At first blush, advice about when independent insurance agents should send emails might look more like advice about when not to send emails. Why? Because there are quite a number of days and times you should avoid wasting your words, as well as a few that will get you the most attention. Once you know when these times are, you can optimize emails to gather insurance leads and reap the benefits of a solid email marketing campaign.
Avoid Weekends ... and Mondays ... and Fridays 
No day stands above all others as the best time to send. However, you can safely rule out a few. Weekends, for starters. Generally people don’t use the weekend to consider questions such as “Do I need Florida homeowners insurance?” and “If so, should I go with USAA homeowners insurance?” Usually business-related questions get researched and answered during the week. That said, Monday and Friday also aren’t great times. On Monday, people are overwhelmed by the demands of the week and tend to be less scrupulous about deleting their inbox contents. On Friday, they generally don’t pay as much attention, and emails you send will get tossed out with Monday’s purge. Stick to Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday when possible. Interested in more email marketing tips for independent insurance agents? Download our free eBook
Aim for Mid-morning
Again, a crowded inbox results in purging, so don’t be part of the early morning slam. Likewise, if you wait until late afternoon, people are trying to get home, and your email will likely be left for later, i.e.tomorrow morning. No good. Aim for midmorning, around 10. That’s statistically the optimal time, but also gives people plenty of wiggle room to peruse later in the day.
Give Plenty of Notice
Sure, the best times to send are midmorning, midweek, but that doesn’t mean you should save every email for then. Some emails should break the mold due to time constraints. Let’s say you’re offering a special on Florida homeowners insurance: free consultations, maybe, or discounts for people who refer a friend. In this case, you want to give people plenty of notice, and remind them a few times. If that means breaking your normal rules to do it, go ahead. You don’t want them to miss the deal.
Truth be told, there is no magic time to send email, which is where testing comes in. Split test your emails to see which times work best for you and your audience, and you will learn more than you could from any article. And be patient: you won’t discover your ideal sending times for a while, but keep working at it and you’ll eventually build a foolproof formula.
For a comprehensive tutorial on email marketing for indepenent insurance agents, download our free eBook here.
If you want to know how to stay connected to your customers, read another one of our posts here.
