Delays control when messages and workflow steps occur, helping you deliver communications at the most relevant and effective moment.
Well-timed automations increase engagement, prevent message fatigue, and ensure contacts receive emails or SMS messages in a predictable and considerate schedule.
This guide explains how all types of delays work in Omnisend and how to use them correctly in your ecommerce workflows.
When using pre-made automation templates, it's advisable to keep the delays as originally set, following our best practices.
However, you can also test different delays with the A/B testing or monitor and adjust your automation settings.
What's a Delay?
A delay block pauses an automation before the next step is executed. The delay begins the moment the contact reaches that block. Each delay block works independently, so stacking multiple delays results in multiple controlled pauses.
Delays help shape your automation flow by:
Preventing back-to-back messages
Ensuring messages are sent during high-engagement windows
Avoiding weekends or other low-activity days
Giving contacts time to open or click before moving to conditions
Delays do not affect previous steps and do not “restart” based on when the workflow was triggered – only based on when the contact arrives at that specific delay block.
Delays in Automation Structure
All automations in Omnisend follow a linear structure. A contact always enters the next stage of the workflow only after completing the previous one.
If you don’t add any delays, the contact moves forward immediately. This means that if you place two messages back-to-back without delays, they will still send in the right order – just instantly, with no spacing between them.
Delays can be configured in several ways, including fixed durations, specific times of day, or sending only on selected weekdays. These options let you tailor the timing of your automations to your audience’s behavior, business hours, or communication strategy.
How to Add a Delay to Your Automation
To add a delay block, simply drag the block from the left panel and drop it onto any step in your automation flow. You can insert delays between any two blocks, as long as the delay is not placed at the very end of the workflow.
A final delay is unnecessary because there is no subsequent action for the contact to move into.
Once added, you can configure the delay using the settings on the right side of the editor.
You can choose a duration, set a specific time of day, or restrict sending to particular days of the week.
Types of Delays
Duration Delays
A duration delay is the most straightforward type of delay and represents a fixed amount of time – minutes, hours, days, weeks, or months.
As soon as a contact reaches a duration delay, the countdown begins. When the full duration has elapsed, the contact continues to the next step.
For example, if a contact enters a 3-hour delay at 12:00 PM, they will proceed to the next block at exactly 3:00 PM.
If you stack duration delays, each one begins counting only after the previous delay has finished, resulting in sequential timing.
Duration delays are ideal when you want to space out messages (e.g., separating welcome emails, browse abandonment follow-ups, or multi-step onboarding flows) while ensuring the customer experience feels natural rather than rushed.
Time-of-Day Delays
A time-of-day delay holds a contact until a specific hour you choose. Unlike duration delays, which wait for a fixed amount of time, time-of-day delays ensure the next step happens at a consistent time regardless of when the contact reached the block.
When a contact enters a time-of-day delay, Omnisend checks the current time:
If the selected time is still ahead today, the contact waits until that hour.
If the selected time has already passed, the contact waits until that same hour the next day.
For example, if a contact reaches a send at 08:00 AM delay at 10:15 AM, they will remain in the delay until 08:00 AM the next morning.
Time-of-day delays are especially useful in automations where engagement timing matters, such as morning SMS reminders, early-day welcome messages, or sales announcements.
Weekday-Only Sending Rules
Weekday-only sending rules allow you to define which days of the week a delay is allowed to complete on. This is often used to avoid sending messages on weekends or specific days when your audience is less likely to engage.
When combined with a duration or time-of-day setting, Omnisend resolves both rules together into one final send time, based on the following logic:
The system calculates the intended finish time according to the delay settings (duration or time-of-day).
If that finish time lands on a selected weekday, the next step executes immediately.
If that time falls on an unselected day, Omnisend shifts the send to the next allowed weekday at the same hour.
The duration is not restarted or extended; only the finishing day changes.
Let's review this example:
Contact reaches the delay on Saturday at 3:00 PM
Delay: 5 minutes, weekdays only = Mon–Fri
Intended finish: Saturday 3:05 PM
Saturday is not allowed → shift forward
Final send time: Monday 3:05 PM
The weekday rule never sends to midnight or resets the delay – it simply moves it forward to the next valid day, keeping the same clock time.
Combined Delay Behavior
Because a delay block can combine multiple settings (duration, time-of-day, weekday rules), Omnisend resolves them in a clear, predictable order:
Start from the moment the contact enters the block.
Apply duration (if chosen) to calculate the initial finish timestamp.
Apply time-of-day (if chosen), which can override the finish hour.
Check weekday restrictions and adjust the finish date only if required.
Execute the next step once all conditions are satisfied.
This unified approach ensures that delays behave consistently across all workflows, regardless of the number of settings you combine.
Using Delays with Conditional Splits and Audience Filters
Conditional Splits and Audience Filters evaluate a contact’s qualification as soon as they reach the block. For conditions that depend on behavior – such as opening an email or clicking a link – contacts need time to act before being evaluated.
Adding a delay before a condition block ensures:
Contacts have enough time to open or click the message
Behavior-based splits yield more accurate results
Contacts are less likely to fall into the “No” path simply because they arrived too quickly
For example, you might send an email and then add a 2-hour delay before checking whether the contact clicked a link.
If you add the condition immediately after the message without a delay, your contacts will simply not have time to open the message and will be directed to the No path.
Troubleshooting Delay Behavior
1. My message was sent later than I expected →
This usually means the delay finished on an unselected weekday, and Omnisend shifted the send to the next allowed day at the same time.
2. Why didn’t my delay restart on Monday? →
Delays never restart. The finish time is simply moved forward to the next allowed day; the duration is not reapplied.
3. Why is the send time the same hour on the next weekday? →
Because weekday rules preserve the intended finish time, they only adjust the day, not the time of day.
4. My condition was evaluated too soon →
Add a duration delay before your split or filter to give contacts time to interact with the previous message.
If you have any further questions, please reach out to our support team at [email protected] or via in-app chat.