When’s the best time to email teachers?
Timing is important when it comes to email marketing, especially when running campaigns to busy teachers and education staff.
You want to make sure your email lands in their inboxes when they’ve got a spare few minutes to read and digest your campaign, but also when they’re most receptive to hearing about your services (e.g. when they’ve got new budgets to spend).
To help you optimise your campaign scheduling and discover the best time to email teachers, we chatted to over 200 teachers and education staff about their email preferences. We also carried out a comprehensive campaign analysis of the emails we send to schools on behalf of our clients. Our talented data experts looked at everything from send dates, send times, wording and more to get all the latest insights.
Ready to expand your knowledge? Let’s take a look.
The best time to email teachers
Myth:
Teachers only work from 9am to 3:30pm.
Fact:
We know that teachers check their emails before, during and after school as well as in the evenings.
Our client campaign analysis revealed that the following times are great for overall engagement rates:
- 7am – 8am
- 10am – 11am
- 1pm – 2pm
We recommend aiming for your campaign to land in teachers’ inboxes before school starts, at break time or a lunch time.
But other times do also have their unique advantages too. It’s possible to achieve great engagement rates whatever time you send your campaign. We asked teachers when they check their school email account and here’s what we found:
- 93% of the teachers we asked said before school starts.
- 53% use their break time to read and catch up on emails.
- 67% check their emails at lunch time.
- 77% said after school.
- 54% read emails in the evening.
Buzz’s Top Tip:
Trial a few different times to see what works best for your brand.
The best day to email teachers
Each day of the week has its own advantages, but we currently find that Tuesdays achieve the best overall engagement rates. See the different weekday perks below:
- Monday – Great average click rates.
- Tuesday – Highest overall engagement rates.
- Wednesday – Great open rates.
- Thursday – High click rates.
- Friday – Great overall engagement rates.
It’s important to remember that the best days and times do fluctuate. Engagement rates can vary depending on the time of year, the message you’re sending and the decision makers you’re targeting. We keep a close eye on the latest trends throughout the year so your campaign strategist will let you know the optimum time and day to send your campaign.
The best month to email teachers
September and October achieve the best overall engagement rates but we advise clients to market to schools all year round as each month has its own unique opportunities. Plus, long-term marketing is a great way to build brand awareness, secure strong relationships with education staff and close sales leads.
Here’s how the engagement rates vary throughout the year:
January, February, March – Amazing overall engagement rates.
- Schools use the first few months of the year to create spending plans and plan their budgets ready for the new financial year. In fact, 80% of schools start planning for the new budget at least 3 months in advance.
April, May, June – Brilliant open rates and click through rates.
- It’s the start of the new financial year in April so teachers use these months to start spending their new budgets.
- 65% of teachers start planning for the next academic year as easily as June so now is a great time to raise your brand awareness.
July, August – Consistently good click through rates.
- Teachers spend July and August preparing for the start of the new academic year and looking into any products or services they might need for September.
- 71% of teachers have started planning their lessons and preparing resources for the new academic year by July.
September, October – Best engagement rates.
- September marks the start of the new academic year but also the start of the new financial year for academy schools. Teachers are making plans for the year ahead and open to hearing about products and services that might benefit their students.
- 70% of schools do most of their spending between September and December.
November, December – High open rates.
- Schools are spending budgets and getting set for the spring term.
Myth:
Teachers don’t work during the school holidays.
Fact:
We know that 72% of teachers and education staff check their emails either every day, every few days or every week in the school holidays. And 64% of teachers who haven’t started planning before July will do it in the summer holidays.
Your next marketing steps
Now that you’ve learnt about the best time to email teachers, it’s time to think about your campaign content.
Subject lines, preview text, headers, call to action buttons – these are all the things you need to consider when crafting your campaign.
Remember, teachers are busy people, so you want to make sure your email catches their attention with compelling copy they can’t resist.
You can discover more helpful insights in our Email Marketing Top Trends. We spill the latest on what to include in your email marketing campaigns plus lots of handy hints.
Is it marketing o’clock?
Now you’ve discovered the best time to email teachers, contact us at info@buzz-education.com or give us a call on 01257 460036 to start planning your marketing campaigns today.
Our talented team of campaign strategists, creative copywriters and digital designers are on hand to help you create an impactful, lead-generating campaign that connects you with 1,000s of education staff.
