Time Node
Use the Time Node to add pauses and breaks in the flow making sure you reach the Profiles at the right time.
In this Article
About the Time Node
The Time Node puts Profiles on hold during a specific period of time before they move onto the next node.
In example give your profiles a few hours or days to react to your message before moving them along in the flow.
Setting Up the Node
Drag the node into the canvas and click it to open it up and see all the available options. There are four time settings:
Countdown
This time setting allows you to choose a period of time for Profiles to wait before proceeding in the flow.
Choose number of minutes, hours, days, months and years for the Profile to wait. Select also a specific time of the day, for when Profile should proceed to the next Node.
If you set the Time Node to wait 1 day, and proceed at 12:00, then the following will happen:
A Profile that enters the flow at 11:00 will wait for 1 day and 1 hour before they move onto the next node.
A Profile that enters the flow at 12:00 will wait for 1 day before they move onto the next node.
A Profile that enters the flow at 12:01 will wait for 1 day, 23 hours and 59 minutes before they move onto the next node.
Note. Countdown with Profiles set to wait one month, the Profiles will exit the following month on the same date they entered. If they entered on the last day of the month but the following month has less days than the current month, it defaults to the last date of the month. For example:
Profiles entering January 28, 29, 30 and 31, will all exit on February 28
(non leap year)Profiles entering February 28, it will exit on March 28
On Pause. When the Marketing Automation flow is paused, all profiles currently in the Countdown Time node will remain there until the flow is reactivated. Once the flow resumes, the time spent during the pause is factored in, and the original countdown duration is still respected. For example:
A profile enters the Countdown Time node set to 5 days. The flow is paused on day 4, then resumed 24 hours later.
The profile will immediately move to the next node upon reactivation—since the total waiting time has now met the 5-day countdown.
Any profiles that have exceeded the countdown duration during the pause will also immediately advance to the next node once the flow resumes. Given the same example above, if the marketing automation flow was activated after 48 hours instead of 24 hours, the profile will immediately move since the total waiting time has now exceeded the 5-day countdown.
If new settings are applied to the Countdown timer node while the flow is paused, the new settings will only be applied to new profiles that will enter the node.
Specific Time
This time setting specifies exactly at which time and day of the week the Profiles will proceed to the next node.
Choose a specific time and day(s) of the week.
Time Frame
This time setting pauses Profiles for a period of time of your choice, depending also on the day of the week, before they're allowed to proceed to the next node.
Choose a start and a finish for the time range. You may add as many time ranges as you want by clicking Add new time range.
Event time (Advanced)
The event time setting allows you to specify a custom event time as a reference point for introducing delays in your flow. With this setting, profiles are paused from progressing further until conditions associated with the custom event time are met.
For instance, suppose you operate a travel business and wish to send a reminder email to customers 24 hours before their departure date (custom event time). By utilising the event time setting, profiles entering the Time node will remain in the node until 24 hours prior to the specified departure date.
Head over to Dynamic Shceduling using event time to learn how to set it up.
