Triggering an automation based on date fields

How does it work?

If you store subscriber data in a date field, you can use it to trigger an automation. You can choose one of the two options:

Anniversary of date

It allows you to trigger an automation on an anniversary of a date stored in your subscriber's date field (i.e. 2nd January every year).

For example, if you collect your subscribers' birthday data, you can use it to trigger an automation exactly on their birthday (or a few days before or after), every year.

Specific date

It allows you to trigger an automation on a specific date stored in your subscriber's date field (i.e. 2nd January 2026).

For example, if you want to remind someone about an appointment, you can use the appointment date you store in the subscriber's profile to trigger an automation a few days before.

What's the difference between the two?

The Anniversary of date trigger will trigger an automation on every anniversary of the day and month in the date.

For instance, the automation will trigger on April 14th, 2026 for contacts with the following dates in their date field (in the YYYY-MM-DD format): 2025-04-14, 2020-04-14, 1992-04-14, 1973-04-14, etc.

In the example below, the automation will trigger on the exact day and month of the date in the Birthday field.

So, if a subscriber was born on 2001-04-14, they will trigger the automation on April 14th. If another subscriber was born on 1984-09-20, they will trigger the automation on September 20th, etc.

The Specific date trigger will only trigger the automation for contacts that match the whole date exactly, including the year.

For instance, the automation will trigger on April 14th, 2026 only for contacts with the following date in their date field (in the YYYY-MM-DD format): 2026-04-14. No other contacts will trigger the automation.

In the example below, the automation will trigger three days before the Appointment date:

So, if a contact's appointment date is 2026-04-14, they will trigger the automation on 2026-04-11. If their appointment is scheduled for 2025-09-20, they will trigger the automation on 2025-09-17.

What if I don't collect the date data for my contacts? Can I trigger an automation on a specific date for all the contacts?

No, but you can easily trigger it using a different trigger (for example, by adding a tag to all the contacts). And before sending an automated email, add a "wait" step, and set it to wait until a specific day of the month. Here's more on that: how to send automated emails at a specific time.