Set up Recipient's Time Zone for Sending Email

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Use Time Zone Send to deliver an email at the same local time for every recipient. This article walks through the All Contacts workflow first, followed by the Marketing Lists workflow. The example schedules delivery for 1:30 PM in each contact’s local time.

Quick Reference (Advanced Users) – Click to Expand
  1. Settings → Data Management → Map to Act-On Custom Fields → add Time Zone (field type: datetime) → Save.
  2. Automation → List Maintenance Programs → New Program → name it (for example, Set Time Zone) → On a schedule: Daily, Once daily, start at 1:00 AM → Continue.
  3. Add step Change Field Value → List field to update: Time Zone → Update value as follows: Set value to time zone → Save & Start.
  4. (Optional) Verify values in Audience Center → All Act-On Contacts.
  5. Create email → Review & Send → Send later → set Time to 1:30 PM → Send in recipient’s time zone → choose a fallback time zone.
Try it like this: Schedule your campaign for 1:30 PM. Recipients in New York, London, and Sydney each receive it at 1:30 PM local time.

All Contacts workflow

This workflow uses Act-On Standard Fields in Audience Center to determine each contact’s time zone. The State, Country, and Zip Code fields must be configured as Act-On Standard Fields for time zone calculation to work.

Create the Time Zone field in Data Management

  1. Go to Settings → Data Management.
  2. Under Act-On Custom Fields, add a new Act-On Contacts field named Time Zone.
  3. Set the Data Type to datetime, then Save.
  4. Ensure you have one of the following (the more the better) fields Business Country, Business State and Business Postal Code populated with data and listed under the Act-On Standard Fields

Build a List Maintenance Program to populate the field

  1. Go to Automation → List Maintenance Programs and click New Program.
  2. Name the program, choose On a schedule → Daily → Once daily, and start at 1:00 AM.
  3. Add Step → Change Field Value.
  4. List field to update: select Time Zone.
  5. Update value as follows: choose Set value to time zone.
  6. Keep Apply to all contacts in the program selected → Save → Start.
  7. The program uses Act-On Standard fields for State, Country, and Zip Code to determine the appropriate time zone.

(Optional) Verify the values

  1. Open Audience Center → All Act-On Contacts.
  2. Confirm the Time Zone column contains values such as America/New_York or Europe/Paris.

Send the email in each contact’s local time

  1. Create your email and go to Review & Send.
  2. Under Send Method, select Send later.
  3. Set the Time to 1:30 PM.
  4. In Time zone, select Send in recipient’s time zone.
  5. Choose a fallback time zone for contacts without a calculated value.
  • Delivery rolls across time zones over a 24-hour window as each region reaches the scheduled time.
  • If a contact has no time zone value, the fallback time zone is used.
  • After scheduling, track progress in Sent Messages.

Marketing Lists workflow (summary)

This workflow relies on Marketing List columns that are explicitly identified as the Act-On Standard State, Country, and Zip Code fields. Time zone calculation will not work unless these columns are mapped correctly.

  1. Open your list → down arrow → Maintenance → Change List Columns → add a Time Zone column (type: datetime).
  2. Ensure the list’s State, Country, and Zip Code columns are identified as their corresponding Act-On Standard Fields.
  3. Setup Maintenance Program → Change Field Value → set Time Zone to Set value to time zone → Start.
  4. Compose your email → Review & Send → Send later at 1:30 PM → Send in recipient’s time zone → choose a fallback zone.

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