Waits and branches
Space out your messages, send at the right hour, and send different messages to different people.
Between two messages you usually wait. And not everyone should get the same next message. Waits and branches do both.
Waits
Drag a wait from the palette onto the flow.
| Wait | What it does |
|---|---|
| For a duration | Waits a number of days |
| For a random period | Waits a random time between a minimum and a maximum, in hours. Use it so people do not all get a message at the same minute. |
| Until a time window | Waits until the next allowed time, such as a weekday between 9:00 and 17:00 |
| Until a condition is met | Waits until the person does something, such as opening the last email |
Until a time window
Choose the days: Any day, Weekdays, Weekends, or Specific days. Then set From and To.
The window is judged in the Contact's own time zone, or in One time zone you choose. The message right after the wait is held to the same window.
Until a condition is met
Set Continue when to the thing you wait for. Then decide what happens to a person who never does it:
- Give up after sets a limit in days.
- When the limit passes, either Continue to the next step, or Take a separate timeout path to send them something else.
Branches
A branch sends people down different paths.
Conditional branch
Each path has a condition. A person takes the first path whose condition is true, and the last path if none is.
| A condition can test | For example |
|---|---|
| Attribute | Their plan is "pro" |
| Event | They did "invite.sent" |
| Message | An earlier message in this sequence was Opened |
For a message you can test Sent, Delivered, Opened, and Clicked. The builder offers only what your channel and connection can report. WhatsApp calls an open Read.
Cohort branch
A cohort branch splits people by chance: 50% one way, 50% the other. The percentages must add up to 100. Use it to try two versions of a message.
FounderHQ does not report results per cohort. Compare the two messages by their own opens and clicks.
Run a step only for some people
A message, a wait, and an action each have Conditions. Add one, and the step runs only for people who match. Everyone else passes straight through it.
When a step fails
Under Error handling, choose what happens when a step cannot run: Skip to next step, which is the default, or Exit the sequence.
Actions
| Step | What it does |
|---|---|
| Set values | Stores a value on the person or in the sequence, to use later |
| REST API | Calls an endpoint of yours. Set these up under Webhook Actions in Sequences → Settings. |
| Agent | An AI agent reads what you allow about the person and picks one of the outcomes you defined. Each outcome is a path. |
An Agent step can use web research, your brand's knowledge, and the person's events. Use it for a judgment a rule cannot make, such as "is this company a good fit?".
Exit
Every path ends at an Exit. A person also leaves early when they reach the sequence's goal, if you set it to exit on conversion.