Smart Send: Timezone-Aware Delivery Windows
Smart Send holds a survey and delivers it during a preferred daytime window in each contact's own timezone, instead of sending it out the moment you hit send. This article covers what it does, who has access to it, how to turn it on, and how it behaves across every send path.
Who has access
Plan availability
Smart Send is available on Growth, Trial, and Enterprise plans. It is not available on Starter accounts. On a Starter account, the Smart Send toggle appears locked.
Settings → Survey Hub → General · ① the Smart Send toggle appears greyed out and locked on plans without access
Clicking the locked toggle surfaces an upgrade prompt explaining the feature and linking out to learn more or unlock it.
The upgrade prompt shown when a locked account tries to turn Smart Send on · ① Unlock Smart Send
The problem it solves
When a survey is sent normally, every contact receives it at once, regardless of the local time where they are — a send at 11 PM lands at 11 PM everywhere. Smart Send fixes this by holding each survey and delivering it during a fixed daytime window in the contact's own timezone, on weekdays, spreading sends across the window instead of firing them all at once.
Turning it on
Go to Settings → Survey Hub → General. The Smart Send toggle sits below Survey Throttling.
Settings → Survey Hub → General · ① the Smart Send toggle and delivery window presets, switched on
Default state
Smart Send ships OFF by default on every account. An account admin must explicitly turn it on — it does not enable itself, and no timezone resolution or windowing happens until it's switched on.
Choosing a delivery window
Once Smart Send is switched on, pick one of three preset delivery windows. All three run Monday through Friday only — there's no free-form window and no custom day selection.
Smart Send — delivery window presets
Morning — 8:00 AM to 12:00 Noon
Business Hours — 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Extended Day — 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Pick whichever window matches when your audience is most likely to engage — for example, a company that sees weaker afternoon response rates might choose Morning so the whole send concentrates there automatically.
How your contact's timezone is determined
Smart Send resolves a timezone for each contact using three steps, in order, until one produces a valid match:
Phone number — the country code resolves single-zone countries directly (for example, +91 resolves to IST); US and Canada numbers resolve by area code.
Timezone attribute — used only if it's filled with a valid value; an invalid or stale attribute is skipped rather than failing the send.
Account timezone — the fallback that always resolves, taken from your account's General settings.
Timezone is treated as a fact about the person, not the channel — so an email sent to a contact who only has a phone number on file still resolves via that phone number. One contact resolves to one timezone, regardless of which channel is used to reach them.
Where Smart Send applies
Send path | Behavior | Override |
Normal sends (manual / campaign) | Follows the delivery window | “Send Immediately” on the send |
Workflow sends — new workflows | Each send action (e.g. Email Another Survey) offers a Smart Send / Send Later choice, same as a manual send | “Send Immediately” on the action |
Workflow sends — existing workflows | Unaffected — continue running exactly as already configured; Smart Send is not retrofitted onto them automatically | — |
Autopilot | Unaffected — no Smart Send option; always runs on its own fixed schedule | — |
API / Integrations | Unaffected — no Smart Send option; sends go out as configured by the integration | — |
Smart Send in workflows
For newly built workflows, any send-type action — such as Email Another Survey — includes the same Smart Send / Send Later choice you see on a manual send, with the same Override Smart Send / Send Immediately option beneath it.
Workflow builder → Choose an action → Email Another Survey · ① Smart Send / Send Later choice · ② Override Smart Send / Send Immediately
This only applies going forward: workflows that already existed before Smart Send was turned on for the account keep running exactly as they were built, with no Smart Send step added retroactively.
Overriding Smart Send on a single send
Every send still gives you the choice to skip the window. On the Add Recipients screen, choose Smart Send to follow the window, or override it with Send Immediately — which ignores both the window and the weekday rule and delivers to everyone right away.
Distribute survey → Add Recipients → Send Options · ① Smart Send / Send Later choice · ② Override Smart Send / Send Immediately
Autopilot behavior
Autopilot is a steady, throttled stream of survey sends. It is unaffected by the Smart Send setting — whether Smart Send is on or off, Autopilot keeps sending on its own fixed schedule.
ℹ️ Autopilot's schedule does not change based on Smart Send. Toggling Smart Send on or off has no impact on when or how Autopilot delivers surveys. |
What Smart Send does not do
It does not apply to Autopilot or API / integrations — both run independently of the Smart Send setting.
It is not retrofitted onto workflows that existed before Smart Send was enabled — only newly built workflows expose the option.
It does not window SMS 2-Way conversation replies — only the first outbound send is timed; replies flow any time.
It does not pick a per-contact “best time” using AI — that's a future capability.
It offers only the three fixed presets above — no per-contact windows, no free-form windows, no custom days.
It does not change your existing channel throttles or provider rate limits.
It does not enforce any legal quiet-hours floor — Send Immediately and the earliest preset start can still fall outside some countries' statutory SMS windows. Check your local regulations before using Send Immediately for SMS marketing.
FAQ
Why isn't a contact receiving their survey when I expect?
Check which delivery window is selected and confirm the survey wasn't queued outside that window — in that case it will go out at the next available window opening (the next weekday if queued on a weekend).
Does Smart Send work in workflows?
Yes, for newly built workflows — each send action offers the same Smart Send / Send Later choice as a manual send. Workflows built before Smart Send was turned on keep running as originally configured.
Does Smart Send affect Autopilot or API sends?
No. Autopilot and API / integration sends are both unaffected by the Smart Send setting.
I don't see Smart Send in my settings at all.
Smart Send is a Growth, Trial, and Enterprise plan feature. On a Starter plan the toggle appears locked; clicking it shows an upgrade prompt, and upgrading your plan will unlock the feature.