When I wake up in the morning, after getting ready for the day, one of the first things I do is flip through my e-mails that have arrived while I sleep. Mixed in with an array of school and work related e-mails are my ad related e-mails. Whether it is a Groupon or a specific retailer e-mailing me about potential deals, anything not crucial that I read before my coffee simply gets marked as read and then is subsequently forgotten.

A marketing article, “Infographic: E-mail open rates by time of day”, suggests that companies can increase the effectiveness of their e-mail marketing by adjusting when they send their e-mails. If e-mails are not opened within an hour of when they are sent then their open and click-through rate drastically decrease. E-mails, like the ones I receive during the night, are therefore much less effective. The article goes on to suggest that e-mails sent around nine o’clock in the morning or three in the afternoon have the greatest effect. Tailoring sent e-mails to this pattern could help companies make their email marketing more effective.