Campaign Scheduling

Timing is crucial for campaign success. Sending messages when your audience is most likely to engage can dramatically improve your results. This guide covers all aspects of campaign scheduling in Waflow.

Sending Options

When creating a campaign, you have several timing options:

Send Immediately

Messages begin processing as soon as you launch the campaign.

Best for:

• Urgent announcements
• Time-sensitive offers
• Real-time notifications
• Breaking updates

How it works:

1. Complete campaign setup
2. Click Send Now
3. Messages enter the queue immediately
4. Delivery begins within seconds

Note: "Immediately" means the campaign starts right away, but actual delivery happens progressively based on your sending speed and queue size.

Schedule for Later

Set a specific date and time for your campaign to send.

Best for:

• Planned promotions
• Timed announcements
• Optimal send time targeting
• Coordinated marketing efforts

How it works:

1. Complete campaign setup
2. Select Schedule for Later
3. Choose date, time, and time zone
4. Campaign status becomes "Queued"
5. Messages send automatically at the scheduled time

Setting a Schedule

Date and Time Selection

The scheduling interface includes:

1. Calendar picker: Select the send date
2. Time selector: Choose the exact time
3. Time zone dropdown: Specify the time zone

Time Zone Handling

Waflow offers two approaches to time zones:

Sender's Time Zone

All messages send at the specified time in your selected time zone.

Example:

• You schedule for 9:00 AM EST
• All recipients get messages at 9:00 AM EST
• A recipient in PST receives the message at 6:00 AM their local time

Best for:

• Event-based timing (webinar starts at X time)
• Same-region audiences
• Synchronized announcements

Recipient's Time Zone

Messages send at the specified time in each recipient's local time zone.

Example:

• You schedule for 9:00 AM in recipient's time zone
• A recipient in EST gets the message at 9:00 AM EST
• A recipient in PST gets the message at 9:00 AM PST

Best for:

• Global audiences
• Time-sensitive local events
• Respectful timing across regions

To enable:

1. Select Schedule for Later
2. Check Send in recipient's time zone
3. Waflow uses the contact's time zone field

Note: Recipient time zone requires the time zone field to be set for each contact.

Scheduling Constraints

Be aware of these limitations:

Best Times to Send

While optimal timing varies by audience, research suggests general patterns:

By Day of Week

By Time of Day

By Industry

Tip: Test different times with your audience and analyze results to find your optimal send times.

Times to Avoid

Avoid sending during:

• Very early morning (before 7 AM)
• Late night (after 10 PM)
• Major holidays (unless holiday-related)
• Weekends (for professional content)
• Meal times (for non-food content)

Recurring Campaigns

Set up campaigns that automatically repeat on a schedule.

Creating a Recurring Campaign

1. In campaign setup, select Recurring Campaign
2. Configure the recurrence pattern
3. Set start and end dates (optional)
4. Define audience refresh behavior

Recurrence Patterns

Daily

Campaign runs every day or every X days.

Options:

• Every day
• Every 2 days
• Every 3 days
• Custom interval

Use cases:

• Daily deals
• Medication reminders
• Daily tips

Weekly

Campaign runs on specific days each week.

Options:

• Select specific days (Mon, Wed, Fri)
• Every week or every X weeks

Use cases:

• Weekly newsletters
• Weekly sales
• Regular updates

Monthly

Campaign runs on specific dates or days each month.

Options:

• Specific date (1st, 15th, last)
• Specific day (First Monday, Third Thursday)
• Every month or every X months

Use cases:

• Monthly statements
• Subscription reminders
• Monthly promotions

Audience Behavior for Recurring Campaigns

Choose how the audience is determined for each occurrence:

Static Audience

Same contacts every time.

How it works:

• Audience is defined at campaign creation
• Same contacts receive every occurrence
• New contacts added later are not included

Best for:

• Fixed groups
• Cohort-based messaging
• Specific contact lists

Dynamic Audience

Audience refreshes before each send.

How it works:

• Segment criteria are evaluated each time
• New contacts matching criteria are included
• Contacts no longer matching are excluded

Best for:

• Segments that change over time
• New customer welcome series
• Active user notifications

Managing Recurring Campaigns

Pause a Recurrence

Temporarily stop the campaign:

1. Go to the campaign details
2. Click Pause Recurrence
3. Campaign stops running but settings are preserved
4. Click Resume to restart

Skip an Occurrence

Skip a single scheduled send:

1. Find the upcoming occurrence
2. Click Skip This Occurrence
3. Next occurrence proceeds normally

Edit Recurrence Settings

Modify the pattern:

1. Go to campaign settings
2. Click Edit Recurrence
3. Update the pattern
4. Changes apply to future occurrences

End a Recurring Campaign

Stop permanently:

1. Go to campaign settings
2. Set an end date, or
3. Click Stop Recurring Campaign
4. Historical data is preserved

Smart Scheduling Features

Send Time Optimization

Waflow can optimize send times based on engagement patterns.

How it works:

1. Enable Smart Send Time
2. Waflow analyzes past engagement data
3. Each contact receives messages at their optimal time
4. Timing is personalized per recipient

Requirements:

• Sufficient historical data
• Engagement tracking enabled
• Premium feature (check your plan)

Throttled Sending

Control the pace of message delivery:

Why throttle:

• Prevent overwhelming support teams
• Stagger customer responses
• Comply with rate limits
• Control conversation flow

Quiet Hours

Respect recipient availability by avoiding certain times:

1. Go to Settings > Sending Preferences
2. Enable Quiet Hours
3. Set start time (e.g., 9 PM)
4. Set end time (e.g., 8 AM)
5. Messages scheduled during quiet hours are held

What happens:

• Messages are held, not skipped
• Delivery resumes when quiet hours end
• Works per recipient's time zone (if enabled)

Viewing Scheduled Campaigns

Campaign Calendar

View all scheduled campaigns in calendar format:

1. Go to Campaigns
2. Click Calendar View
3. See campaigns by day, week, or month
4. Click entries for details

Upcoming Queue

See what's scheduled to send soon:

1. Go to Campaigns > Scheduled
2. View campaigns in chronological order
3. See send time, audience size, status

Conflict Detection

Waflow warns about potential conflicts:

• Multiple campaigns to same audience close together
• High volume on single day
• Overlapping recurring campaigns

Modifying Scheduled Campaigns

Before Send Time

While a campaign is scheduled but not yet sending:

What you can change:

• Send time
• Time zone settings
• Audience (add/remove contacts)
• Cancel the campaign

What you cannot change:

• Template (create new campaign)
• Variable mappings (create new campaign)

How to Reschedule

1. Go to the scheduled campaign
2. Click Edit Schedule
3. Select new date/time
4. Confirm the change

Canceling Scheduled Campaigns

1. Go to the scheduled campaign
2. Click Cancel Campaign
3. Confirm cancellation
4. Campaign moves to "Cancelled" status

Note: Cancelled campaigns cannot be reactivated. Create a new campaign if needed.

Time Zone Best Practices

Know Your Audience

Understand where your contacts are located:

• Review contact time zone distribution
• Consider primary markets
• Adjust strategy for global audiences

Set Default Time Zone

Configure your workspace default:

1. Go to Settings > Workspace
2. Set Default Time Zone
3. This applies to new campaigns

Collect Time Zone Data

Ensure contacts have time zone information:

• Include in import files
• Ask during sign-up
• Infer from phone country code
• Update based on engagement patterns

Scheduling Troubleshooting

Campaign Didn't Send

Check:

• Scheduled time has passed
• Time zone was correct
• Campaign wasn't paused or cancelled
• No system issues (check status page)

Sent at Wrong Time

Causes:

• Incorrect time zone selection
• Daylight saving time changes
• 24-hour vs 12-hour time confusion

Prevention:

• Double-check time zone before scheduling
• Use recipient time zone when appropriate
• Verify with a test campaign

Recurring Campaign Skipped

Causes:

• No matching contacts in dynamic audience
• All contacts had already received
• Campaign was paused
• Quiet hours in effect

Check:

• Campaign history for skip reasons
• Audience criteria and results
• Sending settings

Next Steps

• Campaign Tracking - Monitor scheduled and sent campaigns
• Create a Campaign - Set up campaigns with scheduling
• Campaigns Overview - Understanding campaign fundamentals