Create a Date-Triggered Journey

What is it?

Date-triggered journeys allow you to send automated messages to subscribers based on a dynamic, calendar-based date. Instead of sending a blast message to everyone at once, these journeys trigger individually for each subscriber when their specific date approaches. Date-triggered journeys function via the Joined a Segment journey trigger. As subscribers meet the date-based criteria to be pulled into segments, any journey using that segment as a trigger will be able to fire. 

Common use cases include:

• Sending a "Happy Birthday" text on a subscriber's exact birth date.
• Sending a "Happy Anniversary" discount code one week before a wedding or membership anniversary.
• Following up on milestone dates or renewal deadlines.

Understanding Your Birthday Data Options

Because birthday programs are the most common use case for date-triggered journeys, it is critical to evaluate your data source before building. Birthday automation behaves differently depending on how your data is collected and stored:

• Exact Birthday (Date Attribute): Use this standard date-triggered journey setup if the birthday is stored in a dedicated Date format within Attentive (we recommend collecting a MM/DD value that supports recurring segmentation).
• Birth-Month Only (String or Text Attribute): If you only collect the subscriber’s birth month (e.g., "October"), you cannot use a day-specific, date-triggered journey. Instead, you must build a dynamic segment for that month and send a recurring monthly campaign.
• Integrations and Custom Events: If your birthday data is managed by an external loyalty, booking, or membership system, that external platform may pass a custom event or trigger to Attentive. You should only use custom event triggers if the integration specifically fires a birthday-related event; otherwise, map the data to an Attentive Date custom attribute. Note that integration-triggered journeys do not cause Attentive to call back to your external system unless a separate integration or webhook path is built.

How do I use it?

Building a date-triggered journey requires a two-part process: preparing your data/segments, and then configuring the journey canvas.

Part 1: Before You Begin (Prerequisites)

You must complete these configuration steps before creating your journey:

1. Check your Date Format: Confirm that your birthday or event attribute is explicitly stored in Attentive as a Date, not a string/text value. Confirm the format includes what you need (e.g., month/day). You can build a custom attribute from settings or from the sign-up unit itself. 
2. Collect date attribute information from subscribers. Build or update a sign-up unit to collect this Date attribute from new subscribers.
3. Create a Dynamic Segment: Build a new dynamic segment using the following criteria:
   • Condition: A subscriber's characteristics.
   • Characteristic: The name of your custom Date attribute (e.g., Birthday).
   • Timing: Select Days until to message them before or on the date (set to 0 days for the exact day).
   • This date is recurring: Enable this toggle. For annual events like birthdays or anniversaries, this setting ensures the segment resets and evaluates the subscriber every year. If using third-party data, confirm the integration exposes this recurring behavior.

Part 2: Build the Journey

Once your dynamic segment is live, follow these steps to build the automation:

1. Create the Journey:

Go to Journeys and click + Create journey. Select the Joined a Segment trigger, and click Get started.

2. Select Your Dynamic Segment:

Click the Joined a Segment trigger block to open the settings panel. Click Choose a segment, select the recurring date segment you built in Part 1, click Apply selection, and then click Save.

3. Configure Re-Entry Settings:

While in the journey settings, verify the re-entry rules. Do not rely on a static segment setup to automatically resend every year. Annual sending requires both the recurring-date segment logic and the journey's entry frequency settings to allow subscribers to re-enter the journey after 365 days.Set the minimum amount of time that must pass before subscribers can enter the journey again.

4. Add and Customize the Message:

• Click the Send text message step below your trigger. Personalize your copy using dynamic macros, such as: Hey {{subscriber.firstName}}, happy birthday! To celebrate, take 15% off your next purchase: {{offer.link}}. Click Save.
• Repeat for Send email/Send push notification and personalize your copy.

5. Review and Turn On:

Click Turn on in the upper right corner to activate immediately, or click Schedule for a future date.

Part 3: Troubleshooting & Quality Checks

As needed, perform the following validation and troubleshooting steps:

• Timezone & Source Checks: Test the segment boundaries before activation, especially if your account, subscriber data, or integration operates across multiple timezones. If messages send a day early or late, review the Date attribute, your journey wait steps, and your core account timezone settings.
• Subscriber Eligibility: Confirm the subscriber is eligible for the specific message channel (SMS/Email) and is not accidentally blocked or muted by your overall entry frequency caps, opt-out statuses, or global journey exclusions.

Why should I use it?

Implementing date-triggered journeys enables your most personalized marketing initiatives to hit the subscriber's inbox exactly when they are most relevant, helping improve engagement and conversion.

More importantly, understanding the distinct paths for different data types prevents common technical misconfigurations:

• Prevents Scrambled Data: Distinguishing between an exact Date attribute and a birth-month text value avoids forcing month-only data into a day-specific journey layout (which fails to send correctly).
• Optimizes Content Delivery: It guides you to use the more efficient recurring monthly campaigns for birth-month data. (Pro tip: For birth-month campaigns, send more than once a month or use a separate "catch-up" segment so subscribers who sign up after the 1st of the month still receive their offer, while using exclusions to avoid duplicates).
• Supports Multi-Year Longevity: Explicitly highlighting annual re-entry settings enables your birthday and anniversary programs to actually repeat year after year instead of running as a broken, one-time-only send.