Timing and branching are what separate an automation that feels thoughtful from one that feels like a machine.
Waits
| Wait type | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Wait for a duration | A gap between messages — three days, a week. |
| Wait until a day and time | Making sure something lands on a Tuesday morning rather than at 3am on Sunday. |
A minimum number of hours can be combined with a day, so a message waits at least a day and then goes out on the next weekday morning. That is usually what you actually want.
Conditions
A condition checks something about the person and branches. You can test whether they are in a bucket, whether they are not, and what lifecycle stage they are or are not at.
Each branch decides whether the person continues to the next step, exits the workflow, is skipped, or is marked as failed — so a sequence can quietly stop for the people it no longer suits.
Stop when — the safety rail
There is also an option to exit somebody when they leave the bucket that enrolled them, which is the neatest version of the same idea: the moment they stop being lapsed, they stop being chased.
Goals
A goal is what you wanted to happen. Reaching it exits the person as a success, which both stops the messages and tells you the workflow worked.