In ActiveCampaign automations, the “Wait” action pauses the automation for the contact at this step. You can specify how long they wait before proceeding to the next action in their automation path.
This article explains the configuration options while adding a "Wait" action to your automation. Learn how to add wait steps to an automation.
"Wait" action configuration options
There are four types of “Wait” options you can configure. Click the option below to learn more:
- Wait for a set period of time
- Wait until a specific day and/or time
- Wait until a custom date field matches
- Wait until specific conditions are met
Wait for a set period of time
This option lets you select a set duration of time that a contact will wait for. You can combine duration types like minutes, days, months, weeks, years, etc., to create a custom duration.
While it's most common to combine hours and minutes (e.g., "Wait an hour and a half") or hours and days (e.g., "Wait 1 day and 6 hours"), you have full flexibility to set a custom duration that fits your specific use case.
Wait until a specific day and/or time
This option lets you set a date and time in the future for a contact to wait for. You can combine months, days, years, and time in either the contact’s timezone or a specified timezone, and the contact will wait until these conditions are met.
There are a few things to note while setting up this option. Below are a few examples to help explain:
Example 1: Wait until a specific time
If only the hour is set and all other options are set to Any (Any Month, Any Day, Any Year), then contacts will pass through that block at that hour. If a contact enters the block during the given hour, then they will continue through the block.
- Let's say the hour is set to 1 pm America/Chicago time. A contact who reaches that block at 1:30 pm America/Chicago time will pass through the block
Example 2: Wait until a specific day of a given month
If the conditions are - January 1 of Any Year at 12 pm in the contact's timezone:
- Since the year is set to Any, this condition would be met once every year
- If the contact misses the date for the given year, they will wait until the next year on the date specified
Example 3: Wait until a specific date
If the conditions are - January 1, 2025, at 12 pm in the contact's timezone:
- This condition will only be met once ever on the specified date
- Because this condition can be a date in the past, customers will see a prompt asking if the contact should be removed from the automation or if they can pass through the block since the date has been passed
Wait until a custom date field matches
This option will let you select a specific contact, deal, or account date field to determine when a contact will wait for. You will have the option to have the contact wait until the selected field matches the current date or select a specific number of days before or after that field’s value.
You must set up the custom date field before configuring the “Wait” action. Date Time fields cannot be used with the Wait until a custom date field matches option. Learn how to create a custom contact, deal, or account date field.
For example, you can configure the “Wait” action to have the contact wait until a contact’s date field is the current date and then release them at a specific time on that date.
There are a few things to note while setting up this option:
- If the date calculation for the selected field’s value has passed, then the contact will either continue to the next action or exit the automation based on what was selected
- If the field does not have a value, the contact will remain at the "Wait" action until a value is added
- If a Date Time field is selected, the time stored will be ignored. We will instead use the selected time in the configuration to determine when to exit the contact from the wait
Wait until specific conditions are met
This option allows you to select a segment condition that will be used to determine when a contact will wait for. This is our most advanced option and will allow you to configure a segment that will be regularly evaluated to determine when the contact may exit the action. For example, you can use a condition in a "Wait" action to have the contact wait until specific days of the week or until the contact completes a particular action.
Learn how to get started with segments in ActiveCampaign.
You can replicate many of the exact date and date field configurations in the segment builder that are available with the “Wait until specific date and/or time” or “Wait until custom date field matches” wait types. We only recommend replicating these configurations in the segment builder if you want to combine those conditions with others like “Has a tag” or “Is active on a list.”