Time-zone sending schedules a campaign so that every subscriber receives it at the same local clock time, wherever they live. If you choose 9 am, subscribers in India receive it at 9 am IST, subscribers in Dubai at 9 am Gulf time and subscribers in London at 9 am UK time. Behind the scenes, the campaign goes out in waves as each time zone reaches the chosen hour.
It matters most for audiences spread across countries. An Indian brand with customers in the Gulf, Singapore, the UK and North America can’t pick one send time that suits everyone; 10 am IST is the middle of the night in California. For a purely Indian audience, which shares one time zone, it makes no difference.
The method relies on knowing each contact’s time zone. That can come from a field you collect, from the country or city on their profile, or from location data gathered when they sign up or interact. Contacts with no known time zone receive the email at the chosen time in your account’s default zone, so check how many contacts have usable location data before relying on it.
Plan for the waves. Time-zone sending to a worldwide list starts when the earliest zone reaches the send hour, which may be the previous evening in India for subscribers in the Pacific. Schedule well ahead, and avoid it for time-critical messages, such as a sale that starts at one fixed moment for everyone.
A Kerala spice exporter with customers in India, the UAE, the UK and Canada schedules its monthly recipe newsletter for 8 am local time. Indian customers get it at 8 am IST, UAE customers at 8 am Gulf time, and Canadian customers at 8 am in their own zone the same calendar day.
MailNesto can send a campaign at the same clock time in each subscriber’s time zone; this option can’t be combined with an A/B test on the same campaign.