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All CollectionsAI AutomationActions
Delay (Automation Action)
Delay (Automation Action)

Pauses your automation workflow for a set time.

Updated over a month ago

Overview

The Delay action pauses an automation for a specified time period (Delay For) or until a specific date and time (Delay Until) before continuing. This lets you precisely schedule actions within your automation workflows.

πŸ’‘ Note: Be sure to explore other automation actions & triggers.


Use the Delay Action

  1. Add steps and triggers to build your automation flow.
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  2. Click βž• Add Step and choose the Delay action.
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    • Insert the Delay Action directly before the action you want to delay.
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  3. Configure the Delay action in the right sidebar.

  4. Add more steps and finish the setup.


Delay (Settings)

Connector options give you full control over the Delay action:

🏷️ Field

πŸ”€ Description

Delay For

Pause the automation for a specific duration of time (seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months) before continuing to the next action.

Delay Until

Pause the workflow until a specific date and time, which can be sourced dynamically from previous steps.


Use Cases

Not sure how to use the Delay action? Start with the ideas below.


Delay Task Processing

  • Scenario: A support team doesn’t want to immediately assign newly created tasks. They wait 12 hours to see if more context or similar tasks appear.
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  • Steps:
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    • Trigger: Task Added (when a new ticket or task is created).
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    • Delay For: 12 hours (to collect additional details or related tasks).
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    • Run Agent Command: Use a task triage agent trained on past tickets to analyze keywords and suggest the best assignee/solution.
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    • Assign Task: Automatically assign the task to a team member.


Set Up Drip Campaigns

  • Scenario: A marketing team plans a series of product announcements to be published on different platforms in a staggered fashion.
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  • Steps:
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    • Schedule Trigger: Set for the first product announcement.
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    • Create Post: Publish the initial announcement on X/Twitter.
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    • Delay For: Pause for a specific period before the next announcement.
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    • Create Post: Publish the second announcement to another platform.
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    • Delay For: Pause for a specific period before the next announcement.
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    • Create Post: Publish the final message, completing the drip campaign.


Follow-up with New Leads

  • Scenario: A salesperson sends an email to a lead. They want to wait 48 hours before sending a follow-up to avoid appearing too pushy.
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  • Steps:
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    • Send Email: Send a personalized email to a lead.
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    • Delay For: Wait for 48 hours to give the lead time to respond.
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    • Find Email(s): Search Gmail for replies from the lead.
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    • Branch:
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      • If a reply is found:
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        • Add Task: Automatically create a new task in a tracker project.
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        • Assign Task: Assign the task to a salesperson.
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      • If no reply is found:
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        • Send Email: Send a follow-up email using a template.
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😊 Helpful Links

πŸ€– Taskade AI Essentials

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