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The Ultimate Outreach Timing Guide: Best Days and Hours to Contact Prospects
- Support
- Jun 16
- 3 min read
Summary:
Timing can make or break your outreach. This article shares industry-backed data on when to call, email, or text prospects based on industry, channel, and time zone—and how to test timing for your audience.
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In outbound sales, timing isn’t everything—but it’s close.
No matter how persuasive your pitch is or how carefully you’ve crafted your subject line, contacting a prospect at the wrong time can push even the most qualified lead into the abyss of “mark as read” or straight to voicemail purgatory.
The good news? Decades of sales research, marketing analytics, and behavioral studies give us a decent idea of when to reach out—and when to wait.
Let’s look at the data on optimal outreach timing by channel, industry, and day of the week, and how to tailor timing to your specific prospects.
Cold Calling: Midweek Wins
According to data from Gong.io, the best days to make cold calls are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Calls made between 10:00 AM and 11:30 AM tend to perform significantly better, with a 46% higher connection rate than calls made in the late afternoon. Gong also found that calling at the very end of the day—after 4 PM—results in a steep drop-off in success.
Best Times by Channel
Channel | Best Days | Best Times (Local) |
Cold Calls | Tuesday–Thursday | 10:00 AM–11:30 AM |
Tuesday or Thursday | 9:00 AM or 1:00 PM | |
Tuesday–Thursday | 8:00 AM–10:00 AM | |
SMS/Text | Wednesday | 12:00 PM–3:00 PM |
Email: Not All Clicks Are Created Equal
Email still reigns supreme for B2B communication. But inbox competition is fierce. Based on data from Mailchimp, email open rates are highest on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with engagement peaking at around 9:00 AM and again at 1:00 PM. Midday messages benefit from catching professionals during a break or post-lunch scroll session.
Texts and LinkedIn: The Scrollers' Window
Outreach via SMS or LinkedIn messaging has become more popular. According to research from CoSchedule and LinkedIn’s own analytics, these platforms see peak engagement in the early morning or right before lunch. Avoid weekends at all costs, and never, ever cold text someone during dinner hours unless you’re actively trying to get ghosted.
76% of sales reps say they don’t know when their prospects prefer to be contacted.
How to Test Outreach Timing
Even with all this data, nothing beats testing. Use A/B testing tools inside platforms like Mailchimp or CRM-integrated tools like Salesforce and HubSpot to track email open rates, call-back rates, or response windows. For calls, stagger your contact attempts and log call outcomes using Outreach or Salesforce’s cadence tools.
Segment Your Timing by Industry
A CMO isn’t on the same schedule as a clinic manager or contractor.
For example:
Medical practices are often most available early mornings before patient appointments begin.
Contractors or field workers may respond better during lunch hours.
Tech executives may prefer late morning email reviews before afternoon meetings.
This makes time zone segmentation critical. Tools like Yesware and Woodpecker allow time-based delivery scheduling so that East Coast and West Coast recipients get emails at their local 9 AM—without requiring two coffees and an alarm on your end.
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. But aligning your outreach to the behavioral patterns and time preferences of your audience can increase open rates, improve call conversions, and, ultimately, close more deals.
When in doubt:
Midweek is best
Late morning beats early
Timing should serve your audience’s schedule, not yours
Start tracking your timing data today—and you might stop tracking missed calls tomorrow.
Just launched your new business and need resources to ace direct marketing at lower costs with higher ROI?
Check out Salesfully’s course, Mastering Sales Fundamentals for Long-Term Success, designed to help you attract new customers efficiently and affordably.
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