How to Send Emails Only on Weekdays in Adobe Journey Optimizer

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How to Send Emails Only on Weekdays in Adobe Journey Optimizer

Sending marketing emails at the right time is crucial for engagement and deliverability. Many organizations want to ensure that emails are sent only on weekdays (Monday to Friday), even if profiles enter a journey on weekends. In this post, we'll show you how to achieve this in Adobe Journey Optimizer (AJO) using Wait activities and custom formulas, based on a community-accepted solution.

The Challenge

You want profiles to enter your AJO journey every day, but emails should only be sent Monday through Friday. If a profile enters on Saturday or Sunday, the email should be queued and sent on Monday at a specific time (e.g., 9 AM).

The Solution: Using Wait Activities and Custom Formulas

The recommended approach is to use a Condition to check the day of the week, and then use Wait activities with a custom formula to delay sending for weekend entries.

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Add a Condition Activity
   Right after the journey start, add a Condition to check if the current day is Saturday or Sunday.
2. Branch for Saturday and Sunday
   • For Saturday entries, add a Wait activity with a formula to wait until Monday at your desired hour.
   • For Sunday entries, add a Wait activity with a formula to wait until Monday at your desired hour.
   • 
3. Use the Custom Wait Formula
   In the Wait activity, use the following formula:

   toDateTimeOnly(setHours(nowWithDelta(X, "days"), H))

   • X is the number of days to wait:
     
     • Use 2 for Saturday (wait until Monday)
     • Use 1 for Sunday (wait until Monday)
   • H is the hour you want to send (e.g., 9 for 9 AM)
   • 
   Example for Saturday:

   toDateTimeOnly(setHours(nowWithDelta(2, "days"), 9))

   Example for Sunday:

   toDateTimeOnly(setHours(nowWithDelta(1, "days"), 9))

4. Weekday Branch
   For profiles entering Monday to Friday, proceed to the email send step as usual.

Visual Example

• Start → Condition: Is it Saturday or Sunday?
  • Yes (Saturday): Wait until Monday 9 AM
  • Yes (Sunday): Wait until Monday 9 AM
  • No: Send email immediately

Additional Tips

• For more complex business hours (e.g., only send between 9 AM and 5 PM on weekdays), you can further enhance the formula and conditions.
• The journey timezone used in the formula is the journey's configured timezone, not the recipient's.
• Always test your journey logic in AJO's test mode to ensure the Wait activities behave as expected.

Reference(s):

This blog post is based on real solutions and advice from the Adobe Experience League Community. Special thanks to Community Advisor @DavidKangni  for the accepted solution at Adobe Experience League Community: Send Emails only on weekdays *

By following this approach, one can ensure that our Adobe Journey Optimizer campaigns respect business days, improving both deliverability and customer experience.

If you have questions or want to share your own tips, join the discussion in the Adobe Journey Optimizer Community!