How do I add wait steps and business hours to a workflow?
Short answer
Wait steps pause a workflow for a set amount of time before the next action fires, and business hours settings restrict when messages can send at all. Add a wait between touches so follow-up feels paced instead of rushed, and set a sending window on any customer-facing step so nothing goes out at 3am.
Before you start
- A workflow already built with at least two customer-facing actions.
- Your actual business hours and time zone confirmed.
- A sense of the natural pacing your best follow-up already uses.
- A test contact to verify timing before turning the workflow on.
Step by step
- 1
Map out the pacing you want before adding waits
Sketch the timeline in plain terms, such as text immediately, email in one hour, second text the next morning, call task on day three.
Wait steps added without a plan tend to either rush customers or go silent too long.
- 2
Add a wait step between each touch
Insert a wait action between messages, setting the exact duration such as one hour, one day, or three days depending on the pacing you mapped.
Without a wait, every action in the workflow fires back to back in seconds.
- 3
Set business hours on the sending window
Configure the workflow or individual steps to only send during your defined hours, and confirm the time zone matches where your customers actually are.
A perfectly timed wait step still fails if it lands the message at 4am.
- 4
Decide what should ignore business hours
Keep urgent, time-sensitive replies such as an AI assistant answering a question running around the clock, while promotional or informational touches wait for business hours.
Customers expect an instant reply to their own question but not a sales text at midnight.
- 5
Account for weekends separately from hours
If your business does not operate on weekends, exclude them from the sending window in addition to setting daily hours.
A message that respects hours but still sends on a Sunday morning still feels off to most customers.
- 6
Test the timing with a real send
Trigger the workflow at different times of day, including just before and after your business hours cutoff, and confirm messages land when expected.
Business hours settings behave differently across tools, and the only way to be sure is to watch it happen.
- 7
Watch the first several live runs for timing drift
After turning the workflow on, check a handful of real contacts to confirm the wait durations and hours are behaving as designed.
A wait step set to the wrong unit, such as hours instead of days, is an easy mistake to miss until it runs live.
- 8
Adjust pacing based on real response patterns
After a few weeks, check when customers actually reply and shift wait durations if most responses come earlier or later than assumed.
The right pacing is whatever gets a reply, not whatever felt right when you built it.
What good looks like
- Follow-up feels like a paced conversation instead of a burst of messages all at once.
- Customers stop getting texted or emailed outside reasonable hours.
- Urgent responses still go out instantly while routine touches wait for business hours.
- The team can trust the timing without checking every run manually.
Common mistakes
The ways this goes wrong in automation, and what to do instead.
Stacking actions with no wait between them›
Without a wait step, a workflow with five actions fires all five in the same second, overwhelming the customer instantly.
Do this instead: Add a wait step between every customer-facing action in the sequence.
Forgetting to set the time zone›
A business hours window set in the wrong time zone can send messages hours earlier or later than intended without any error showing up.
Do this instead: Confirm the time zone on every business hours setting matches your customers' location.
Applying business hours to urgent replies›
Restricting an instant response, like an after-hours missed call text back, to business hours defeats the purpose of having it at all.
Do this instead: Keep urgent, reactive replies running around the clock and restrict only promotional touches.
Never testing at the edges of the sending window›
A workflow that works fine mid-afternoon can still misfire right at the open or close of the business hours window.
Do this instead: Trigger a test run just before and after the cutoff time to confirm behavior.
Frequently asked
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