Learning Objective

By the end of this tutorial, you'll know how to configure when your campaign sends emails, control the pace of new lead outreach, and optimize timing based on your audience's timezone and availability patterns.

Why This Matters

Timing determines whether your emails get read or ignored. Sending at 3am in your prospect's timezone gets buried overnight. Sending 100 emails instantly looks automated and risks spam filters. A proper schedule spaces sends across working hours in the prospect's timezone, appearing natural and maximizing open rates.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have:

A campaign created with sequence steps configured
Understanding of your target audience's timezone and work hours
Daily sending limits configured (Settings → Sending Limits)

Understanding Schedule Components

Sending schedule controls two things:

1. Time window (when emails send):

Days: Which days of the week to send (e.g., weekdays only)
Hours: What time range each day (e.g., 9am-5pm)
Timezone: Which timezone to use for timing

2. Sending speed (how fast new leads enter):

Controls how many new leads receive Step 1 per day
Spaces emails throughout your time window (recommended: 15+ minute intervals)
Only affects first email, follow-ups use delay settings

💡 Key distinction: Schedule controls when ANY email can send. Sending speed controls how many NEW leads start per day.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Open campaign settings

Go to Campaigns → Select your campaign.

Step 2: Navigate to Schedules & launch

Click Settings (gear icon) at the top, then select Schedules & launch.

Step 3: Create a new schedule

In Schedules & launch, click Create a new schedule.

Step 4: Configure timezone, days, hours, and sending pace

Set your Timezone used, choose which days to Send on, define the time window (Between / And), and set how often to reach a new lead (Reach a new lead every).

Step 5: Name and save the schedule

Give your schedule a descriptive name (e.g., "US East Coast Business Hours" or "EU Weekdays 9-5"), then click Add this schedule.

💡 Tip: Descriptive names help when you save schedules as templates for future campaigns.

Step 6: Verify the schedule is applied

Confirm your new schedule now appears under Your campaign schedules.

How Scheduling Works in Practice

Example: New leads entering campaign

Setup:

Schedule: Weekdays, 9am-5pm EST
Sending speed: 20-minute intervals
Calculated capacity: 24 new leads per day

Day 1 (Monday):

9:00am: Lead 1 receives Step 1
9:20am: Lead 2 receives Step 1
9:40am: Lead 3 receives Step 1
...continues until 4:40pm (Lead 24)

Day 2 (Tuesday):

Next batch of 24 leads starts receiving Step 1

Follow-up timing:

Lead 1 received Step 1 at 9:00am Monday
Step 2 has a 3-day delay
Lead 1 receives Step 2 around 9:00am Thursday (maintains same time)

💡 Follow-ups respect original send time: If someone gets their first email at 10:30am, follow-ups send around 10:30am on subsequent days (within your schedule window).

Schedule vs. Global Daily Limit

Two different controls work together:

Schedule (this article):

Controls WHEN emails can send (days/hours/timezone)
Controls HOW FAST new leads enter (sending speed)
Campaign-specific setting

Global Daily Limit (Settings → Sending Limits):

Controls TOTAL emails per day per sender (all campaigns combined)
Includes both new leads AND follow-ups
Account-level setting for deliverability protection

How they interact:

Your schedule calculates you can send 24 new leads per day
BUT your global limit is 50 emails per day total
If 30 follow-ups are due, only 20 new leads can start (50 - 30 = 20)
Remaining 4 new leads queue for the next day

💡 Global limit always wins: Schedule says what's possible; global limit enforces the hard cap.

Troubleshooting

Issue: Emails are not sending during the scheduled window

Fix: Check the campaign isn't paused. Verify the sender's email is still connected. Confirm you haven't hit the global daily limit. Check leads are actually in "Ready to send" status.

Issue: Emails are being sent outside my scheduled hours

Fix: Verify the timezone is set to the prospect's timezone, not yours. Check if delays pushed emails outside the window; they queue for the next available window. Review the global limit isn't forcing spread across more hours.

Issue: Too few new leads starting each day

Fix: Increase your sending speed (shorter intervals between sends). Verify global daily limit isn't too restrictive. Check that enough leads are in the Launch section waiting to start.

Issue: Follow-ups are being sent at weird times

Fix: Follow-ups sent at the same time as the original first email (within the schedule window). If the first email is sent at 4:50 pm, follow-ups should be sent at 4:50 pm. Adjust the schedule window or the sending speed to control the first email timing.

Optimization Tips

Match prospect's timezone - Always use your target audience's timezone, not yours. Multi-region campaigns may need separate campaigns per timezone.

Avoid Monday mornings and Friday afternoons - Peak times = buried emails. Tuesday-Thursday, 9 am-3 pm, typically sees the best engagement.

Start conservative - Begin with 9 am-5 pm weekdays, 20-minute intervals. Expand the window only after confirming good deliverability and engagement.

Save as template - Once you find a schedule that works, save it as a template (option in schedule settings) to reuse across campaigns.

Test different windows - A/B test 9 am-12 pm vs. 1 pm-5 pm to find when your audience engages most.

Coordinate with reply management - Schedule sends when your team is available to handle replies. Don't send late Friday if nobody checks email until Monday.

Monitor global limit impact - If follow-ups consistently prevent new leads from starting, increase the global limit or reduce campaign volume.