How do I use the date-based trigger and actions in an automation?

With ActiveCampaign, you can start an automation based on any date field in your account. You can also use date and time conditions with "Wait," "If/Else," and "Goal" actions.

Take note

• If using these actions and triggers with an “Active” automation, set the automation to “Inactive” first. Once you’re done editing the automation, set it back to “Active” so contacts can continue to enter your automation and proceed through your workflow
• For “Wait” actions, we recommend using the “Wait until a specific day and/or time” or “Wait until custom date field matches” configuration options, as they are the most straightforward way to configure date-based “Wait” actions. We only recommend using conditions in the “Wait until specific conditions are met” configuration option (explained below) if you want to combine those conditions with others like “Has a tag” or “Is active on a list”
  
  Learn how to configure the “Wait” automation action for more

Watch a video

To see how you can use date-based triggers and actions in automation, watch the video below.

"Date based" automation trigger

The "Date based" automation trigger lets you start an automation based on a contact's date field. You can choose to start the automation before, on, or after the date displayed in their field. Use this trigger to create automations based on event dates, such as weddings, birthdays, or subscriptions.

To learn more about date-based triggers, visit the "How to start an automation on a date or time" help article.

Using "Date & Time" conditions

Contacts who reach a "Wait" action containing a date or time condition wait in that step until they meet the requirements to move to the following action in your automation.

When used in a "Goal" action, a contact will jump to that goal as soon as they meet the conditions (i.e., achieve your goal), skipping all other actions in between.

Use this option if you want contacts to wait or jump to a goal on a particular weekday, month, or time.

Using time with the "Current date" condition

When using time with the "Current date" condition, that time condition is valid for an entire hour. For example, if you create a "Wait" action with the current time of 11 am, it means that contacts will pass through this "Wait" action from 11:00 am to 11:59 am.

The following date and time options are available. Choose either the contact's time zone or the time zone set in your account. These options are under "Option Categories > Date & Time" in the segment builder:

Date fields and specific dates

This condition means that contacts will queue in your "Wait" or achieve your "Goal" action once the date in their date field matches the date set in this condition.

For example, if I created a "Goal" action with the following conditions:

Then contacts who reach that "If/Else" action will queue in that step until the date in their webinar field matches the date in the condition.

Date fields and current date

This condition means that contacts will queue in your "Wait" action or achieve your goal once the date in their field matches the current date. You can think of "current date" as "today's date" because the system checks to see if the date in the contact's date field matches today's date.

Using the example above, if a contact reaches that "Goal" action on September 30th but the date in their field says "October 1st," the contact will wait in that step for 1 day, because then the date in their date field will match that current date.

Date fields with plus and minus conditions

With this condition, you can determine if a contact should move to the next step in an automation, or achieve a goal a certain number of days before or after a date stored in a contact's custom date-based field.

When creating a date-based condition, "plus" translates to "X amount of days BEFORE the date stored in your custom date field," while "minus" means "X amount of days AFTER the date stored in your custom date field."

For example, let's say I have a few contacts in a webinar automation that have a webinar date of October 3rd, and I want to send them an email reminder three days before that date.

The "Goal" condition I would set up would look like this:

When a contact reaches that "Goal" action, they will queue there until October 1st, because October 1st (current date) plus 3 equals October 3rd.

To learn more, visit How to use "number of days before or after" wait conditions in automations.  

Using time limits with "Wait" actions

With each "Wait" action, you can set a time limit by checking the "Continue automation if conditions are not met within a specific time period" checkbox. This means that any contact who reaches this step in your automation will wait until they meet your requirements or until the time limit expires, whichever comes first.

Using the example above, if a contact reaches that "Wait" action on September 20th, they will wait 1 day and then proceed to the next step. If they reach that "Wait" action on November 2nd, they will wait 1 day and then proceed to the next step.

If you were to uncheck the "Continue automation if conditions are not met within a specific time period" checkbox (example below), then any contacts who reach that action after September 29th, will wait in that step until it is September 29th again.