Skip to main content

Journey Steps Reference

This is your complete guide to every step available in the journey builder. Steps are organized into three groups — the same way they appear in the builder sidebar.

Actions — Do Something​

Send Email​

The most-used step. Sends an email to the contact currently moving through the journey.

You'll configure:

  • Step name — label for your reference (e.g., "Welcome Email")
  • Subject line — what shows in the inbox
  • From name / From email — sender identity
  • HTML content — the email body, with full support for merge tags ({{firstName}}, {{email}}, etc.)
  • SMTP Connection — which email provider sends it

Works exactly like campaign emails — same merge tags, same editor.

Update Field​

Changes a value on the contact's profile. Useful for tagging contacts based on their journey behavior.

Common uses:

  • Set lifecycle_stage to "active" after they complete onboarding
  • Increment score by 10 when they engage with an email
  • Set a custom field like last_journey_completed for your records

Add to List​

Adds the contact to a list. Use this to move people between lists based on what they do in the journey.

Example: After a welcome series, add contacts to your "Onboarded" list so you can target them differently in future campaigns.

Remove from List​

Removes the contact from a list.

Example: Remove from "Prospects" list once they complete the purchase journey.

Fire Webhook​

Sends an HTTP POST request to an external URL with the contact's data. This is how you connect journeys to outside tools.

Use cases:

  • Notify your CRM when a contact reaches a milestone
  • Trigger a Slack alert when someone completes a journey
  • Send data to your analytics platform
  • Kick off a process in Zapier, Make, or n8n

Logic — Make a Decision​

All logic steps create a Yes/No fork in the flow. The contact goes down one path based on whether the condition is true or false.

Condition​

Checks a field on the contact's profile against a value you set.

You'll configure:

  • Field — which contact field to check
  • Operator — equals, not equals, contains, greater than, less than, is set, is not set, etc.
  • Value — what to compare against

Examples a marketer would use:

  • country equals "US" → send US-specific offer on Yes path
  • score greater than 80 → VIP treatment on Yes path
  • plan_type equals "free" → send upgrade pitch on Yes path
  • phone is set → include SMS follow-up info on Yes path

Email Engagement​

Checks whether the contact engaged with a specific email within this journey.

You'll configure:

  • Event — opened, clicked, or not opened
  • Step — which Send Email step to check

This is the bread and butter of journey branching. "Did they open Email #1?" → Yes: move forward → No: send a reminder.

Segment Check​

Checks if the contact currently belongs to a specific segment.

Since segments are always up-to-date (they recalculate in real time), this evaluates against the contact's current data — not where they were when they entered the journey.

Example: Check if the contact is in your "High-Value Customers" segment → Yes: send exclusive offer → No: send standard offer.

Event Condition​

Checks if a specific email event happened for this contact, optionally filtered to a specific campaign and time window.

You'll configure:

  • Event type — opened, clicked, bounced, etc.
  • Campaign (optional) — limit to a specific campaign
  • Time window — within the last N hours/days/months

Example: "Did this contact click any email in the last 7 days?" → Yes: they're active → No: they need re-engagement.

Flow — Control Timing and Endings​

Wait​

Pauses for a fixed amount of time before the contact moves to the next step.

You'll configure:

  • Duration — a number
  • Unit — minutes, hours, days, or weeks

Best practices:

  • Welcome series: 2–3 days between emails
  • Cart abandonment: 1 hour for the first reminder
  • Re-engagement: 5–7 days between attempts

Wait Until​

Pauses until a specific date stored in the contact's profile.

You'll configure:

  • Date field — which contact field contains the date
  • Offset (optional) — before or after that date

Examples:

  • Wait until trial_expiry_date minus 3 days → send trial ending warning
  • Wait until birthday → send birthday email
  • Wait until renewal_date minus 7 days → send renewal reminder

Wait for Event​

Pauses until the contact does something — with a timeout so they don't get stuck forever.

You'll configure:

  • Event type — what you're waiting for (e.g., "clicked")
  • Timeout — maximum time to wait
  • Timeout path — where to send the contact if the event doesn't happen

Example: After sending a promo email, wait up to 24 hours for a click. If they click → fast-track to thank-you email. If timeout → send a reminder instead.

Exit​

Ends the journey for this contact. They're marked as "completed" and (depending on your re-entry rules) may or may not be eligible to enter again.

Every path in your journey should eventually reach an Exit step — or a dead end (a step with no outgoing connection), which works the same way.

How Steps Execute​

When a contact reaches a step:

  1. The action runs (or condition is evaluated)
  2. The contact moves to the next connected step
  3. If the next step is a delay, they wait there

Every contact moves through the journey independently. You might have thousands of contacts at different steps in the same journey at the same time — each one tracked separately.