Summary
"Wait Until" is a type of step you can use when configuring Custom Automations
Whereas a standard "Wait" step pauses an Automation run for a fixed length of time, a "Wait Until" step pauses the run until a condition is met - for example, until an email you sent earlier in the Automation has been opened
Every "Wait Until" step also has an expiration, so a run never waits forever
The step produces two possible paths: a "Condition met" path, which runs if what you were waiting for happens in time, and an "Expired" path, which runs if it doesn't
Conditions are built in a flexible way: choose one of the built-in email events, or select "Conditions Based" to use any data model with your own conditions
"Wait Until" steps are what turn a linear set of emails into a genuinely responsive sequence
Who is this article for?
Planhat Users who are building Custom Automations for their organization (e.g. Tech/Ops)
Series
This article is part of a series on Automations:
"Wait Until" steps in Automations ⬅️ You are here
Article contents
This is a technical deep-dive article
Read on if you'd like to learn about "Wait Until" steps - a type of step you can use when configuring Custom Automations. Ensure you read our article on Custom Automations before this one, so you are familiar with the context of where these steps can be used.
If you would simply like a general introduction to Automations, check out our overview article here.
Introduction
Custom Automations have long included a "Wait" step, which lets you pause a run for a set amount of time - minutes, days, weeks - or until a specific date. That's what makes it possible to build an Automation that sends an email today and a follow-up next Tuesday.
What a fixed "Wait" can't do is react. If your customer opens the first email an hour after you send it, the run still sits and waits out the full week before doing anything about it. If they never open it, the run has no way of knowing that either.
A "Wait Until" step closes that gap. Instead of waiting for a period of time, it waits for something to happen - and gives you two different paths depending on whether it happens or not. This is what lets you build sequences that behave the way a person would: follow up when there's no response, and change tack when there is.
📌 Important to note
In this article, we are using the word "sequence" in the generic sense, in terms of an email cadence.
You can create a Custom Automation to automatically send emails, which is what we will focus on here.
Note that by enabling "Workflow Mode" ("Create Sequence") in an Automation, it effectively becomes a kind of Sequence Template, where a Workflow record will be created when the Automation is run. We describe this in a separate article, coming soon.
Be aware that this is a different type of Sequence Template than that created using the legacy method via the "Workflows" Global Tool (described here), so the two should not be confused.
What are "Wait Until" steps?
"Wait Until" is a step type you can select when configuring a Custom Automation, in the "Logic and Flow Control" group of actions.
A "Wait Until" step has three parts to configure:
The condition you are waiting for - an event, plus (for custom conditions) the rule(s) that define what you are waiting for. Email events are selected directly from the dropdown menu; for anything else, choose "Conditions Based" and configure the conditions yourself
An expiration - how long the run should keep waiting before giving up
What happens on each path - the steps that run when the condition is met, and the steps that run if it expires first
Once the step is configured, the flow chart shows two paths coming out of it:
Condition met - the path taken when the thing you were waiting for happens before the expiration
Expired - the path taken when it doesn't
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📌 Important to note
Unlike a Branch step, a "Wait Until" step is not evaluated once and then finished. The run pauses at this step and stays there, watching for a matching event, until either the condition is met or the expiration is reached. Exactly one of the two paths is taken.
"Wait" vs. "Wait Until"
Both "Wait" and "Wait Until" Automation step types pause a run - the difference is what ends the pause.
| "Wait Until" steps | |
What ends the pause | A period of time elapsing, or a specific date being reached | A condition being met - or the expiration being reached |
Paths out of the step | One | Two: "Condition met" and "Expired" |
Typical use | "Follow up in 7 days" | "Follow up if they haven't replied in 7 days" |
A useful rule of thumb: if the next step should happen regardless, use "Wait". If the next step depends on what the customer did - or didn't do - use "Wait Until".
Why use "Wait Until" steps?
"Wait Until" steps let an Automation respond to what actually happens, rather than following a fixed script. Some typical use cases are:
Email follow-ups that stop when they should. Wait until your email is opened (or replied to). If it is, notify the CSM and stop chasing; if it isn't, send the follow-up. This is the classic sequencing pattern, and it's the worked example later in this article
Escalating outreach. Chain several "Wait Until" steps to build a proper cadence - wait 7 days, then 14 days, then 30 - where each stage only happens if the previous one produced no response
Waiting on the customer to act. Wait until an onboarding Objective is completed, a Task is closed, or a product event lands, and then move the process forward - with an expiry path that escalates to a human if nothing happens
Waiting on your own team. Wait until an internal record is updated (e.g. a Workflow step is completed or a Deal is marked closed-won) before the Automation continues
Handing off to a human. Use the "Expired" path as your safety net: if the thing you were waiting for never happens, notify an owner rather than letting the process go quiet
How to set up "Wait Until" steps
When you are configuring a Custom Automation (in the App Center), add a step and select "Wait Until" as the type.
Configuring the condition(s)
Choose the event you are waiting for. Email events - "Email Opened", "Email Clicked" and "Email Replied" - are available directly in the dropdown menu. For a condition on any other data model, select "Conditions Based" and configure the conditions yourself
Email events. Select the email event you want to watch from the dropdown in the "ID" field - or click the circle-arrow button to the right of the field to switch to a replacement code (dynamic reference) instead, and reference an email record that way
"Conditions Based". Select the model and the event (e.g. "updated") that you want the step to watch, then use a replacement code in the "ID" field to reference the specific record
🚀 Tips
To learn all about Automation replacement codes, check out our separate article here
Type
<<in the box to display all your available options; keep typing (e.g.<<object) to filter the listobjectrefers to the record in the Automation trigger. To watch something produced earlier in this Automation - such as the email sent by a "Schedule Email" step - refer to that step by its exact nameRemember that if you rename a step, any replacement codes referring to it need to match that new name
Define the condition(s) you are waiting for. Click "+ Rule" to add a row, then:
In the left-hand box, specify the property/field the condition should be based on
Make sure the correct field type is selected using the icon to the right of the box - this determines which operators are available
Choose the appropriate operator in the middle box
Enter the value that completes your condition
Optionally, click "+ Rule" again to add further rules
🚀 Tip
Like when building filters elsewhere in Planhat, you can choose between "match all" and "match any", and you can use groups of rules. Check out the article linked above for further details of how to set these up.
Configuring the expiration
Underneath the condition, set the expiration - how long this step should wait before giving up. This is what prevents a run from waiting indefinitely for something that is never going to happen.
🚀 Tip
Choose your expiration deliberately, and make it shorter than the point at which the follow-up would stop being useful.
An expiration of 7 days on "wait until the email is opened" means: give them a week, and if they haven't opened it by then, take the "Expired" path.
Configuring the two paths
Once the condition and expiration are set, you build the steps on each path exactly as you would anywhere else in a Custom Automation - click the boxes in the flow chart and configure them.
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Worked example: an email sequence that responds to opens
📌 Important to note
Remember, here we are talking specifically about "sequences" in the context of Automations. We are not referring to legacy Sequence Workflows build via the "Workflow" Global Tool.
We'll go through a proof-of-concept Automation that shows a typical use case of a "Wait Until" step - an outreach sequence that escalates only when the customer doesn't engage.
Step 1 - "Schedule Email": send the first email
The Automation begins by sending a welcome email to the stakeholder at the Company, using a "Schedule Email" step.
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🚀 Tip
For open tracking to work, the "Track open rate" option must be enabled on the "Schedule Email" step that sent the email. See our articles on "Schedule Email" steps in Automations and email engagement tracking.
Step 2 - "Wait Until": has the email been opened?
Next comes the "Wait Until" step. It watches the email sent in the first step - referenced via that step's replacement code - and waits for it to be opened. In this case, the expiration is set to 7 days.
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Condition met - notify the CSM
If the stakeholder opens the email within 7 days, the run takes the "Condition met" path, which sends a notification to the CSM: the stakeholder has opened your email. From here the relationship is in human hands, and the Automation doesn't chase further.
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Expired - send a follow-up
If 7 days pass with no open, the run takes the "Expired" path, which sends a second email via another "Schedule Email" step.
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Repeating the pattern
After that second email, the Automation can use another "Wait Until" step - this time with a 14-day expiration - following exactly the same shape: notify on engagement, follow up on silence. Chaining "Wait Until" steps like this is how you build a full multi-touch cadence that never sends a follow-up to someone who has already responded.
More tips and things to note
Watch the right record. The most common setup mistake is pointing the "ID" field at the wrong thing - for example, at the trigger record rather than at the email sent earlier in the Automation. If a step never leaves the waiting state, check this first
Name your steps. Because "Wait Until" conditions refer to earlier steps by name, renaming steps to something meaningful (e.g. "First outreach email") makes both the configuration and the logs far easier to read. Remember to update any replacement codes when you rename
Test with short expirations. Build your Automation with a short expiration, confirm both paths behave as you expect, then set the real expiration before you turn it on for customers
Check the Automation run logs to see which path a given run took and when. See our separate article on Automation logs and troubleshooting