You’ve decided to create a stable newsletter to let boarders, lesson takers, and others interested in your services and shows keep up with what is going on. You created your list in Excel and imported it into MailChimp.com or some other service to send your newsletter, and you’ve decided on the type of information you want to include. Now you have to decide when and how often to send it.

“Schedules are important for attaining goals set in your business plan and marketing strategic plan,” said Bruce Mandeville, a professor of equine science at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio and a two-time Olympian for the Canadian Equestrian Team competing in Three-Day Eventing.

When is the best day and time to send emails?

Results from The 2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report, conducted by Informz, an email marketing firm based in Saratoga, New York, reported that of based on the statistics of nearly 2 billion emails sent by associations in 2015, mid-day on Friday had the best results. Emails sent within that timeframe had the highest open and click rates.

Before scheduling all your emails to send on Friday at noon, remember that the ideal time to send emails can vary by audience. The best way to determine the ideal time for your subscribers is to review the open and click through rates. This information is provided

How often should you send newsletters?

That too depends on your audience. Sending a newsletter too frequently causes reader fatigue and decreases open and read rates. On the other hand, not sending a newsletter often enough may lack the regular contact subscribers crave. Finding the “sweet spot” takes experimentation. Split your list into two or three segments and send each group a differing numbers of emails each month. Review the data and observe which appears to yield the best results.

Timing is important to getting your newsletter subscribers, but other factors can impact the open and click through rates on the messages you send. A well-crafted subject line and strong call to action can improve the effectiveness of your newsletter efforts.

“If you want to be on the edge of the industry you need to be different, reliable and result orientated,” he said.

Keep in mind that you can create newsletters ahead of time and schedule when they will go out, so don’t wait until the last minute to scramble around and try to get stuff together for your newsletter.