Steps and timing
Triggers, waits, the send window and how many messages a person may get.
Triggers: when a step runs
Every step under another step has a trigger.
| Trigger | The step runs |
|---|---|
| After the step before | after the wait you set, counted from when the step before ran |
| Opened / Clicked / Replied | when the person opens, clicks or replies to the email before - plus the wait |
| Did not open / click / reply | when the wait is over and they still have not (at least one hour) |
| Bounced | when the email before could not be delivered |
| SMS link clicked / not clicked / failed | after an SMS step |
| WhatsApp read / not read / replied | after a WhatsApp step |
| Yes / No | the two paths of a condition |
| Path A / B / C | the paths of an A/B split |
When someone does what a "did not" step waits for, that step is canceled for them at once.
Waits
Wait a number of hours, days, weeks or months. Under More options you can also wait until a day and time - for example the next weekday at 10:00 - in your business's time zone.
A Wait step does nothing but wait, which is handy before a condition: wait 3 days, then check if they bought.
The send window
Messages wait for your hours, so nobody gets one in the middle of the night. Set the window for all journeys under Settings > General (for example 08:00 to 21:00). A journey can use its own window, or none, under More options. Steps that are not messages - waits, conditions, actions - run at any time.
How many messages a person may get
Under Settings > General, set a limit such as at most 3 journey messages a person in 1 day, across all journeys. A message over the limit waits until the person is under it again. A journey can set its own, stricter limit.
Late steps and step filters
Under a step's More options:
- Skip if more than ... late - for example a "your table is ready" message that is useless a day later.
- Only for people who match - a filter checked when the step is due. People who do not match skip that step and the steps under it.
When steps really run
Marketing Automation checks for steps that are due every 5 minutes. A step due at 10:00 may go a few minutes later, and emails from your own mailbox follow your sending account's limits.