Wait step timing question

[haley_s]

We would like to create an onboarding program where a welcome email is sent out a day after a person opens an account with us. Our database is updated every night at midnight.

This means that if someone opens an account on Monday, our Database would be updated to reflect this information on Tuesday, and on Tuesday, that person would be added to our program. If we added in a “Wait 1 day” step, that wait step calculates 1 day based on the date they were added to the program (Tuesday), vs the date they actually opened the account (Monday) – correct? So, in this scenario with the added 1-day wait step, the person would get our welcome email on Wednesday?

I checked the documentation/read through other user questions on this and didn’t find what I was looking for, so any help is appreciated.

[Jose_Rafael_Par · Accepted solution]

You could use a really short wait step - like, 1 minute - and add a constraint that says the wait must end at 6 am (or whenever you want the email to go out) M-F. Marketo will interpret that to send the email the next time it's 6 am on a weekday, regardless of how long it's been since the triggering action took place. 

[haley_s]

Thank you so much - super helpful! 

[Carrie_Chandle1 · Accepted solution]

Hey @haley_s... to answer this question:

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If we added in a “Wait 1 day” step, that wait step calculates 1 day based on the date they were added to the program (Tuesday), vs the date they actually opened the account (Monday) – correct? So, in this scenario with the added 1-day wait step, the person would get our welcome email on Wednesday?

It depends on how you set up the program and smart campaign - are you looking for one smart campaign to add the customer to your program, wait, and then send the welcome email? Or are these separate smart campaigns?

Assuming you're using triggers, it sounds like the new customer would be added to your program shortly after midnight, so using a time-bound wait step like @Jose_Rafael_Par mentioned would help you control when the email went out, and would allow you to send the email the day after the person opened an account. In one single campaign, this would look like:

Smart List:

Data value changed --> Is customer, new value = TRUE (this is just an example! Set this up based on whatever criteria you have in place)

Flow:

Change Program Status --> Member

Wait 1 min // must end on Mon-Fri 9am

Send Welcome Email

[haley_s]

This was very helpful, thank you! I had it set up with just one smart campaign, and your setup works wonderfully.

[Carrie_Chandle1]

Glad to hear! 🙂