What is the Best Time of Day to Call or Email Prospects?

You’ve spent hundreds of hours and a good chunk of your budget finding ideal prospects for your product or service. You’ve taken the time to add personalization elements to your email template, subject line, and phone script, testing your messaging strategy over the course of months to get it just right.

Yet, all it takes to drop your response rate and lose a potential sale is making the call or sending the email at the wrong time…

Good prospecting is in the details.

Exactly what you say in a call or email, who you contact with your calls and emails, and (equally as important) when you contact them, makes all the difference.

In this article, we’ll help you uncover the best time of day for salespeople to cold call and email prospects, so you can establish a more successful messaging strategy and email marketing campaign than ever before.

So, let’s get started!

Why timing matters for sales outreach

Yes, absolutely. Just because you have a prospect's email address or phone number doesn't mean your contact strategy can go out the window. Think about it from your own perspective. If you get a sales call while you're trying to relax after dinner, are you going to be receptive? Probably not. The same goes for an email that lands in your inbox at midnight. The chances of it getting a thoughtful response are slim to none. This shows that when you contact potential clients makes a world of difference. Prospects are much more willing to listen when you reach out thoughtfully during their workday.

Best days to email prospects

So, what day of the week gives you the best shot? Most data points to the middle of the week as the sweet spot. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are typically the most effective days to send sales emails. Why? Mondays are often spent catching up from the weekend and planning the week ahead, meaning your email can easily get buried. By Friday, many people are winding down and have less appetite for starting new conversations. Sticking to the mid-week gives your message the best chance to be seen and considered when your prospect is most engaged with their work.

Best times to send sales emails

Beyond cold calls, it’s also important to think about when the best time is to send out your email campaigns. Omnisend analyzed over 2 billion email marketing campaigns to answer this question! Let’s look at the results.

They concluded that the best day to send out a prospecting email is Thursday, with Tuesday following closely behind. They found that Monday and Saturday were two of the worst days to send cold sales emails. If you typically send out your email campaigns on either of those days, it might be good practice to switch to a day that offers better results. In terms of hourly data, they found that (unsurprisingly) email performance and a high reply rate are closely tied to a prospect’s workday.

Some key insights from this data include:

• 8 am is the perfect time to maximize cold email open rate. Messages sent at 8 am were associated with a 20.32% open rate and a 7.79% click-through rate.
• 4 pm was the clear winner for sales-oriented messages. Salespeople earned an average of 10.66 orders per campaign.
• Campaigns sent at 10 am have a great open rate of 19.83%, but they lead to substantially fewer orders — just 4.66 for the average campaign. This is a sign that customers who open emails in the morning aren’t usually planning to spend any money.

Now, keep in mind that no two audiences are alike. Your prospects could respond differently to your cold emailing strategy than these statistics might suggest. The key to having effective cold emails is this: leverage these statistics to optimize the timing of your email campaign, but treat them as a single factor in making decisions for your sales process (which goes for making those cold calls, as well).

Best time of day to call prospects

So, when is a sales rep most likely to get a potential customer on the phone? Dr. James Oldroyd from the Kellogg School of Management had the same question, and did some of the heavy-lifting for us. He surveyed nearly 500 businesses across 40 different industries in an attempt to find the optimal time of day for B2B companies to cold call a prospect. His results?

• The best time to make a phone call is between 8 am and 9 am, with the second-best time being between 4 pm and 5 pm.
• The worst time for a sales team to cold call is between 1 pm and 2 pm.
• The best day for cold calling is on Thursday, with Friday being the worst day.

What’s interesting is that Dr. Oldroyd is not alone in his findings. Sales professionals and other related articles tend to agree with him! HubSpot did a similar study this year on when the best time to make a sales call would be and they reached similar conclusions. They agreed that between 4 pm and 5 pm is an optimal time to make sales calls to get in touch with the right person and that Thursday, as well as Wednesday, were the best days to get a prospect’s attention (with Friday also being a no-go). And, when you think about it, these findings make a lot of sense! Making early morning and late afternoon sales calls lets you connect with prospects before or after their long to-do lists, not right in the middle of their busy workdays. And Fridays are un-ideal because people are gearing up to start their weekends and not usually looking to start any new relationships.

How time zones affect your outreach strategy

It’s easy to forget, but sending an email at 10 am your time might mean it arrives at 7 am for a prospect on the West Coast. That’s a critical detail. Always send emails based on your prospect’s local time, not your own. Failing to account for time zones is one of the fastest ways to undermine a well-crafted message. Modern sales platforms can automate this for you, ensuring your outreach always lands at the optimal local time without you having to do the math.

Testing and optimizing your email timing

The data in this article is a fantastic starting point, but it’s not the final word. The “best” time to email can vary by industry, role, and even the specific person you’re contacting. The only way to know for sure what works for your audience is to test it. Use these recommendations as your baseline and run A/B tests on your send times. Track your open, click, and reply rates to see if you can find a window that delivers even better results. Smart optimization is an ongoing process, not a one-time fix.

Start timing your outreach for better results

Getting your timing right isn’t about luck; it’s about strategy. By understanding when your prospects are most likely to engage, you can significantly increase the impact of every call and email. Combine these data-backed insights with your own testing to build a powerful outreach system. If you’re ready to stop guessing and start connecting, the right tools can make all the difference. Apollo helps you automate and perfectly time your outreach, so you can focus on what you do best: selling. Get started for free and see how much more effective your prospecting can be.

Frequently asked questions about email and call timing

What day of the week is best for sales emails?

Mid-week is generally your best bet. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays consistently show the highest engagement rates, as prospects have settled into their work week but aren’t yet checked out for the weekend.

How do time zones affect when I should send emails?

They’re critical. Always schedule your emails to send based on the recipient’s local time zone. An email sent at 10 am in your time zone could be 7 am or 1 pm for them, completely changing its effectiveness. Use a tool that can schedule sends by local time.

Should I send emails at different times for different industries?

Yes, it’s a smart move. A tech startup employee might check emails late at night, while someone in manufacturing might be most active early in the morning. Use the general advice as a starting point, but test what works best for your specific target industries.

How often should I test my email timing?

It’s a good idea to review your timing performance quarterly. Run small A/B tests continuously to refine your approach. If you notice a dip in engagement, testing new send times is a great first step to diagnose the issue.