Wait activity wait-activity
If you want to wait before executing the next activity in the path, you can use a Wait activity. It allows you to define the moment when the next activity will be executed. The following options are available:
About the Wait activity about_wait
The maximum wait duration is 29 days. In test mode, the Wait time in test parameter allows you to define the time that each wait activity will last. The default time is 10 seconds. This will ensure that you get the test results quickly. See this page.
Be cautious when using multiple Wait activities in a journey as the global journey timeout is 30 days, meaning that a profile will always drop out of the journey maximum 30 days after he/she entered it. See this page.
An individual can enter a wait activity only if he or she has enough time left in the journey to complete the wait duration before the 30 days journey timeout. For example, if you add two wait activities set to 20 days each, the system will detect that the second wait will end after the 30 days timeout. The second wait will therefore be ignored and the individual will exit the journey before starting it. In that example, the customer will stay 20 days in total in the journey.
It is a best practice to not use waits to block re-entrance. Instead, use the Allow re-entrance option at the journey properties level. See this page.
Duration wait duration
Select the duration of the wait before the execution of the next activity. The maximum duration is 29 days.
Custom wait custom
This option lets you define a custom date, for example 12 July 2020 at 5pm, using an advanced expression based on a field coming from an event or a data source. It does not let you define a custom duration, for example, 7 days. The expression in the expression editor should provide a dateTimeOnly format. Refer to this page. For more information on dateTimeOnly format, see this page.
To validate that the wait activity works as expected, you can use step events. See this page.