Let’s settle this once and for all.
If you’ve Googled “best time to send an email,” you’ve seen the contradiction.
One study says Tuesday. Another says Thursday. One says 10 AM. Another says 8 PM.
And somehow every platform thinks its data is the definitive answer.
Here’s the truth: they’re all right. And they’re all incomplete.
Because send time isn’t one question. It’s several, and each has a different answer.
We pulled data from MailerLite (2.1M campaigns), Moosend (10B emails), Omnisend (2B campaigns), HubSpot (20M+ emails), and Campaign Monitor (100B emails) to build the only send time guide a Realtor needs.
What day should you send?
Across every major study, the answer is the same three days: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
- Best for opens: Tuesday
- Best for clicks: Tuesday and Wednesday
- Best for revenue per recipient: Thursday, by a significant margin. Moosend found that Thursday generates 33.5% higher revenue per recipient than Tuesday or Wednesday.
Why does midweek win?
Monday is inbox triage, when people clear the weekend backlog, and anything non-essential gets archived.
By Tuesday, subscribers have settled in. By Thursday, they’re in a decision-making mindset. Friday, they’re mentally checked out.
Weekends are nearly dead, and Saturday consistently has the lowest open rates across every study.
Realtor translation: Send emails on Thursdays for open rates that turn into appointments. Tuesday for pure engagement. Wednesday is consistently underrated and worth a test.
What time should you send?
Morning and evening perform well for completely different reasons.
Morning (9–11 AM local time): The most consistent open-rate window across every study. Mornings work because subscribers open as part of their routine before their day takes over.
Evening (8–9 PM local time): The surprise performer for clicks. Moosend’s analysis of 10 billion emails found click-through rates peak between 8–9 PM.
People opening emails at 8 PM aren’t triaging, they’re browsing. When something earns a click, they actually click it.
The practical split: Send for opens in the morning. Send for clicks in the evening. For a Realtor newsletter where you want both, Thursday morning at 9-10 AM is your most defensible starting point.
Want to test the evening thesis? Tuesday at 8 PM combines the top open-rate day with the top click-rate hour.
Does timing actually matter that much?
Yes, but not for the reason most people think.
GetResponse’s analysis of 7 billion emails found the gap between weekday open rates is smaller than most assume.
The real reason timing matters: 23% of all email opens happen within the first hour of delivery. After 24 hours, the probability drops below 1%.
Poor timing doesn’t reduce your engagement; it eliminates your chance of being read entirely.
The Realtor Send Time Cheat Sheet
One bonus tweak: stop sending at the top of the hour.
Scheduling at :07, :21, or :36 instead of :00 helps your email avoid ISP queuing bottlenecks and improves time-to-inbox.
A 10-second change almost nobody makes.
Final Takeaway
There is no single best send time to send an email. There is a best send time for your goal, your audience, and your content type.
