Email scheduling allows you to write messages when it's convenient for you and have them delivered when recipients are most likely to see and respond. Whether you're working outside business hours, managing contacts across multiple time zones, or planning a coordinated outreach campaign, scheduled sending ensures your emails arrive at the perfect moment.
Research shows that email engagement varies dramatically by day and time. Emails sent Tuesday through Thursday mornings typically achieve 20-30% higher open rates than those sent on Mondays or weekends. With SalesSheet.ai's scheduling feature, you can optimize your send times without manually monitoring the clock.
Compose Your Email as Normal
Open the email compose window from any contact record by clicking the email icon. Write your email just as you would for immediate sending - add recipients, craft your subject line, compose the message body, insert merge fields if using a template, and attach any necessary files.
Enable tracking if you want to monitor opens and clicks when the email eventually sends. You can also add Cc and Bcc recipients, apply formatting, and insert links. Everything you can do with a regular email works with scheduled emails - the only difference is the timing of delivery.
Take your time composing the email since you're not sending it immediately. This is one of the key benefits of scheduling - you can write thoughtful, well-crafted messages without the pressure of sending right away. You can even save the email as a draft, step away, and come back later to refine it before scheduling.
Click the Schedule Button
Instead of clicking "Send," look for the dropdown arrow next to the Send button. Click this arrow to reveal additional sending options. Select "Schedule Send" from the dropdown menu.
A scheduling modal will appear with a calendar and time picker. This interface allows you to select exactly when you want your email to be delivered. SalesSheet.ai will send the email at the specified time from your connected email account, making it appear as if you sent it manually at that moment.
If you're composing emails on mobile devices using the SalesSheet.ai mobile app, the scheduling interface adapts to your device's native date and time pickers for easier selection.
Pick Your Send Date and Time
Use the calendar interface to select the date you want your email delivered. You can schedule emails for any future date - tomorrow, next week, or even months in advance for long-term drip campaigns or anniversary messages.
After selecting the date, choose the specific time using the time picker. Times are shown in your local timezone by default, but you can change the timezone to match the recipient's location. This ensures your email arrives at 9:00 AM in their timezone, not yours.
SalesSheet.ai includes smart scheduling suggestions based on engagement data. Click "Suggest Best Time" to see recommended send times based on when this contact has historically opened and engaged with your emails. The system analyzes patterns like which days of the week and times of day generate the highest response rates for this specific contact.
For contacts you haven't emailed before, the suggestions are based on industry benchmarks and general engagement patterns. B2B contacts typically engage most during business hours Tuesday through Thursday, while B2C recipients often check email during evening hours and weekends.
You can also create custom quick-select presets for send times you use frequently. For example, set up presets for "Tomorrow at 9 AM," "Next Tuesday at 10 AM," or "Next Week Monday at 2 PM" so you can schedule with a single click instead of manually selecting dates and times each time.
Confirm and Schedule
Before finalizing your scheduled send, review the summary information displayed in the scheduling modal. It shows the recipient, subject line, scheduled send date and time, and the timezone being used. Double-check that everything is correct - especially the timezone if you're emailing someone in a different region.
You can also choose whether to receive a notification when the scheduled email actually sends. This is useful if you want to be aware when the email goes out so you can monitor for quick responses or follow up promptly.
When you're satisfied with all the details, click "Schedule Email" to confirm. The compose window will close and you'll see a confirmation message indicating your email has been scheduled successfully. The email is now queued to send at your specified time.
The scheduled email appears in the contact's activity timeline with a "Scheduled" status and a clock icon showing when it will be sent. This provides visibility to your entire team that an email is planned, preventing duplicate outreach.
View and Manage Scheduled Emails
To see all your scheduled emails in one place, navigate to Settings > Email & Calendar > Scheduled Emails. This dashboard shows every email you've scheduled that hasn't been sent yet, organized by send date.
From this view, you can take several actions on scheduled emails. Click on any scheduled email to preview its content, see the recipient list (for bulk scheduled emails), and verify the send time. You can edit the email content by clicking "Edit"—this opens the compose window with the scheduled email pre-loaded, allowing you to make changes before it sends.
If you need to change the send time, click "Reschedule" to open the date and time picker again. Select a new time and confirm the change. The email will now send at the updated time instead.
To cancel a scheduled email completely, click the three-dot menu and select "Cancel Scheduled Send." The email will be removed from the queue and won't be sent. You can optionally save it as a draft if you might want to use the content later.
When the scheduled time arrives, SalesSheet.ai automatically sends the email from your connected email account. You'll receive a notification (if you enabled them) confirming the email was sent. The email's status in the contact timeline changes from "Scheduled" to "Sent" with the actual send timestamp.
Pro Tip
Use email scheduling for strategic follow-up sequences. After an initial meeting or demo, immediately schedule a series of follow-up emails at 1 day, 3 days, and 7 days in the future. This ensures consistent follow-up without requiring you to remember or manually send each message. You can always cancel scheduled follow-ups if the prospect responds earlier, but having them pre-scheduled prevents leads from falling through the cracks due to busy schedules.
What to Expect After Scheduling
Once you schedule an email, here's what happens:
- Queued for sending: The email is stored securely on SalesSheet.ai's servers and queued for delivery at your specified time.
- Timeline visibility: The scheduled email appears in the contact's activity timeline with a "Scheduled" badge, so your team knows outreach is planned.
- Automatic delivery: At the scheduled time, the email is sent automatically from your connected email account without any action required from you.
- Status updates: After sending, the email's status updates to "Sent" and tracking begins if you enabled it.
- Sent folder sync: The email appears in your email provider's Sent folder just like manually sent emails, maintaining a complete record.
- Flexible management: You can edit, reschedule, or cancel scheduled emails anytime before they send.
- Timezone accuracy: Emails are sent based on the timezone you selected, ensuring proper timing regardless of where you are.
Troubleshooting
My scheduled email didn't send at the specified time. What happened?
If a scheduled email fails to send on time, the most common cause is email account disconnection. SalesSheet.ai requires an active connection to your email account to send on your behalf. If your OAuth authorization expires or is revoked before the scheduled send time, the email cannot be sent. Check Settings > Email & Calendar to see your email connection status. If it shows as disconnected, reconnect your account and your scheduled emails will be queued to send immediately (or you can reschedule them). Other potential causes include reaching your email provider's daily sending limit (which prevents any new emails from going out) or server maintenance windows. Check your Scheduled Emails dashboard to see the status and any error messages for failed sends.
Can I schedule emails to send on weekends or outside business hours?
Yes, you can schedule emails to send at any time, including weekends, evenings, and holidays. SalesSheet.ai doesn't restrict scheduling to business hours. However, consider whether your recipient will appreciate receiving work emails outside normal business hours. For B2B communications, emails scheduled to arrive during business hours typically generate better response rates, though the email will still be in their inbox when they return to work. Some industries and roles (like retail, hospitality, or emergency services) may have different optimal send times. Use the "Suggest Best Time" feature to see recommendations based on historical engagement data. If you're concerned about appearing to work outside hours, remember that the recipient doesn't know the email was scheduled - it simply appears as if you sent it at that time.
What happens if I need to edit a scheduled email that's about to send?
You can edit scheduled emails anytime before they send, even if the scheduled time is just minutes away. Navigate to Settings > Email & Calendar > Scheduled Emails, find the email you want to modify, and click "Edit." Make your changes in the compose window and click "Update Scheduled Email" to save the changes. The email will still send at the originally scheduled time but with your updated content. If you're racing against the clock and the send time is very close, you might want to reschedule the email a few minutes later to give yourself more time to make edits carefully. Once an email has been sent, it cannot be recalled or modified, so it's better to delay sending by a few minutes than to send incorrect content.