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Delay node

Pause a user’s progress through a Journey until the right moment — for a fixed amount of time, until a date or time stored on the user or event, or until a specific time of day in the customer’s own timezone. A Delay node holds users at a point in the Journey before they move on to the next node. Use delays to control the timing of your messages — for example, waiting 3 days after a welcome email before sending a follow-up, holding a reminder until the day of an appointment, or sending a “good morning” message at 8am in each customer’s local time.

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Adding a Delay node

  1. Open your Journey and click Edit Journey to access the canvas.
  2. Click the + button at the point in your Journey where you want to add a pause.
  3. Select Delay from the node menu.
  4. Click the Delay node on the canvas to open the side panel.

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Configuring the delay

Open the Delay node’s side panel and click Edit to choose how the wait is calculated. There are three options: Delay node and side panel showing the three delay type options

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Wait for a fixed duration

Hold the user for a set amount of time, measured from the moment they reach the node. Specify the duration in:
  • Hours — e.g. wait 6 hours
  • Days — e.g. wait 3 days
The delay begins as soon as a user reaches the node.

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Wait until a specific time of day

Wait until specific time Once the delay period ends, hold each user until a chosen time of day in their own timezone — so a message scheduled for the morning actually lands in the morning, wherever your customer is. For example, combine a 3-day delay with a “good morning” time of 8am, and each user advances at 8am their local time on the third day. This option requires a timezone property on the user’s profile. If a user has no timezone property, the time-of-day hold is skipped and they advance as soon as the selected delay ends.

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Wait until a dynamic date or time

Wait until dynamic date time Hold the user until a specific date or time read from one of their properties — for example, a subscription renewal date, an appointment time, or a flight departure. Reference the property that holds the target timestamp, and Vero releases each user when that moment arrives. The timestamp can come from either:
  • A user property — data stored on the user’s profile. See Add or update user profiles for how to send this data to Vero.
  • A trigger event property — data sent with the event the user triggered to enter the Journey. See Setting up event tracking for how to send event data to Vero.
Because the target is read from the user’s own data, every user can be released at a different time based on the value stored for them.
If the referenced property doesn’t exist for a user — or the trigger event didn’t include it — that user can’t be given a release time and is ejected from the Journey. Make sure the property is reliably set before users reach the Delay node.

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How delays work

Users who are actively waiting at a Delay node are counted in the Currently in journey metric on the Journey canvas. Once the wait is complete, Vero automatically moves each user on to the next node — no manual action is required.
If you stop a Journey while users are waiting at a Delay node, those users will remain paused. They will continue when the Journey is restarted, picking up from where they left off.

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Limitations

  • The maximum fixed delay duration is 365 days.
  • Journeys must be stopped before you can add or remove Delay nodes.

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Next steps

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Need Help?

If you have any questions, reach out to us at support@getvero.com.