When should you send a prospecting email?

While this is an excellent general rule to get your campaigns started, the perfect timing also depends on your target's habits, their industry and what's currently happening at the company you're prospecting.

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Mastering the timing of your cold email campaigns is an art that can make the difference between an ignored message and a qualified meeting. Here's how to fine-tune your sending strategy to boost your sales performance.

The best days of the week to prospect

In sales prospecting, not all days of the week are equal. The golden rule is to avoid both ends of the working week to make sure you get your contact's attention.

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• Monday: Your prospect's inbox is often flooded with emails that piled up over the weekend and with weekly planning meetings. Your message risks being deleted without even being read, buried under internal emergencies.
• Tuesday and Thursday: Historically, these are the two best-performing days. Professionals have settled into their working week, dealt with Monday's emergencies and are more willing to look at new topics or discover new B2B solutions.
• Wednesday: A perfectly good midweek day to send your sequences, with performance very close to Tuesday and Thursday. It's ideal for follow-ups.

Friday: Avoid it at all costs, especially in the afternoon. Your prospects' minds are already on the weekend, fatigue is building up, and the urgency to deal with a prospecting email from a stranger is close to zero.

Good to know

According to several studies by email platforms such as Hubspot and CoSchedule, Tuesday has the highest open rate of the week (nearly 20% more opens than other days), followed very closely by Thursday.

The most strategic time slots

Once you've picked the right day, the sending time is decisive in making sure your email lands at the very top of your target's inbox exactly when they check it.

Morning (9 to 11 a.m.)

This is when most professionals arrive at the office, grab their coffee and "clean up" their inbox to organize their day. Aim for around 10 a.m. to avoid the automatic, compulsive triage of the very first hour, when prospects quickly delete anything that doesn't come from their team.

Afternoon (2 to 4 p.m.)

This is the post-lunch slot. Activity often slows down a little, morning meetings are over, and professionals often use this lull to check their emails again in a more relaxed and receptive frame of mind.

Off-peak hours for C-level executives

If you're targeting C-level executives (CEOs, founders, managing directors), don't hesitate to test off-peak sending times. These heavily solicited profiles tend to handle their emails outside standard office hours: very early in the morning (between 7 and 8 a.m.) or in the evening (after 6:30 p.m.), often on their smartphone while commuting or at home.

How your prospect's industry affects timing

It would be naive to think a tradesperson handles their emails the same way as a marketing director in tech. The best time to send a prospecting email must be adjusted to the daily routine specific to your persona.

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Here is a summary table of trends by major industry:

Timing based on "trigger events"

The best time to send a prospecting email isn't just set by the clock, but above all by what's happening at your prospect's company. Sending a message at the exact moment a need arises (trigger-based email) is the most powerful strategy in modern prospecting.

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Watch for these business signals (intent data) and trigger your sends instantly, whatever the day of the week:

• A recent funding round (a sign of available budget).
• A new decision-maker in a key role, such as a new marketing director who will want to bring in their own tools.
• A job posting published by the company, which signals a need for growth or a lack of internal resources.
• An interaction with your company, such as a prospect who visited your pricing page or downloaded a white paper.

Good to know

A prospecting email sent after a specific trigger event and personalized around that news generates, on average, 3 to 5 times more replies than a standard cold email sent at a random point in the month.

Frequently asked questions about prospecting timing

When is the best time to follow up with a prospect by email?

The ideal time to send your first follow-up is generally 3 to 4 days after your initial email. That's long enough not to seem pushy, while keeping your proposal fresh in the prospect's mind. Always favor Tuesdays and Thursdays for your follow-ups, and vary the time compared with your first send to reach your target at a different moment in their routine.

How long should you wait between two prospecting emails?

It's strongly recommended to space out your emails progressively throughout your sequence. If the first follow-up comes after 3 days, wait 5 days for the second, then 7 days for the break-up email. This uneven spacing shows you respect your prospect's time while maintaining a professional, persistent presence in their inbox.

Is it a good idea to send a prospecting email at the weekend?

Sending a prospecting email at the weekend is generally not recommended in B2B, because most decision-makers disconnect or ignore sales messages on Saturdays and Sundays. There is one exception, however: an email sent on Sunday evening around 8 p.m. can be a smart move to reach executives (C-levels) who are preparing their week and checking their inbox in peace before the Monday morning rush.

Tools to automate your sending times

It's impossible to manually send hundreds of emails at the perfect time. This is where cold email automation tools come in (such as Lemlist, Woodpecker, Instantly or Waalaxy), as part of an automated prospecting approach.

Scheduling by time zone

If you prospect internationally, these tools let you schedule sends according to your recipient's time zone. An email scheduled for 10 a.m. will go out at 10 a.m. New York time for a US prospect and at 10 a.m. Paris time for a French prospect, without any action on your part.

Predictive sending (machine learning)

Some advanced CRM tools analyze your contacts' open history. They can learn at what time a specific prospect usually opens their emails, and automatically adjust the timing of your next sends to match their individual habits.

When should you send a prospecting email? Key takeaways

Here is a summary table of the key factors to consider when planning your upcoming email prospecting campaigns.