Day-of-week send-time guide

Best time to send email on Sunday (2026 data)

Across the ten industry profiles in this study, the strongest Sunday band is 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM in the recipient local time, followed by 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. 15 published send windows name Sunday directly, and 2 industry profiles flag it as a weak day. Every band below prints the datasets and sample sizes it rests on.

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Sunday 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 Sunday, on a 0 to 100 index. Under every band you get the published windows that name Sunday, the audiences the band belongs to, and the source datasets with their sample sizes.

  1. 1

    4:00 PM to 6:00 PM

    Index 58 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    • Real estate clicks, 4:00 PM to 7:00 PMLate weekend traffic is high for home-search and mortgage calculators.

    Also strong here: B2B SaaS, Ecommerce (B2C), B2B services, 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 58 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    • Real estate clicks, 4:00 PM to 7:00 PMLate weekend traffic is high for home-search and mortgage calculators.
    • Ecommerce (B2C) conversions, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PMCart recovery and promo cutoff messages often convert before Monday.
    • Real estate opens, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PMSunday evening is strong for reviewing saved homes and new listings.
    • Non-profit opens, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PMSunday evenings work well for cause storytelling and campaign recaps.
    • Ecommerce (B2C) opens, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PMSunday evening has strong inbox attention for next-day shopping plans.
    • Real estate conversions, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PMSunday evening creates momentum before Monday lender and agent calls.
    • Edtech opens, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PMLearner audiences often prep coursework and inbox triage on Sunday night.
    • Edtech conversions, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PMSunday night deadlines can lift sign-ups for cohort-based programs.
    • Media and publishing conversions, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PMSunday night urgency works for recurring subscription decisions.
    • Non-profit clicks, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PMWeekend evening reflection periods lift campaign-page traffic.
    • Non-profit conversions, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PMSunday campaign deadlines can lift both one-time and monthly giving.

    Also strong here: Healthcare

    Datasets behind this band

  3. 3

    8:00 PM to 10:00 PM

    Index 57 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    • Ecommerce (B2C) opens, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PMSunday evening has strong inbox attention for next-day shopping plans.
    • Real estate conversions, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PMSunday evening creates momentum before Monday lender and agent calls.
    • Edtech opens, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PMLearner audiences often prep coursework and inbox triage on Sunday night.
    • Edtech conversions, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PMSunday night deadlines can lift sign-ups for cohort-based programs.
    • Media and publishing conversions, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PMSunday night urgency works for recurring subscription decisions.
    • Non-profit clicks, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PMWeekend evening reflection periods lift campaign-page traffic.
    • Non-profit conversions, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PMSunday campaign deadlines can lift both one-time and monthly giving.
    • Ecommerce (B2C) clicks, 8:00 PM to 9:00 PMA strong mobile session window appears right before the work week.
    • Edtech clicks, 8:00 PM to 9:00 PMEvening urgency works for weekly module reminders and study plans.
    • Recruiting and staffing clicks, 8:00 PM to 9:00 PMSunday night is active for prep before weekday applications.

    Datasets behind this band

  4. 4

    10:00 AM to 12:00 PM

    Index 53 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    No industry in this study publishes a named window in this band on Sunday. 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

  5. 5

    2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

    Index 47 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    No industry in this study publishes a named window in this band on Sunday. 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 44 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    No industry in this study publishes a named window in this band on Sunday. 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: Real estate, Edtech, Non-profit

    Datasets behind this band

  7. 7

    8:00 AM to 10:00 AM

    Index 43 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    • Media and publishing opens, 8:00 AM to 10:00 AMWeekend reading newsletters perform well during slow Sunday mornings.

    Datasets behind this band

  8. 8

    10:00 PM to 11:00 PM

    Index 37 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    No industry in this study publishes a named window in this band on Sunday. 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), Real estate, Edtech

    Datasets behind this band

  9. 9

    6:00 AM to 8:00 AM

    Index 23 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    No industry in this study publishes a named window in this band on Sunday. 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), Real estate

    Datasets behind this band

  10. 10

    12:00 AM to 2:00 AM

    Index 15 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    No industry in this study publishes a named window in this band on Sunday. 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), Real estate, Media and publishing

    Datasets behind this band

  11. 11

    2:00 AM to 4:00 AM

    Index 12 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    No industry in this study publishes a named window in this band on Sunday. 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), Real estate, Non-profit

    Datasets behind this band

  12. 12

    4:00 AM to 6:00 AM

    Index 11 / 100

    Published windows in this band

    No industry in this study publishes a named window in this band on Sunday. 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), Real estate, Media and publishing

    Datasets behind this band

Sunday hour by hour, industry by industry

Each row is one industry profile on Sunday, 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
Real estate
23
19
17
15
14
16
23
32
43
54
61
59
55
53
56
63
76
82
86
91
94
85
66
47
Edtech
20
17
15
14
13
15
23
33
45
57
63
61
55
51
55
61
68
72
76
86
90
88
65
48
Non-profit
21
19
17
14
13
15
23
33
46
58
64
62
54
51
53
59
66
70
78
82
87
84
63
45
Ecommerce (B2C)
26
23
20
18
15
18
26
36
47
56
62
58
52
50
53
61
69
77
84
90
98
94
70
51
Media and publishing
22
19
16
14
13
16
27
38
52
60
64
59
52
48
51
58
64
67
68
71
75
73
59
43
Healthcare
13
12
10
9
9
10
16
24
37
47
52
51
44
41
43
47
52
54
48
43
38
34
27
21
Recruiting and staffing
10
9
8
7
6
8
12
20
32
42
47
44
38
35
36
40
45
47
40
33
29
27
20
15
B2B SaaS
8
7
6
5
4
6
10
17
26
36
41
39
32
30
31
35
40
41
34
27
24
23
17
12
B2B services
9
7
6
5
5
6
10
16
26
36
40
38
32
30
31
35
39
40
33
26
23
21
16
12
Fintech
9
7
6
5
5
6
9
16
26
37
41
39
34
31
32
37
41
42
35
27
24
22
17
13
All industries (mean)
16
14
12
11
10
12
18
27
38
48
54
51
45
42
44
50
56
59
58
58
58
55
42
31
IndustrySunday rank for this audienceDay indexBest band on Sunday
Real estateBest day of the week51 / 1008:00 PM to 10:00 PM
EdtechBest day of the week50 / 1008:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Non-profitBest day of the week49 / 1008:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Ecommerce (B2C)Rank 2 of 752 / 1008:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Media and publishingRank 6 of 747 / 1008:00 PM to 10:00 PM
HealthcareRank 7 of 733 / 1004:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Recruiting and staffingRank 7 of 727 / 10010:00 AM to 12:00 PM
B2B SaaSRank 7 of 723 / 1004:00 PM to 6:00 PM
B2B servicesRank 7 of 723 / 1004:00 PM to 6:00 PM
FintechRank 7 of 723 / 1004:00 PM to 6:00 PM

Which industries peak on Sunday

Sunday is the strongest day of the week for the following audiences, measured by the mean of their modelled 24-hour profile.

Real estate

Best band on Sunday: 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Sunday evening is strong for reviewing saved homes and new listings.

Edtech

Best band on Sunday: 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Learner audiences often prep coursework and inbox triage on Sunday night.

Non-profit

Best band on Sunday: 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Sunday evenings work well for cause storytelling and campaign recaps.

Sunday lands in the top three days for these audiences

Worst-window notes that name Sunday

2 of the ten industry profiles list Sundayin 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 services

Sunday inbox checks are low for agencies and professional firms.

Healthcare

Sunday daytime often underperforms for plan and portal engagement.

Every published Sunday window in the dataset

WindowIndustryGoalWhy
8:00 AM to 10:00 AMMedia and publishingopensWeekend reading newsletters perform well during slow Sunday mornings.
4:00 PM to 7:00 PMReal estateclicksLate weekend traffic is high for home-search and mortgage calculators.
6:00 PM to 8:00 PMEcommerce (B2C)conversionsCart recovery and promo cutoff messages often convert before Monday.
6:00 PM to 8:00 PMReal estateopensSunday evening is strong for reviewing saved homes and new listings.
6:00 PM to 8:00 PMNon-profitopensSunday evenings work well for cause storytelling and campaign recaps.
7:00 PM to 9:00 PMEcommerce (B2C)opensSunday evening has strong inbox attention for next-day shopping plans.
7:00 PM to 9:00 PMReal estateconversionsSunday evening creates momentum before Monday lender and agent calls.
7:00 PM to 9:00 PMEdtechopensLearner audiences often prep coursework and inbox triage on Sunday night.
7:00 PM to 9:00 PMEdtechconversionsSunday night deadlines can lift sign-ups for cohort-based programs.
7:00 PM to 9:00 PMMedia and publishingconversionsSunday night urgency works for recurring subscription decisions.
7:00 PM to 9:00 PMNon-profitclicksWeekend evening reflection periods lift campaign-page traffic.
7:00 PM to 9:00 PMNon-profitconversionsSunday campaign deadlines can lift both one-time and monthly giving.
8:00 PM to 9:00 PMEcommerce (B2C)clicksA strong mobile session window appears right before the work week.
8:00 PM to 9:00 PMEdtechclicksEvening urgency works for weekly module reminders and study plans.
8:00 PM to 9:00 PMRecruiting and staffingclicksSunday night is active for prep before weekday applications.

How to test Sunday on your own list

  1. Take the top-ranked Sunday 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

Sunday send-time FAQ

What time should I send email on Sunday?

Ranked across all ten industry profiles in this study, the strongest two-hour bands on Sunday are 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM, 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM, measured in each recipient's local time. 15 published send windows in the dataset name Sunday explicitly, so treat the top band as your control slot and the second band as your first challenger.

Is Sunday a good day to send email?

Sunday is the single strongest day for Real estate, Edtech, Non-profit, and it lands inside the top three days for Real estate, Edtech, Non-profit, Ecommerce (B2C). That makes it a safe default for those audiences and a reasonable challenger slot for everyone else.

Which audiences should avoid Sunday?

2 industry profiles list Sunday as a weak day: B2B services, Healthcare. The reasons differ by audience, so read the specific rationale before you drop the day entirely.

How do I confirm Sunday works for my own list?

Hold your creative, offer, and audience constant, then run the top-ranked Sunday 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.