What is a scheduled message?
A scheduled message is a message written now and sent automatically at a set local time later, such as an appointment reminder for the morning before.
In plain words
Not every message should go out the moment you write it. A reminder is most useful the day before, a follow-up reads better on a weekday morning, and a reply drafted at midnight can wait until opening time.
Scheduling lets you, or your AI agent, prepare the message and pick the time. The time is set in your local time zone, so "9am" means nine in the morning where you are. Until it is sent, you can change it or cancel it.
Working hours are a helpful safeguard. If a scheduled message would land outside the hours you set, it waits until they start again, so customers are not messaged late at night.
Scheduling also helps you spread work across the day. Instead of sending a batch of follow-ups at once, you or your agent can set them for different times, which reads more naturally to the people receiving them. When you ask your agent to schedule something, say the day and time you want and check the time zone the first time, so reminders arrive when your customers expect them.
How it works in Spaces
Spaces can save a message for a local time with a time zone, inside working hours you choose. You can list waiting messages, change them and cancel them. A scheduled message outside its working hours waits until they start again.
Scheduled messages follow the same limits as any other send. They do not go into a chat that has been handed to a person, and they wait during a pause of all sending, then carry on after you resume.
Related terms
- Routine: A routine is a rule that runs on its own, on a schedule or when something happens, such as sending a set reply when a message with a keyword arrives.
- Workflow: A workflow is a short series of messages sent with a delay between each one, which stops as soon as the person replies.
- Hand-over: A hand-over is when an AI agent stops replying in a conversation and passes it to a person, because the customer needs judgement, care or a decision the AI should not make.
- Pacing: Message pacing means leaving a gap between messages and capping how many go out in an hour and a day, so an account sends at a speed a person could.
FAQ
Which time zone does a scheduled message use?
The one you set on it, so the time is your local time.
Can I cancel a scheduled message?
Yes, any time before it is sent. You can also change its text or time.
What if the time falls outside my working hours?
It waits until the working hours set on it start again.
Do scheduled messages follow the sending limits?
Yes, the same limits as a message your agent sends.
What happens during a pause?
Scheduled messages wait instead of failing, and carry on when you resume sending.
Useful next: No-show and late cancellation messages, Sending limits, Docs. Every term: the glossary.