• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, September 7, 2018

Email volume peaked on Labor Day but fell off during the weekend leading into the holiday compared to that of 2017, SendGrid reports. And the response rate fell.  

There were 4.3% fewer opens, 1.2% fewer clicks and 2.1 fewer delivered events than on prior normal weekends. And Labor Day emails pulled 4.4% fewer mobile opens than on regular Mondays.

The lesson from this? Don’t wait until the last minute.

“Don't procrastinate,” advises Len Shneyder, VP of industry relations at SendGrid. “Start sending holiday messages early.”

For one thing, emailing early in the week “allows recipients more chances to engage and re-engage with your messaging,” Shneyder says. 

He adds that in 2017, aggregate engagement for Labor Day-themed email spiked 10 days before the holiday, and most importantly, it sustained at an engaging level all the way until the weekend where we see engagement rates fall.” 

Here’s another reason for mailing early: “There is significantly less holiday mail the more in advance you send,”  Shneyder says. “Send the mail within an intuitive window where your recipients understand the holiday is coming and your messages hopefully stand out in a less ‘Holiday Crowded’ inbox.”

Another source, email expert Ryan Phelan, advises marketers to “take a step back and look at their holiday strategy” -- whatever the occasion. “Tactically, everyone’s going to oversend — it will be discount, discount. That’s not wrong, but there’s always a crush for making your number. What are the intelligent ways of increasing revenue that do not depend on sending more email?” 

Among those are sending messages to attrited or inactive customers, Phelan adds.

Shneyder advises brands to “be creative with your subject lines and content. Try ‘Celebrate your weekend little sooner with these Labor Day Deals.’

Why? “Most everyone is looking forward to the long weekend — target your messaging around it,” he says.

Sending too early may bury your messages beneath other senders and other messages,” Shneyder continues. “Peak engagement hours are consistent with normal weekends.”

How so? “Most people aren't waking up at 6 am checking their email before and at work on the weekends. Engagement begins climbing around 9 or 10 am MST peaking between 2 and 3 pm.”

As for Labor Day itself, “engagement is different than normal Mondays,” says Shneyder. “Engagement on Labor Day itself also behaves like a weekend, peaking in the early afternoon.”

He continues: “It makes sense that it would since a lot people are off of work. If your messages are automated and sending at a usual early morning Monday scheduled time, you may be missing an opportunity to tune your delivery to when your recipients are in their inbox.”

Finally, keep time zones in mind. “Knowing a recipient's time zone can help optimize timing and better yet, knowing what time of day a specific recipient engages based on historic engagement will do the best for your delivery optimization,” Shneyder concludes.