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When to use multiple Send Schedulers

Jomar
Updated

Introduction

AskNicely allows you to create as many Send Schedulers as you need. While it’s best to keep things simple with as few schedulers as possible, there are several valid reasons to build out more. Whether you're sending surveys across time zones, managing customer lifecycle touchpoints, or deploying multiple survey templates, additional schedulers can provide essential flexibility.

This guide outlines when and why you’d use multiple Send Schedulers, and how to configure them for advanced use cases.

Video Tutorial

Step-by-Step Instructions

✅ Best Practice: Name Your Scheduler

Give each Send Scheduler a clear, descriptive name at the top left of the configuration window. This makes it much easier to understand the survey logic later and helps prevent mistakes when editing multiple schedulers.

🌎 Use Case 1: Sending to Multiple Time Zones

If you want your surveys to arrive at 10 AM local time for each region, you’ll need separate schedulers for each time zone.

Example:

  • Scheduler A: Sends to USA West Coast at 10:00

  • Scheduler B: Sends to Nepal at 22:00 (12 hours ahead)

Screen_Shot_2021-09-15_at_5.49.44_PM.png

🔍 Use a time zone calculator like Google (“What country is 12 hours ahead of me?”) to get exact offsets.

🔁 Use Case 2: Lifecycle Surveys

NOTE: Contacts you want to schedule have to be in your Contact list before midnight local time. If added after midnight, the Scheduler will not pick them up until midnight the following day. Keep this in mind when configuring when you will be importing vs. how many "days ago" in your rule set. We advise that you give at least an extra day buffer between import and queuing. 

 

If you're surveying customers at different points in their journey, set up dedicated schedulers based on lifecycle stages or date triggers.

Option A: Based on CRM Field (e.g., customer_phase)

Create one scheduler for each value:

  • customer_phase | is | "onboarding"

  • customer_phase | is | "existing"

  • customer_phase | is | "renewing"

Option B: Based on Dates (e.g., closed_won_date)

Use “is exactly X days ago” logic:

  • 14 days after purchase: closed_won_date | is exactly | 14 days ago | don't repeat

  • 90 days after: closed_won_date | is exactly | 90 days ago | don't repeat

  • 270 days after: closed_won_date | is exactly | 270 days ago | don't repeat

🔁 How Does “Don’t Repeat” Work?

The “Don’t Repeat” option in Send Schedulers ensures that a Contact only qualifies for that scheduler once per unique date—perfect for milestone-based survey sends (e.g., onboarding, renewals, post-purchase).

Example:

  • You have one scheduler set to:

    created_date | is exactly | 5 days ago | don’t repeat

    → The Contact will receive a survey 5 days after creation and never again—unless the created_date changes.

  • You have another scheduler set to:

    created_date | is exactly | 10 days ago | don’t repeat

    → That same Contact will receive a second survey on day 10 and, again, only once—unless their creation date changes.

🔄 If the referenced date field changes, the logic resets, and the Contact may qualify again based on the new date.

🧠 This setup works great for creating sequences based on key lifecycle events without risk of over-surveying.

How to tell AskNicely that a field is a date field...

Here is an example of a Send Scheduler with date logic:

Screen_Shot_2021-09-15_at_5.42.11_PM.png

🛠 Need help converting a field to a date field? Reach out to support@asknice.ly.

🧩 Use Case 3: Multiple Survey Templates

If you're sending different surveys to different groups:

  • Use the “Custom Template” dropdown in each scheduler

  • Create logic-based rules (e.g., region, brand, language) to target groups

This method allows you to visually control which Contacts receive which Survey Template, and when.

🛠️ Use Case 4: Custom Contact Rules

Use Custom Contact Rules when one scheduler should not obey your Global Contact Rule.

You can:

  • Specify a unique number of days between sends

  • Choose to count from:

    • The last time any survey was sent

    • The last time a specific template was sent

Behavior:

Custom Template Setting Rule Applies To
“No Custom Template” Based on the contact’s assigned template
“Template A” selected Based on when Template A was last sent

🧠 This prevents relational and transactional surveys from interfering with one another.

FAQs & Common Issues

  • Q: Can I use multiple schedulers with overlapping audiences?
    A: Yes, but make sure your rules are clear to avoid sending duplicate surveys.

  • Q: How do I ensure different schedulers don’t clash?
    A: Use Custom Contact Rules and assign different templates to keep logic clean.

  • Q: Can I preview which contacts each scheduler will reach?
    A: Not directly, but you can simulate logic using segments or review in the Queue.

Next Steps & Related Articles

Video Tutorial

🎥 

Need Help?

If you're not sure how to structure your schedulers, or you're seeing unexpected behavior in your queue, reach out via the chat icon or email support@asknice.ly. We're happy to review your configuration and recommend improvements.

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