Day-of-week send-time guide

Best time to send email on Friday (2026 data)

Across the ten industry profiles in this study, the strongest Friday band is 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM in the recipient local time, followed by 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. 2 published send windows name Friday directly, and 8 industry profiles flag it as a weak day. Every band below prints the datasets and sample sizes it rests on.

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Friday hour bands, ranked across every industry

The day is split into twelve two-hour bands. Each band is scored by averaging the modelled hourly engagement profile of all ten industries for Friday, on a 0 to 100 index. Under every band you get the published windows that name Friday, the audiences the band belongs to, and the source datasets with their sample sizes.

  1. 1

    4:00 PM to 6:00 PM

    Index 65 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    No industry in this study publishes a named window in this band on Friday. The score is modelled from the hourly engagement profiles only, so the audiences listed here are the ones whose profile is strongest in the band.

    Also strong here: B2B SaaS, Ecommerce (B2C), B2B services, Real estate, Fintech, Edtech, Healthcare, Media and publishing, Non-profit, Recruiting and staffing

    Datasets behind this band

  2. 2

    6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

    Index 62 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    • Ecommerce (B2C) clicks, 6:00 PM to 9:00 PMShoppers browse offers heavily during Friday evening downtime.

    Also strong here: Real estate, Edtech, Healthcare, Media and publishing, Non-profit

    Datasets behind this band

  3. 3

    10:00 AM to 12:00 PM

    Index 60 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    No industry in this study publishes a named window in this band on Friday. The score is modelled from the hourly engagement profiles only, so the audiences listed here are the ones whose profile is strongest in the band.

    Also strong here: B2B SaaS, B2B services, Fintech, Healthcare, Recruiting and staffing

    Datasets behind this band

  4. 4

    8:00 PM to 10:00 PM

    Index 60 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    • Ecommerce (B2C) clicks, 6:00 PM to 9:00 PMShoppers browse offers heavily during Friday evening downtime.
    • Media and publishing clicks, 8:00 PM to 9:00 PMFriday night engagement spikes for entertainment and culture content.

    Also strong here: Real estate, Edtech, Non-profit

    Datasets behind this band

  5. 5

    2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

    Index 53 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    No industry in this study publishes a named window in this band on Friday. The score is modelled from the hourly engagement profiles only, so the audiences listed here are the ones whose profile is strongest in the band.

    Also strong here: B2B SaaS, B2B services, Fintech, Recruiting and staffing

    Datasets behind this band

  6. 6

    12:00 PM to 2:00 PM

    Index 50 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    No industry in this study publishes a named window in this band on Friday. The score is modelled from the hourly engagement profiles only, so the audiences listed here are the ones whose profile is strongest in the band.

    Also strong here: Media and publishing, Fintech, Healthcare

    Datasets behind this band

  7. 7

    8:00 AM to 10:00 AM

    Index 49 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    No industry in this study publishes a named window in this band on Friday. The score is modelled from the hourly engagement profiles only, so the audiences listed here are the ones whose profile is strongest in the band.

    Also strong here: Media and publishing, Recruiting and staffing, Ecommerce (B2C)

    Datasets behind this band

  8. 8

    10:00 PM to 11:00 PM

    Index 39 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    No industry in this study publishes a named window in this band on Friday. The score is modelled from the hourly engagement profiles only, so the audiences listed here are the ones whose profile is strongest in the band.

    Also strong here: Ecommerce (B2C), Media and publishing, Edtech

    Datasets behind this band

  9. 9

    6:00 AM to 8:00 AM

    Index 25 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    No industry in this study publishes a named window in this band on Friday. The score is modelled from the hourly engagement profiles only, so the audiences listed here are the ones whose profile is strongest in the band.

    Also strong here: Media and publishing, Ecommerce (B2C), Non-profit

    Datasets behind this band

  10. 10

    12:00 AM to 2:00 AM

    Index 17 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    No industry in this study publishes a named window in this band on Friday. The score is modelled from the hourly engagement profiles only, so the audiences listed here are the ones whose profile is strongest in the band.

    Also strong here: Ecommerce (B2C), Media and publishing, Real estate

    Datasets behind this band

  11. 11

    2:00 AM to 4:00 AM

    Index 13 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    No industry in this study publishes a named window in this band on Friday. The score is modelled from the hourly engagement profiles only, so the audiences listed here are the ones whose profile is strongest in the band.

    Also strong here: Ecommerce (B2C), Media and publishing, Real estate

    Datasets behind this band

  12. 12

    4:00 AM to 6:00 AM

    Index 12 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    No industry in this study publishes a named window in this band on Friday. The score is modelled from the hourly engagement profiles only, so the audiences listed here are the ones whose profile is strongest in the band.

    Also strong here: Ecommerce (B2C), Media and publishing, Real estate

    Datasets behind this band

Friday hour by hour, industry by industry

Each row is one industry profile on Friday, hour 0 through hour 23 in recipient local time. The bottom row is the cross-industry mean used to rank the bands above. Darker means higher modelled engagement.

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
Ecommerce (B2C)
26
23
19
17
15
17
26
36
46
55
60
57
51
49
52
59
68
76
82
89
97
94
69
50
Media and publishing
23
20
17
15
14
17
28
40
51
59
63
61
54
50
53
60
66
69
71
74
82
80
61
45
Healthcare
16
14
12
11
10
12
19
29
45
57
63
61
53
49
51
57
63
65
58
51
46
41
32
26
Recruiting and staffing
14
13
11
10
9
11
17
29
45
59
66
62
53
49
50
57
64
66
56
46
41
38
29
22
B2B SaaS
12
10
9
8
7
9
15
26
41
57
64
60
50
46
49
55
62
65
53
42
38
35
26
19
Fintech
14
11
9
8
7
9
14
24
41
57
64
61
52
49
50
57
64
66
54
42
38
34
26
20
B2B services
14
11
10
8
7
9
15
25
40
55
62
59
50
46
48
54
61
62
51
40
35
33
25
18
Real estate
20
17
15
13
12
14
20
28
38
48
54
52
49
47
50
56
63
68
72
76
79
75
58
42
Edtech
18
16
14
13
12
14
21
29
40
51
57
55
49
46
49
55
61
65
69
73
76
74
59
43
Non-profit
19
17
15
13
12
14
21
30
42
53
58
56
49
46
48
54
60
64
67
71
75
73
57
41
All industries (mean)
18
15
13
12
11
13
20
30
43
55
61
58
51
48
50
56
63
67
63
60
61
58
44
33
IndustryFriday rank for this audienceDay indexBest band on Friday
Ecommerce (B2C)Rank 3 of 751 / 1008:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Media and publishingRank 5 of 749 / 1008:00 PM to 10:00 PM
HealthcareRank 5 of 739 / 1004:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Recruiting and staffingRank 5 of 738 / 1004:00 PM to 6:00 PM
B2B SaaSRank 5 of 736 / 1004:00 PM to 6:00 PM
FintechRank 5 of 736 / 1004:00 PM to 6:00 PM
B2B servicesRank 5 of 735 / 1004:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Real estateRank 6 of 744 / 1008:00 PM to 10:00 PM
EdtechRank 6 of 744 / 1008:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Non-profitRank 6 of 744 / 1008:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Which industries peak on Friday

No industry profile in this study peaks on Friday. That is a real result rather than missing data: every audience here has a stronger day elsewhere in the week. Friday still works as a challenger slot, and the table above shows exactly where it ranks for each audience.

Friday lands in the top three days for these audiences

Worst-window notes that name Friday

8 of the ten industry profiles list Fridayin their worst-window notes. Read the reason before you act: "weak" means different things for a weekday backlog than it does for a weekend audience gap.

B2B SaaS

Friday after lunch sees lower intent for trial and demo actions.

B2B services

Friday afternoon generally weakens form completions for B2B services.

Real estate

Friday late afternoon is crowded by travel and family logistics.

Fintech

Friday evening has lower trust and lower completion for financial flows.

Edtech

Friday afternoon interest drops for long-form course decision emails.

Healthcare

Friday night sends reduce completion for non-urgent healthcare actions.

Non-profit

Friday late afternoon often lowers donor action and volunteer sign-ups.

Recruiting and staffing

Friday afternoon usually lowers apply-rate and interview acceptance.

Every published Friday window in the dataset

WindowIndustryGoalWhy
6:00 PM to 9:00 PMEcommerce (B2C)clicksShoppers browse offers heavily during Friday evening downtime.
8:00 PM to 9:00 PMMedia and publishingclicksFriday night engagement spikes for entertainment and culture content.

How to test Friday on your own list

  1. Take the top-ranked Friday band, 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, as your control slot and the second band, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM, as the challenger.
  2. Keep subject line, offer, audience, and creative constant so the only moving variable is send hour.
  3. Send in recipient local time where you have it, and tag unknown time zones into a separate bucket rather than folding them into the result.
  4. Run at least two full cycles before you call a winner. One campaign is a story, two matching cycles is a signal.
  5. Score the test on the downstream metric that matters for the campaign family, not on opens alone.
  6. Feed the winning slot back into the send-time optimizer so the next challenger is picked from your own data.

Sources behind this page

Every industry profile in this study carries its own citation list. These are the source datasets those profiles draw on, with the sample size each publisher reports. Where a publisher does not state a sample size, this page says so rather than inventing one.

ActiveCampaign send-time benchmark guide

Published 2024 · Sample size: not published

HubSpot best time to send email report

Published 2024 · Sample size: not published

Salesforce State of Marketing

Published 2025 · Sample size: not published

Omnisend ecommerce timing benchmarks

Published 2025 · Sample size: billions of ecommerce emails

Klaviyo timing and revenue benchmarks

Published 2025 · Sample size: commerce benchmark sample

Attentive messaging trends report

Published 2024 · Sample size: 25B messages

Campaign Monitor best-time guide

Published 2024 · Sample size: not published

MailerLite 2.1M-campaign study

Published 2024 · Sample size: 2.1M campaigns

GetResponse email marketing benchmarks

Published 2025 · Sample size: not published

Litmus State of Email

Published 2024 · Sample size: not published

Friday send-time FAQ

What time should I send email on Friday?

Ranked across all ten industry profiles in this study, the strongest two-hour bands on Friday are 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM, measured in each recipient's local time. 2 published send windows in the dataset name Friday explicitly, so treat the top band as your control slot and the second band as your first challenger.

Is Friday a good day to send email?

No industry in this study peaks on Friday, but it still ranks inside the top three days for Ecommerce (B2C). Use it as a secondary slot rather than the anchor of your weekly schedule.

Which audiences should avoid Friday?

8 industry profiles list Friday as a weak day: B2B SaaS, B2B services, Real estate, Fintech, Edtech, Healthcare, Non-profit, Recruiting and staffing. The reasons differ by audience, so read the specific rationale before you drop the day entirely.

How do I confirm Friday works for my own list?

Hold your creative, offer, and audience constant, then run the top-ranked Friday band against your current control slot for at least two full send cycles. Judge the result on the downstream metric you actually care about, not opens alone. The send-time optimizer will shortlist the candidate slots for you.