• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, September 16, 2024

Salespeople and B2B marketers both want to avoid Out of Office (OOO) messages. 

The best time of year for doing that is mid-January to March, according to analysis by ZoomInfo. The OOO rate in those months is 1.8%, and is the second week of January is even lower: 1.1%, compared to an overall yearly average of 2.7%.

The autumn is also not bad—the period from mid-September to mid-November produces an OOO rate of 2.4%.

But there are times when the rate spikes. It should come as no surprise that Christmas week is the worst time, with a 6.8% rate. 

The second-worst rate is seen during Fourth of July week: 4.1%. And the June-August period suffers from a 3% rate. 

Of course, it depends on the nature of the message — follow-ups sent by salespeople may have more urgency than email marketing blasts, regardless of the time frame. 

The study is based on an analysis of millions of emails sent by ZoomInfo’s employees in 2023. One wonders if there are times during an election year when the rate may rise — say, on Election Day. 

The company cites Forbes statistics showing that 77% of B2B buyers say email is their preferred form of contact.

But they don’t want messages every day of the year.