Introduction

When building eTrigue Campaigns, users have the ability to add Wait Actions to control the timing of their campaigns. The purpose of a Wait Action is to hold prospects a specified amount of time, and then release them when the time is appropriate.

Wait Actions can take an additional step further by preventing prospects from being released on pre-determined dates known as blackout dates.

Blackout Dates allow prospects to wait longer. Why?

Suppose that you are designing an email campaign where you are trying to maximize prospect click-through and viewership. As one can imagine, engagement rates would be lower on a weekend or a holiday because most people would be out of the office or on holiday.

Thus, it might be prudent to not release prospects on those days which is where blackout dates can help.

How to choose the blackout dates for your eTrigue account

1. Using the side navigation, go to Settings > Account Settings > Blackout Dates.
   
   
2. On the Blackout Dates settings page, you will see a calendar for the year specified by the Year drop-down menu.
   
   
3. Using the calendar, manage your blackout dates:
   
   
   1. 1. 1. To add a blackout date, click on the desired date. The day will be marked with a "Red X" to indicate it is a blackout date. Wait Actions cannot release prospects on these days.
            
            
         2. To remove a blackout date, click on the dates that are marked with a "Red X". Non-blackout dates will appear without a "Red X". Wait Actions are allowed to release prospects on these days.
            
            For example, the screenshot below shows an account that has specified that all of the weekends in March 2025 are blackout dates and all other days are normal days.
            
            
            
4. After choosing your blackout dates, click Save.

Enabling Blackout Dates in a Wait Action

Within all Wait Actions, there is a Exclude blackout dates checkbox.

If this box is enabled, the Wait Action will perform one final date check before releasing the prospect:

• If the current date is a date that matches a pre-determined blackout date, the prospect is held until the next non-blackout date occurs. Once the next non-blackout date has occurred, the prospect is then finally released from the Wait Action.
  
  
• If the current date is not a blackout date, then the is not held further, is released from the Wait Action, and moves into the next campaign action right after it.

As an example, in the screenshot below, the Wait Action is programmed to hold prospect exactly 5 days. After 5 days, the Wait will compare the current date and time with your blackout dates to determine if the prospect should be held further.

If I change my blackout dates (e.g. add or remove a blackout date), do I need to pause or restart my running Campaign or Wait Action?

In the majority of cases, you do not need to pause or restart your running campaigns or Wait Actions. However, you might need to update existing Wait Actions.

An important takeaway is that the Wait Action applies Blackout Date functionality AFTER a prospect has completed waiting their initial wait time.

You only need to update Wait Actions in a campaign if prospects are currently waiting because they were held by a blackout date.

Here is a chart that outlines the behavior of adding or removing a blackout dates in the context of existing/running campaigns.