What is the best day of the week to send your marketing message via email? Ask this question of marketing professionals and you’ll likely get seven different answers. Ask what hour of the day to send the same email, and you’ll receive 24.

• One is certain that Monday at 7 a.m. is best; people who are serious about work will see the email then.
• Others swear that you should wait until Tuesday at 10 a.m., when people have cleaned out their inboxes from the weekend.

To determine the best day and time to send clients your latest marketing messages, there are several things to consider. First, determine the audience for the communication. Is this a business-to-business communication that needs to be read during working hours? Do you want readers to take action as soon as they read it?

• If so, the start of the workday, between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., before people get too far into their daily routines, would make it more likely it will get read.

Monday: Unless you have a message that requires urgent action, hold off. People come into work Monday mornings with a weekend’s worth of spam as well as unfinished business from the previous week in their inboxes. If you do need to send email on Monday, send it late morning, after clients have cleared their inboxes and have gotten themselves into work mode.

Tuesday: Along with Wednesday, Tuesday is generally considered the best day to send traditional marketing messages and press releases. There are three spots during the day to try. Grab the earlyday between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.; reach out to those who check in after the morning meeting between 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.; or  after lunch, between 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Wednesday: The same rules for Tuesday also apply to Wednesday. And now we’re getting into weekend territory. Anything that requires the client to take action before the end of the week should go out in the morning. You want to reach people before they feel the workweek is getting short and there is no time to act on the message. As for messages that are weekend focused, wait until the afternoon; as people get the sense they are almost over the hump of the workweek, they will be more inclined to make weekend plans.

Thursday: Now is the time to send those weekend messages, as people start planning their weekends. Also keep in mind that the workweek is now full of action items and that anything you send relating to work might not get a response until the following week.

Friday: This is the day that the least number of email messages are sent. People are in weekend mode, finishing up whatever work they need before heading out for the weekend, so your message might get skipped. If you need to send an email on a Friday, do it early in the morning.

Weekend: There are people who check their work email over the weekend, in part because they can take the time when they may have been too busy during the workweek. Don’t make this your only communication; it can’t hurt to send a follow up email.

Remember that these are just guidelines. You need to understand your objective, and your clients, before you implement your strategy.