Set business hours for campaigns

Who can use this feature?

  • Global admins, SuccessBLOC owners, and SuccessBLOC collaborators can override campaign settings on an individual basis
  • Global admins or users with advanced permissions can update campaign or team settings
  • Available on all plans

Business hours allow you to control the hours that your campaign emails are delivered to ensure they are more likely to be read when sent during timeframes personalized to the target audience (e.g., working hours). You can set business hours in the following areas:

  • Service: Set default hours for all campaigns in your Totango service (instance)
  • Team: Set default hours for all campaigns in a particular team. If team settings are enabled, they take precedence over settings defined over the service level.
  • Campaign: Set business hours for the selected campaign only. Settings at the campaign level take precedence over all other levels. 

After making adjustments to business hour settings at the service or team level, refresh the page to see the new settings at the campaign level.

Apply business hours at the service level

  1. From Settings, expand Customer Engagement > Campaign Settings.
  2. On the General tab, select the option to Apply business hours for all campaign emails.
  3. Choose a time zone to use. You can only choose one.
  4. Choose the day(s) on which to deliver. You can withhold delivery for up to 72 consecutive hours.
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  5. Click Save.

Apply business hours at the team level

Setting at the team level override settings at the service level.

  1. From Settings, expand User Engagement > Teams.
  2. Click into the team you want to modify.
  3. On the Overview tab, select the option to Apply business hours for all campaign emails under this team.
  4. Choose a time zone to use. You can only choose one.
  5. Choose the day(s) on which to deliver. You can withhold delivery for up to 72 consecutive hours.
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  6. Click Save.

Apply business hours at the campaign level

Settings at the campaign level include options to override settings at other levels.

  1. From the campaign schedule settings, choose the business hours option you want to apply for the campaign:
    • Service: Use the business hours rules set at the service level (your Totango account)
    • Team: Use the business hours rules set for the current team 
    • Campaign: Apply business rules unique to the current campaign.
      • Choose a time zone to use. You can only choose one.
      • Choose the day(s) on which to deliver. You can withhold delivery for up to 72 consecutive hours.
    • No business hours: Do not use the business hours function for this campaign. This setting overrides rules set at team or service levels.
    • Hierarchy: Use the business hours rules that are set at the highest level, service or team depending on your configuration. 
  2. Based on your selection, see more information:
    • If there are rules applied at the selected level, you can see which rules will take effect (read only).
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    • If there are no rules applied at the selected level, you can keep the option (with no rules applied) or choose another option.
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FAQs 

Question: I have business hours applied to a campaign that prevent sending from 5pm Friday until Monday at 9am. What happens when a user enters a segment in a campaign at 8pm on Friday evening?

Answer: The email will be sent but held from delivery until normal business hours resume.

Question: I want to set business hours from 8am to 9pm on an individual campaign, but my team setting has business hours from 8am to 5pm. What happens?

Answer: Individual campaigns are offered the ability to override business hours set at the team level. Notice will be given.

Question: Can I implement or change business rules on an active campaign?

Answer: Yes, edit the campaign as usual. For recurring and ongoing campaigns, it will take effect at the next scheduled distribution. (If setting new business hours at the campaign or team level, it can sometimes take up to 72 hours to apply.)

Question: If user enters a segment in a campaign outside of business hours, and then exits the segment will they still receive the email? 

Answer: Yes. Once a target meets segment criteria, the email is generated (sent). It is simply held from delivery until business hours resume.

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