Timing is Everything: The Art of Email Batching

Sending emails in batches isn’t just a smart strategy; it’s a game-changer for your email marketing. Here’s why batching your email sends can elevate your metrics and keep your sanity intact.

Maximize Timezones to Elevate Engagement

Ever received an email in the middle of the night? Feels like an unusual time for a company to advertise a sale on their site (take it from me: online shopping and insomnia are not a good combo).  Timing is everything. Sending emails in batches allows you to tailor your sends to your audience’s time zones, ensuring your message lands when they’re most likely to engage, ideally when they’re awake.

Optimal Send Time

Not sure when your audience is most active? Time for an A/B test. Experiment with different time slots (ie. set test period to send 3 hours later) with the "Pick a winner" option to discover when your emails get the most love. This simple hack can significantly boost your open and click rates, making your campaigns more effective.

Workflow Elevation

Take it a step further by testing this with workflows. Instead of only sending the next email a day later, opt for sending it at a specific time of day. While you can’t set up batching in workflows, you can stagger your sending. Set up an A/B test and play with delays. Watch how engagement shifts and adapt accordingly. This method helps you understand not just the best times to send, but also the ideal intervals between emails.

Ready to give it a try?

First, you need to make sure you’re tracking the timezone of the user. In Vero we use the GMT offset (ie.-5 for EST, 1 for CET) tracked under the user property timezone. Read more about this setup.

Improved Deliverability

Sending a massive email blast can be a deliverability disaster, especially if you don’t do it very frequently. Batching your sends helps you stay on email clients’ good sides and keeps your emails where they belong: in the inbox and out of the dreaded spam folder.

• Domain Overload? No Problem: Is a good chunk of your list sending to one particular email client (ie. Google, Yahoo)? Staggering your sends ensures you don’t flood their servers and risk getting flagged and put on the naughty list. By spreading out your emails, you reduce the chance of your messages being marked as spam.
• Avoid the Spam Matrix: Too many emails at once can send spammy signals to email clients and leads to heavy rate-limiting. Batch sends help you dodge the dreaded spam folder by maintaining a steady flow of emails rather than a sudden surge that sounds alarm bells. Consistency in sending patterns is key to staying out of the spam folder.
• Protect Your IP: A sudden spike in email volume can get your sending IP flagged and blacklisted. Batching keeps your sending pattern consistent, protecting your reputation and ensuring your emails continue to reach your audience. This is crucial for maintaining a good sender reputation over time as some blacklists are more strict than others.

Added Perks

Batching isn’t just about higher click rates and better deliverability; it’s also a lifesaver for your team and infrastructure.

• Avoid Overwhelming Your Team: If your email prompts responses or support tickets, batching helps manage the influx. Your customer support teams will thank you. This approach ensures your team can handle responses effectively and in a more timely manner.
• Balance Website Traffic: A sudden surge in traffic from an email blast can sometimes overwhelm your site. Batching sends smooths out the peaks and keeps your site running smoothly. This is especially important during high-traffic periods like sales or major announcements.
• Catch Mistakes Before It’s Too Late: Sent an email out with a broken link or a typo (let’s be honest, we’ve all been there)? If you batch your sends, you can catch and fix the error before it reaches your entire audience. This can save you from potential embarrassment and ensures minimal clean-up efforts.

Why Batching Matters

Batching emails is more than just a logistical tactic; it’s a strategic approach to email marketing that can yield significant benefits (like staying besties Gmail and Yahoo). From higher engagement rates to better deliverability and operational efficiency, batching helps you get the most out of your email campaigns.

So, the next time you’re planning an email campaign (which is also hopefully sending to a very clean list), think batches. Your metrics – and your team – will thank you.