When’s the best time to email teachers?
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Timing is everything when it comes to emailing busy teachers and education staff.
If you’re striving to get your campaigns in front of teachers, you need to capture their attention at the right moment (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 hundreds of 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.
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.
Teachers have specific windows when they have time to read through your email. Understanding these windows is key to making sure your emails land at a time when they’re most receptive.
Our client campaign analysis revealed that the following times are great for overall engagement rates:
- 7am – 8am
- 12pm – 1pm
- 3pm – 4pm
We recommend aiming for your campaign to land in teachers’ inboxes before school starts, at break time or a lunch time.
It’s also possible to achieve great engagement rates at other times too. The team at Buzz asked teachers when they were most receptive to emails – 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:
Send your emails at different
times to identify the campaign slot that generates the most leads for your
organisation.
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The best day to email teachers
We know that each weekday offers unique advantages for your education lead-generation. For example:
- Monday – Highest overall engagement rates.
- Tuesday – Great average interaction rates.
- Wednesday – High click-through ratio.
- Thursday – Good overall engagement rates.
- Friday – High interaction rates.
Mondays currently achieve the best overall engagement rates. And 66% of Senior Leaders told us that they’re most active on their emails on a Monday.
However, the best days and times do fluctuate throughout the academic year.
There are lots of factors that can influence engagement rates so keep in touch with us to follow the latest trends!
The best month to email teachers
We see great engagement across the whole academic year, but January, April and September achieve the best overall engagement rates.
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 education marketing next steps
Now that you’ve discovered 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.
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Ready to kickstart your marketing campaigns? Contact us at info@buzz-education.com or give us a call on 01257 460036.
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 over 670,000 teachers and decision makers.