Predictive sending is available from a Professional account.
Please note: Generally, we strongly advise against making adjustments to an active automation. This can lead to unexpected errors. Therefore, always set the automation to 'Inactive' before making any changes!
If it is a situation where it is necessary for the automation to be 'Active' (e.g. contacts starting at a specific point), it is better to set this aside.
You can send automation emails to contacts based on the time they normally open their emails (based on previously measured behaviour). This increases engagement with your emails and creates a highly personalised experience for each contact.
Predictive sending is not available for campaigns.
How it works
We collect open data from every contact that shows engagement with your emails. If a contact in your automation encounters an email action with the 'Send with predictive sending' option, the 'opened' data of this contact will be used to predict the best send time for this email to be sent to this contact. The email will then remain queued until the predicted time for this contact is reached and will be sent based on the contact's timezone. If a contact encounters this email action in the automation, the email will be sent within a time frame of 24 hours at the most suitable time for this contact.
After the email action is completed, the contact will immediately move on to the next action within your automation. We recommend placing a conditional wait step just below this email action with the condition 'Wait until' your email is sent. This is to prevent the contact from progressing further through your automation before actually receiving this email (for more information see below).
The email will appear in the contact's information under 'recent activities' once the email is sent.
The 'Send at predicted time' option is not recommended for time-dependent automation emails.
New contacts with no 'opened' data
The automation email will be sent to new contacts for whom no data about the time they opened the emails is available at 10:00 in the morning (within the contact's timezone). If the contact's timezone is not known, the email will be sent at 10:00 in the morning based on the timezone set within your account. As more 'opened' data is collected for these new contacts, we can better predict an impactful time to send the emails.
How to use predictive sending
- From your automation, determine where you want to use predictive sending for an email, then click on this email to determine the sending method:
- After selecting the checkbox for 'Send with predictive sending', click on the blue 'Save' button. If you do not make a choice in the sending method, the 'Send immediately' option will be enabled by default.
It is recommended to add a conditional wait step after the 'Send email' action in your automation. If you do not do this, a contact will immediately move on to the next actions in your automation, even if you use the 'Send with predictive sending' option. By adding the conditional wait step, you ensure that contacts remain in the queue after their email has actually been sent. Once the email is actually sent, they will then move on to the next step in your automation.
It is important to realise that this conditional wait step does not replace your existing wait steps in your automation.
To add this conditional wait step in your automation, follow the steps below.
- Add a wait step below your email in the automation by clicking on the plus sign and choosing 'Conditions and workflows' for 'Wait'. A window will then open where you can add a wait condition. Here, choose 'Wait until certain conditions are met'.
- The condition builder will now automatically open. Here, select 'Actions' in the left field and then 'Is sent'.
3. In the second field, select the 'Campaign' option and type (or select) the name of your automation email in the right field. You can now place the wait step in the automation by clicking on the blue 'Save' button.