Want to automate emails (& more) for events, webinars & appointments using ActiveCampaign? Good plan!

This blog from certified ActiveCampaign consultant Kay Peacey has the latest on ActiveCampaign’s awesome date automation features to use in wait steps, jump to steps and if/else steps

This will revolutionise (for real!) the way you automate emails for scheduled events, evergreen webinars or appointments.

Whether you’re a business owner, marketer or automation enthusiast, this is a must-watch for ActiveCampaign users (or anyone whose email tech isn’t meeting their date-based automation needs…)

Read on to make date-based automation in ActiveCampaign a total breeze….

Follow these steps to use Dates in ActiveCampaign automations

Watch Kay Peacey on how to automate with Dates in ActiveCampaign – 8 mins

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Learn to use Calendar Dates for events automation in ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign has a game-changing feature that will save you a lot of headaches – the ability to control when an email is sent based on calendar dates. It’s brilliant!

How to use a Calendar Date in a Wait step in ActiveCampaign automations:

• Pick a date to use in the wait step
  Choose your date, month, year, and time of day.
• Perfect example – use this for waitlist automation
  Automate the moments when people join your waitlist, and you want to open the doors for registration on a specific date.
• Handle recurring calendar events too
  Want an email going out on the 4th of every month at 10am? Leave it set to any month or year, then make a delay loop in your automation.

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Understand timezone handling for perfectly timed ActiveCampaign emails

Not everyone runs on the same clock – so if your business runs globally, you need to notice the timezone options that go with the date based automation options in wait steps.

Choose which timezone to use with a date wait in ActiveCampaign automation:

• Account’s time zone
  The main ActiveCampaign account timezone setting.
• Contact’s time zone
  ActiveCampaign takes a best guess based on email server location.
• Specific time zone
  Pick what suits you from a dropdown list.

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Automate evergreen webinars with custom date fields in ActiveCampaign

Everyone’s doing their webinar (or appointment) on their own special date? No problem.

Put their date value into a custom field in ActiveCampaign and the automation can check that date to send emails on the right day.

Send these evergreen webinar emails easily in ActiveCampaign automations

• 3 days before a webinar – a prep email to add excitement and get more show-ups
• On the day with a reminder in the early morning to remind them why they should come
• A couple of weeks later to ask for feedback on impact

Use dynamic custom field date settings in ActiveCampaign wait steps

Wait steps use human-friendly language to choose the day to send, relative to a date in a custom field.

Set an automation to wait until, say two days before the webinar at 11am then send them a helpful pre webinar email.

Want feedback after a few days? Set it to wait until it’s two days after the webinar at 3pm then send a feedback request.

Why use ActiveCampaign custom field dates for evergreen webinars?

Using dates held in custom fields is SO good for you and for your contacts – they’re easy to work with once you get the knack, and everyone gets emails on the right day for them.

• Fully dynamic
  Adjusts to any date value in real-time
• Good for everyone
  Every user coming into your automation gets a personalised experience based on their selected webinar or appointment slot.

For a step by step walkthrough of how to use custom fields (and much more!) in ActiveCampaign take our FREE Accelerated ActiveCampaign mini-course – and get a free trial account if you haven’t already.

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Learn how time of day is set with a one hour time window for ActiveCampaign automation

For setting a time of day, ActiveCampaign offers a one-hour time window in most cases for steps with time available.

The time window starts at the time shown and runs for one hour.

Use time of day options to say what happens for late arrivals

ActiveCampaign wait steps offer options to say what should happen if someone arrives after the one hour time window has passed… No more contacts getting stuck in wait steps when they arrive after the moment has passed – hooray!

Three options for late arrivals to ActiveCampaign wait steps using dates

• Carry on – continue anyway
  Like you opened the doors at 10am, but anyone who arrives late can carry on in anyway
• End the automation
  Close the door at the end of the one-hour window, and kick them out of the automation
• Carry on – but with a different path for latecomers
  You can use dates in If/Else steps and Jump To steps too! So there are a lot of flexible ways to route contacts depending on when they land into an automation

We teach how to automate emails using wait steps and custom fields inside the Slick Business Academy, step by step, with Kay Peacey on hand to advise you personally.

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FAQ: How can I use ActiveCampaign’s date features in automation wait steps?

How does ActiveCampaign handle timezones in automations?

You can choose the account timezone, or select a different specific timezone, or let ActiveCampaign guess the contact’s time zone based on server location (called contact timezone)

What happens if someone arrives late at a date and time wait step in ActiveCampaign?

There are two settings available in wait steps for date/time:

• Let them continue anyway if they miss the time window
• Or eject them from the automation

For situations where you need latecomers to do something different, you’ll need to use an If/Else step.

Can I automate evergreen webinar emails using ActiveCampaign?

Yes! Evergreen webinars are easy to automate using ActiveCampaign so long as you put the date of the webinar into a custom date field.

• Make sure their webinar date value is held in a custom contact date field
• Use that custom field value in the settings in wait steps, If/Else and Jump To steps
• Choose exact match, or a set number of days before or after the custom field date

Can I automate calendar event emails using Jump To in ActiveCampaign?

Yes. Jump To steps and If/Else steps both can use specific calendar dates picked from a calendar – brilliant feature!

• Use the date picker for specific calendar dates in Wait, Jump To and If/Else actions in ActiveCampaign automations

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Get more help with Date automation in ActiveCampaign

In the Slick Business Academy, you get direct personal access to Kay Peacey – world-leading ActiveCampaign expert and teacher – to guide you, solve problems, and speed you up dramatically.

So come on in to the Academy, and you’ll have Kay Peacey and the Slick Business team, and all your lovely fellow members, to guide you every step of the way to fabulousness with ActiveCampaign.

Learn more about our Slick Business Academy
Fast effective Email & Automation training & support from Kay Peacey