Judging what you read.
CLAIMS ABOUT OPTIMAL SEND TIMES
Largely unreliable, because it varies by audience. Test with your own list or ignore it.
BENCHMARKS FROM OTHER INDUSTRIES
An open rate considered poor in one sector is excellent in another.
Compare against your own previous campaigns, not against published averages.
ADVICE BASED ON OPEN RATES
Increasingly outdated, since open tracking has become unreliable.
Anything relying heavily on open rate optimisation should be read sceptically.
TACTICS THAT MANIPULATE
Misleading subject lines, false urgency, fake personalisation.
They work briefly and damage trust permanently.
ADVICE FROM PLATFORM MARKETING
Platforms have an interest in you sending more and having a larger list.
Their advice is frequently sound and worth reading with that in mind.
ADVICE FOR LARGE SENDERS
Segmentation strategies, testing methodologies and warm-up schedules designed for lists of tens of thousands do not apply to two hundred.
WHAT HAS NOT CHANGED
Consent, authentication, consistency and usefulness.
Those four have been the answer for twenty years and remain so.
