The best time to send prospecting emails to pharmaceutical companies

Timing is important.

Think of the everyday things: Catching a bus, taking a photograph or telling a joke.

And the more memorable events: The final seconds of the 2012 Premier League season, with Manchester City needing a win against ten-man QPR to win their first title in 44 years. As the clock ticks into the 94th minute, up pops “Aguerooooo…”

And then there’s the really important stuff: the timing of when to send prospecting emails to the pharma industry to get the best results for your campaign.

As Dolly Parton almost sang, the pharmaceutical industry works 9 til 5. But she was silent about when they respond to emails, so we’ve had to dig into our data to find out for you.

There are many factors that can impact a prospecting campaign: technical setup, amazing copy, and spam filters are just three. But one of the simplest things to tweak is the time you send your email.

We’ve sent over 2.5 million prospecting emails to 70 industries since February. We’ve analysed all the data and built a helpful tool, so you can optimise outreach no matter which industry you are targeting.

This time, we’re examining the best times to send prospecting emails to the pharmaceutical sector based on open rates, response rates, and lead rates. 

Open rates: Best time to send to pharma brands

The overall pattern throughout the week closely follows the cross-industry trend. A solid start in the morning rises to a peak in the middle of the day, before the afternoon sees a huge drop off in engagement. The end of the working day gets a slight increase but doesn’t reach the levels seen in the morning.

It’s worth noting that although the trend is the same, the actual percentage of opens are lower than the average. That shows the difficulty of prospecting to the pharma industry, which means you need to do everything possible to boost your outreach.

At the extremes, 2 – 3pm on Thursday sees an open rate of 13.4%, while on Friday at 11 am it’s 26%. That gives an increased open rate of 94%, almost doubling the number of emails that are opened if sent at the correct time.

The data: Best time to send based on response rates

The best response rate comes at 5 pm on a Wednesday. 24.2 % of our clients’ emails got a response during this window. The worst was Friday at 4 pm, with just 10.5%. That gives us an increased response rate of 131%.

The graph above reveals response rates for pharmaceutical prospecting emails don’t have the clearest pattern, but we can still pick out some insights if we dig a little deeper.

Looking at the average response rates reveals some patterns. Although not as pronounced as open rates, this chart also shows a steady morning, rise at lunchtime, and low rates in the afternoon.

If we look at the average response rates for each day, Monday and Tuesday perform relatively well, Wednesday is the clear winner, and Thursday and Friday perform poorly.

The data: Best time to send based on lead rates

Well, we’ve all enjoyed the aperitif and the starter, now for the main course. Exactly when is the best time to send prospecting emails to the pharmaceutical industry?

Monday at 10 am! Who would have thought it? Perhaps professionals in the pharma industry are in the mood to be prospected to after a relaxing weekend away from work.

The 6.3% lead rate on a Monday morning is in stark contrast to the lowest rate of 0.4% (Thursday at 3 pm). In fact, it’s an incredible 1513% increase.

As with open and response rates, the general pattern follows our now familiar trend. Rates increase towards midday, before tailing off in the afternoon and seeing the end of day spike, particularly on a Wednesday and Friday.

Example email template for prospecting to pharmaceutical companies

While the time you send your email can have a huge impact on the number of opens, responses and leads, you really have to nail that content to get a positive reply.

The millions and millions of emails we’ve sent on behalf of our clients have also taught us a thing or two about how writing email copy that lands. Below is a template from our archives, showing an initial outreach to the pharmaceutical sector.

Optimising the time slot you send your pharmaceutical prospecting emails can improve your open rates by 94%, your response rates by 131%, and your lead rates by 1513%.