Which days of the week should brands send their emails?

Consumers receive emails from a variety of sources – their friends, family members, co-workers, other companies and brands, etc. As such, there is a lot of competition in the inbox to secure email views and clicks. People are always wondering which days of the week are best to send email newsletters and other promotional messages.

Understanding the relation between opens, clicks and volume

Although the best time and day will always change from person to person and demographic to demographic, a new report from GetResponse may offer some guidance to publications and brands alike. According to the research, the majority of email messages are sent on Tuesdays, with17.9 percent of the total volume. This day also tends to have the highest open and click rates at19.9 and 4.6 percent, respectively.

The fact that most emails are sent on the day with the highest open rate suggests that companies are doing their homework. However, brands may want to consider sending emails on other days where not quite as many messages are put in circulation in order to standout from the crowd. The GetResponse study suggests that while people may open more emails on Tuesday, it’s not that much more than other days of the week.

For example, only 14.9 percent of emails are sent on Friday, which is 3 percent less than Tuesday. Comparatively, open rates are only down 0.3 percent to 19.6 percent. To add icing to the cake, click-through rates on Friday are up by 0.3 percent compared to Tuesday. So while people may be opening more messages on Tuesday, they are actually more engaged with communications sent on Friday, as they are more likely to click on links, videos, social profiles and email advertisingincluded in them.

One statistic from the report that publishers and advertisers alike are certain to be optimistic about is that click-through rates are on the rise. Just earlier this year, they were as low as 4.2 percent. As of the fourth quarter of 2013, however, they have grown to 4.7 percent. This suggests senders are doing a more effective job of creating relevant, attractive content that is inspiring recipients to not only read it, but actively click through it to other pages.

K. Michelle Addresses Camel Toe Controversy [PHOTO/VIDEO]

Singer K.Michelle sends social media into fits on a regular basis with her titillating Instagram photos, but an outfit she wore during a recent show in Chicago had some fans thinking Christmas came early.

While strutting through a rendition of her hit “V.S.O.P.” at The Shrine, Michelle’s cutaway catsuit created an optical illusion under the lights giving some the impression that the voluptuous singer was on stage half nude. The reality is that she was quite clothed, but the outfit was very formfitting and gave an outline of her secret garden that had Adams and Eves thinking they’d found the Holy Grail. 

When word spread of the image K. Michelle took to her Twitter account to blast the misinterpretation of what she was wearing.

“Y’all tweeting about a photo shopped picture of my hot pocket. U broke bums should ask somebody to photo shop your pockets 2make them fatter,” the “Rebellious Soul” singer wrote (via Twitter) after she became a trending topic late Saturday night. “We crave a different kind of buzz.”

Y'all tweeting about a photo shopped picture of my hot pocket. U broke bums should ask somebody to photo shop your pockets 2make them fatter

— K.Michelle (@kmichelle)November 17, 2013

[SingersRoom]

Watch our interview with K. Michelle where she talks about some of her risqué photos:

While we’re not sure the image was manipulated via Photoshop, it was certainly misrepresented in some places as her being nude on stage, when she was not. Watch the video of the performance below where it’s pretty clear that she is dressed, but blessed. 

B2B and B2C companies up digital ad spending

Both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) companies alike are investing more of their advertising budgets into the digital space, taking advantage of a communication channel that is seeing more and more attention from consumers. At the same time, they are also spending less money on conventional advertising media, a new report from eMarketer found.

Using data from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, eMarketer notes that B2C digital ad spending was up 11.1 percent for product-based firms and 10.6 percent for service-based organizations in 2013. B2B digital ad spending wasn’t up quite as much, but for service and product-based companies, budgets still increased by 9.9 and 9.5 percent, respectively. Digital, in the context of this survey, counted a variety of different advertising mediums, from social media to display advertising.

At the same time, B2C spending from product-based firms was the only category in which traditional ad spending was up. It marked declines in 2013 across the other three sectors – B2C services, B2B services and B2B products.

Optimism for display advertising seems to be swelling, with more companies investing in the medium to engage prospective and existing customers alike. This is likely due to better results stemming from smarter targeting tools and the ease of executing campaigns via real-time bidding.

A separate study from Adform found that consumer engagement with display units rose 14 percent during the summer of 2013 when compared to the same time in 2012. The firm noted this was a result of the increased usage of real-time bidding, with RTB spending up 92 percent during the same time frame. Mobile refinements have also helped improve the attractiveness of display advertising, with mobile RTB spending increasing by 67 percent in the summer of 2013.

As digital and display advertising technology continues to improve, it’s pivotal that brands consider all of their options in regards to advertising channels. While many companies use conventional Web-based platforms, the number of options they have at their disposal continues to grow. Now, businesses can use everything from video to social to mobile to email advertising.

Ultimately, companies should look to engage consumers with display ads on the channel that makes the most sense. For instance, young people dominate social media, so social ads may be the best way to reach them. Conversely, older prospects may use their email more frequently, so  that might be the better avenue to engage that demographic.