from this statement.
So, ask yourself, is this true for my specific subscribers? For me personally, I like to send much earlier in the day, at like 7 am PT.
Who Are My People?
When are they most available to read an email? Is it during the quiet time of the morning, over coffee? Is it after they get off work or after dinner?
Look at who your readers are, especially your ideal buyer if you know who that is, and think about when might be the best time for them to receive and read an email.
Are they more likely to read an email during the weekend? Or perhaps during the week?
When you picture your email subscriber, when would you like them to read your email most?
When Do I Want to Respond?
You are always recommended to have a call to action (CTA) that asks people to do something with what they’ve just read. Pick the day that you’re available to, and want to, respond.
If you send on Saturday, you may get replies in response to that CTA also on Saturdays. Do you want to be working on Saturdays or do you want to be doing something more weekend-like?
This holds especially true if you’re having a sale where there may be questions or hiccups that arise with a payment link, etc. So schedule your emails for a day that you’re happy to reply to subscribers and troubleshoot any tech issues that may come up.
Bad-ish Days to Send Emails to Subscribers
For me and most of the artists I work with, there are times that aren’t best because people are fatigued or distracted. Here’s my short list:
Friday Afternoons
This time isn’t best because it’s often a race to the finish line kind of day at work. There are lots of Friday deadlines that people are hurrying to meet and there isn’t enough time to read non-work emails.
Also, people are ready to put their phones down and start the weekend. Often this means socializing and/or going out so they’re not reading their phones as much.
Mondays
People sit down to their emails often on Mondays as they head back into the work week and their inboxes are flooded with all the things that they need to catch up on. Co-workers and others have been sending emails all weekend that they have to take action with so your email may not get the attention it deserves.
Holidays
This one is tricky because some folks have time during the holidays, and some don’t. Maybe the day after a big holiday works fine for them but the day or two before isn’t a fit due to preparing.
Think about your specific audience of potential buyers. Will they have time during the holidays to read an email from you?
For example, one designer, who works primarily with a Jewish audience, let them know that she wouldn’t be available during the month of high holidays. She new her readers wouldn’t likely have much time that month either. So, she decided to re-send older emails for those on her list that might have more time during that holiday month.
She had her sale before the personally busy month. And, she took the pressure off of herself to create new content, and off of her readers, whom she knew would also be busy the entire month, by resending existing content.
When Not To Wait To Send Your Email Newsletter
There is no exact, perfect time to send your subscribers an email. So don’t wait. Especially if you’ve got something big that’s happening now. Send the email newsletter now, even if it falls outside of your usual “ideal” timing.
Examples could include:
You need to book that in person class or workshop
You’ve got a sale coming up
You forgot and need to remind your subscribers about the free event
If you’re wondering more about what to write in your newsletter to sell your art, head over to this article, What Should I Write In My Emails?, for inspiration.
The point is, do not let your “ideal” editorial calendar dates prevent you from sending your email if you just need to get it out.
Sent is better than too late, or not at all.
Generate Income By Sending An Email Newsletter
Setting up your email newsletter is a great way to make sales that will also make your creative business more sustainable. And, connecting with the people that are subscribers is really rewarding, too. They’re a community of your biggest fans!
If you’re looking to find your niche, build your mailing list, and want the perfect way to nurture them, let’s work together to make it happen. Schedule a free Artist Income Blueprint session with me here to learn more.