Date Timer

The Date Timer is used in Campaign Automations to tell the automation to wait until a specific date before continuing for the individual participant (the Lead or Contact in the Campaign Automation). Timers can be added to the canvas individually, or they can be included within Series. To learn more about Series and Timers, read this article.

Goals

• Learn how to add a Date Timer to a Campaign Automation
• Learn how to set up a Date Timer's properties

Add the Date Timer to a Campaign Automation

To add a Date Timer to a Campaign Automation, click on the Timer icon in the sidebar and drag it onto the Campaign Automation Canvas.

Date Timer Properties

Once the action has been added to the canvas, click on it and you will see the right panel change to show the properties of this action.

Display Name (required): The display name is entered by default, however you can change the display name to anything you like.

Run (required): This is where you specify the settings for the Date timer. There are two ways you can specify when the automation will continue to run:

• On: The "On" option will tell the automation to continue running on a specific date. In the date field below, select the date you want the automation to continue running. You must specify a date in the future.

• Between: This option will give you the ability to specify a date range the automation will continue to run for the participant. When you select "Between", two date fields will appear. Enter a date for each field. The first will specify when the automation can resume running, and the second date will specify when the automation will no longer run for the participants that encounters this timer. Here are some general scenarios for when the automation will run with this timer:
  • If the participant encounters this timer before the specified date range, the participant will wait until the first date specified. Once it is the first date, the automation will resume running for the participant.
  • If the participant encounters the timer during the specified date range, the automation will run for the participant.

You will also be able to check Restrict to specific days and/or hours to specify the days of the week and time of day the automation will continue to run on the dates specified above. For example, this date timer would only run on weekdays during business hours between May 5 and May 25.

Time Zone : Select the Time Zone for the time(s) specified. Note the summary text under the date and time settings. The description will change based on the settings entered above. Double check the summary to make sure it matches what you intended. For example, the screenshot below shows settings that will allow the automation to continue to run between May 5-25 on weekdays between 9:00AM-5:00PM Eastern Time. The Time Zone is based on your system's time, not the participants time zone.

If date/time has passed: Here you may dictate how you would like participants to be handled if they arrive at this date step after the set date or date range has passed.  You can choose to allow the participant to proceed immediately with the next step in the series, or stop the participant.

Note: The note field is an optional field for any details that need to be written about the timer.