Which Day Of The Week Is Best To Send Out Direct Mail? | Taradel

The day of the week that you send out your direct mail can make a big difference to how successful your marketing campaign is. To make sure you are getting the most bang for your buck, it is important to understand the best day to send direct mail for your particular business. 

After years of experience in the direct mail industry, we have found that there are certain days of the week that produce better results than others. In this blog post, we will share with you which days are best and which days are better to avoid for sending out direct mail as well as the reasons why. With that information on board, you will be set to make as much of a success as possible from your direct mail marketing campaigns.

The Best Day of the Week to Send Out Direct Mail

Tuesday is often cited as the best day for audiences to receive direct mail campaigns and the day which makes them most likely to respond. The general thinking behind this is that with the doom and gloom of Monday over, and the relaxation of the weekend in the distant future, people will be more willing and able to respond to new information and offers.

Whatever days you decide to test out, it’s important to factor in how long it will take for the mail to arrive. Try to make sure this is something you can accurately predict because it can make a huge difference!

The Worst Day of the Week to Send Out Direct Mail

Monday is often seen as one of the worst days for existing or potential customers to receive direct mail. This is because people who are just getting stuck into their work week may be more tired than usual when returning from their daily responsibilities and errands.

Businesses that market to other businesses may be less affected by this than those that market to consumers. 

The Case for Mid-Week - Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Apart from the reasons in favor of Tuesday already discussed, Wednesday can also be a good day to aim for your audience to be receiving mail from your direct mail campaign.

People are often more receptive to marketing messages in the middle of the week, as they are not yet tired from work and they still have a few days left until the weekend. Additionally, Wednesday is typically not as busy as other days of the week, so your message is more likely to stand out.

Thursday is often seen as the most productive day of the week. Many people use Thursdays to get a jump start on the weekend, which means they’re more likely to be in a good mood and open to new things.

Plus, studies have shown that people are more likely to make impulse purchases on Thursdays than on any other day of the week. So if you’re selling something that would make a great last-minute gift, Thursday could be a perfect day to aim for.

The Case for Friday

Unfortunately, the case for Friday is not so strong. People are ready for the weekend, ready to relax, and not necessarily open to thinking too much about products, deals, and discounts.

Results in terms of response rates can vary greatly between businesses, though, so if you think your audience might be open to it, we would encourage you to still give it a try.

The Case for the Weekend

Along with Mondays, the weekend is usually regarded as the worst time for potential new customers to receive advertising. There is a much greater risk of your mail getting tossed into a pile to deal with on Monday and then enthusiasm waning significantly by the time it comes to it.

This can reduce the time that customers have to respond to your latest offers or discounts if they are designed in a time-limited fashion. Weekends are also unpredictable, so may lead to less reliable results in terms of response rates and ROI.

Although mail usually cannot be sent on the weekend, a lot of postal companies still deliver on Saturdays and sometimes even Sundays. It’s usually a good idea to try and avoid this. The same goes for Bank Holidays when people tend to be trying to relax and unwind.

The Best Time of Year for a Direct Mail Campaign

In terms of getting the most ROI, it’s important to remember that certain times of the year are better than others when it comes to making sure people will actually pick up and open your mail.

For example, summer is often a good time for direct mail campaigns because people are home more frequently and have time to sort through their mail. The holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's) are also generally good times for direct mail campaigns as people are also home more frequently and have downtime where they can look through their mail. This is also when people tend to spend the most money throughout the year. For the same reasons, January and February may be less ideal.

How to Measure Response Rates

The best day to send out your direct mail or to aim for your customers to receive it will vary from business to business. It might be worthwhile doing your very own tests with different days of the week to see which day seems most effective and profitable for your specific business or offer. There are a few key things to keep in mind when measuring response rates for direct mail campaigns:

• The first is to track how many people open and read your mail piece. This can be done by including a unique code or offer that recipients must use to redeem their discount or prize.
• Secondly, you'll want to measure how many people take action as a result of receiving your direct mail. This could be visiting your website, calling your business, or making a purchase.
• Finally, it's important to calculate your return on investment (ROI) from each direct mail campaign. To do this, simply divide the total cost of your direct mail campaign by the number of new customers or sales generated.

By tracking these key metrics, you'll be able to determine which day of the week is most effective for sending out direct mail to your particular business and customer base. Remember, results can also vary between direct mail marketing efforts from the same business.

Conclusion

We think that for most businesses, aiming for your audience to receive your direct mail around the middle of the week is best. By this point people have got over their Monday blues, are ready to get stuck into new information, and are not yet thinking about the weekend.

Mondays tend to be too busy and dull to allow for much response to mail, and your mail arriving at the weekend gives it too much chance of getting earmarked to be read on Monday and then getting lost forever in a pile of other mail!

Using these guidelines as an entry point, you can do further testing of your own direct mail marketing campaign by tracking relative response rates to your campaign and the ROI you get from different days of the week. The sweet spot for each business to send direct mail will be different, so it pays to find out.