There are a few ways to delay steps in your workflows using the + Wait step:
Wait for a set amount of time (minutes, hours, days, or weeks) to pass.
Wait until a specific time any day or on a specific day of the week.
Use both options to wait for a set amount of time AND wait for a set day and time, like if you wanted to delay a text by one week and then send it on a Saturday at 12:00 pm.
Wait times are based off the time elapsed from the previous step. So if your workflow sent a text to a visitor on Sunday, adding a + Wait step would add a delay that's the amount of time you choose from Sunday's message.
This can be helpful if you want to automatically follow up with people after they text in a keyword. For example, say you created a keyword workflow to follow up with new visitors. You set it to send a welcome text when someone texts your church's keyword for new guests, NEW, and want to send a follow-up text the next day. You could select a + Wait step and set it to Wait for one day or Wait until 1:00 pm on Monday. Then, you'd click + Step > Select Send Text > Draft your follow-up message.
Note: If you're looking to schedule a single message that's not part of a workflow, you can learn about that here.
Wait for a specific amount of time
From the + Wait pop-up menu, select + Wait > Wait for.
Here, you can delay your text by any number of minutes, days, hours, or weeks from when the previous step occurred. For example, if your workflow sent a text to a visitor on Sunday, you could add this + Wait step to add a delay for one day from Sunday's message.
Wait until a specific time and/or day
From the + Wait pop-up menu > Select Wait until. Then, choose the time and day you'd like to wait for. For example, you can set your text to send on Saturday at 2:00 pm.
Or, if you select any day of the week, the text will send at 2:00 pm the day after they text in the keyword or enter the workflow. So if someone texts the keyword on a Sunday, the text would send on Monday at 2:00 pm.
If you're ever unsure about how a delay will work, just check out the phone preview on the right side of your screen. This will show when each message in your workflow will send if someone texted in immediately.
Example
Commonly Asked Questions
Can I delay texts in keyword workflows and automated workflows? Yes, you can delay texts in both keyword workflows and automated workflows.
What time will my message send if I only select to send on a specific day? Your message will send at the same time of day that the previous step occurred. If someone texted your keyword or received a previous workflow text at 11 am, they will receive your delayed message at 11 am on the day you selected.