Sunday emails are the most likely to get read, says new research

Published by Fast Company July 30, 2023

If you want to send an email to a work colleague and guarantee it’s going to be opened, your best bet might be to send it on Sunday afternoon, according to new research from Axios HQ, the communications software company that spun off of Axios.

• It analyzed the performance of 8.7 million email deliveries sent through its platform and found that company emails sent from 3 to 6 p.m. on Sunday had the highest average open rate: 94%. (The next highest was Sunday from 6 to 9 p.m., with an open rate of 86%.)

Overall, Sunday and Monday were the best days to get your emails read by coworkers, with an average open rate of 54%. That dips down to 52% on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, then falls on Thursdays and Fridays (to 47% and 49% respectively), before hitting a low of 31% on Saturdays.

• In general, open rates were also much higher from 3 to 6 a.m. during the workweek (70%) than they were in the afternoon and evening. 

The bottom line: Axios HQ suggests that Sundays are a good time to correspond, in part, because you don’t have as much competition in someone’s inbox. 

Read the full article on Fast Company →

See more coverage from other media outlets

• The Guardian: Sunday at 3pm: why the best time to send an email is also the worst time to send an email
• Yahoo.com: This is the best time to email your co-workers, according to research
• Fortune: Sunday at 3 p.m.: Why this is both the best and worst time to send a work email
• The Independent: This is the best time to email your co-workers, according to research
• The Times: Best time to send an email revealed — but your colleagues won’t like it
• Business Insider: The best time to send an email is Sunday at 3:00 p.m, a survey found, but experts warn this could be a form of 'techno-invasion'
• Nasdaq: Want Your Email to Be Read? Send It on Sunday
• Quartz: There’s new advice on the best time to send an email, and good managers should completely ignore
• The Daily Mail: Best time to send an email... but it may wind up your colleagues: Up to 94% of messages sent between 3pm and 6pm on a SUNDAY were opened, research reveals
• The National News: When is the best time to send a work email?
• Elite Agent: The best times of day to get your email read