The Taoist Approach to Email Synchronization

I’ve heard a lot of people obsess over when to email their list.

And I have read entire chapters in books devoted to this subject.

Some people say that it is better to send them in the mornings. Many readers check your email first thing in the morning, so you want to be at the top of the list.

Similar reasoning applies to lunchtime emails, emails on the way home, and late-night emails.

Then they turn around and pretend they’ve said something useful, rather than ‘just about any time, actually’.

So great. Send your emails whenever you want, I guess.

But it gets worse than that.

When should your emails go around the world?
I almost signed up for a marketing course once. This little anecdote is not the reason I decided not to do it, some things didn’t work out, but it’s more fun if I say yes.

Anyway, the sales letter of this formation said both of these things, with total sincerity.

“We provide this elite online training to students in more than 50 countries around the world.”

Y:

“We have our weekly FAQ at 2:00 pm, which is a convenient way to break up the afternoon.”

Sigh…

You know, sometimes it’s frustrating living in Australia. Every time a movie or project is released “next spring” we have to ask ourselves, so they mean fall? And when something comes “on the 10th”, it is actually the 11th for us.

Minor inconveniences, sure.

But this kind of thing really takes the cake.

Are the meetings at 2 pm? Excellent. Whose is it 2:00 p.m.? They didn’t even include a time zone with that…

As it turned out, that convenient ‘afternoon meeting’ was at 4 am my time. Yes.

Many marketers brag about knowing their prospects inside and out… but they forget that they live in different time zones.

This goes back to your emails. Maybe you decide you want to catch the morning vibes with a 6am email. Whose 6am is it, though? Because it is always early in the morning, late in the afternoon and in the dead of night somewhere.

No time is the right time
But maybe you have a local business, so all your readers are in one time zone. What then, huh?

There is a sensible but paradoxical philosophy in Taoism. Hints of it appear in other religions, definitely in Buddhism as well.

The Taoists say it like this:

No Way is the Way.

Translation:

If someone shows you ‘the Way’ (to enlightenment, let’s say), then it is not the Way. The Path cannot be displayed or encoded. You have to find it by yourself. There is only as far as dogma, gurus and teaching can take you.

The answer can never come from outside.

So if you hear an answer, it’s not the right one.

Similarly, no time can be the right time. Let’s say someone discovers that, indeed, 6 am is the perfect time to send an email. Within a month, they all blow up their lists and drown each other out.

Meanwhile, the email that arrives 12 hours ‘late’ stands out.

So don’t worry. Send them whenever you want.

Also…

I doubt it matters much anyway. People read emails that are interesting, persuasive, and informative, not ones that arrive at the right time.

Focus on noting down your writing, rather than chasing a little spur of the moment.

“Target, wait, the moment does matter to me!”
On the other hand, some of you will need to focus on your schedule.

If you’re advertising lunchtime flash sales for your restaurant, you probably want to send them out at 11am or noon, not at night.

Lighter emails may arrive best on Wednesday (from people looking for a mid-week break), Friday (just because), or the weekend.

Business emails probably want to go out during business hours. Maybe. Who knows?

If your business has a niche relationship at the moment, I invite you to find out for yourself. Don’t ask your readers, they will probably tell you to send less emails simply because they hate spam. Test it. Experiment with different times and see what leads to sales.

But for most companies, timing doesn’t matter that much.

The point, on which I have spent over 600 words, is that this is not worth thinking too much about. They are small potatoes. Get your offer and message right, and everything else falls into place.

I have only written an article about this because many people ask. So wonder no more.