How it works
- The AI analyzes past open and click activity for each contact
- It identifies the time of day and day of week when each contact is most likely to engage
- When you schedule with Smart Send Time enabled, the platform delivers emails across a window (typically 24 hours)
- Contacts without enough engagement history receive the email at the campaign’s default send time
Enabling smart send time
What the AI considers
- Open times — when the contact has historically opened emails
- Click times — when the contact has clicked links
- Time zone — the contact’s detected or assigned time zone
- Day-of-week patterns — weekday vs. weekend engagement differences
- Recency weighting — recent engagement carries more weight
Smart Send Time requires sufficient historical data. Contacts who have received fewer than 3 emails will use the fallback send time.
Best practices
Use for campaigns where timing matters
Use for campaigns where timing matters
Smart Send Time works best for promotional campaigns, newsletters, and re-engagement emails.
Not ideal for time-sensitive announcements
Not ideal for time-sensitive announcements
If your message is about an event starting in 2 hours, use a fixed send time instead. Smart Send Time spreads delivery across up to 24 hours.
Compare against fixed sends
Compare against fixed sends
A/B test: send one campaign with Smart Send Time and another at a fixed time. Compare open and click rates.
Keep contact time zones accurate
Keep contact time zones accurate
The AI uses time zone data from the contact record. Missing or incorrect time zones reduce optimization accuracy.
Limitations
- Requires at least 3 previous email interactions per contact for accurate optimization
- Delivery is spread across a window (typically 24 hours), not instant
- Available for broadcast campaigns only — not for workflow email actions
- The AI model improves over time as more engagement data is collected
Smart send time vs. manual scheduling
| Feature | Smart send time | Manual scheduling |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery window | Spread across 24 hours per contact | All at once at a fixed time |
| Personalization | Per-contact optimization | Same time for everyone |
| Best for | Newsletters, promotions, re-engagement | Time-sensitive announcements |
| Data required | Historical engagement data | None |