Understanding Time Zones

How to Properly Set Up Time Zones (for Users and Leads)

You always want to know that your leads are getting the right communication at the right time. A 2 AM text message almost never goes over very well. There are multiple time zone options for both users and leads that can impact the timing of emails campaigns and workflows. This article covers everything you need to know to set up your agency and other users for success. 

How Do Time Zones Work?

FG Funnels uses time zones in a variety of ways. In the calendar, it is used to determine appointment times and set available hours (9-5 in EST is obviously different than 9-5 in PST). It is also used in Workflows if you utilize a wait step, a delay within a step, a window setting in Workflow Settings or a window setting within a specific workflow step.

Below are the different areas where time zone settings come into play. 

Part 1 - Account Time Zone

If you are the account owner, you will need to ensure that the time zone in the business settings is consistent with your actual time zone. This can be accessed in Settings —> Business Profile —> Business Physical Address. Save the time zone and hit ‘Update’. You can learn more time zones and selecting the correct time zones in our Setting Time Zones article.

Part 2 - Lead Time Zone

No Time Zone for Leads in Workflows: As a general rule, while leads do have their own time under General Info within the contact information, workflows will still run based on the time zone of the location. Therefore, it is important to assess your delays, windows and waits within your workflows to ensure that you don’t have folks receiving communication when you don’t want them to receive communication.

The reality is that workflows disregard contact time zones so you should make sure the communication times are always falling in a safe window based on the possibility of multiple lead time zones. For example, Noon CST is safe for all US leads where 9am EST would not be safe for PST or Hawaii. 

Appointments (The Exception): However, there is one exception to this rule. When a lead or customer books an appointment through the appointment widget, they can have the option to book an appointment in their time zone. (Side-note: Reminder or appointment status based campaigns are always relative to the appointment time so time zones are not really important. For example, one hour before an appointment will be the same no matter if the appointment is 12pm EST or 9am PST.) 

Disable Contact Time Zone: If you are working with leads and customers that are all in the same time zone and therefore there is no need for leads to have a time zone option, you can go to Settings → Company and check the Disable Contact time zone box. This will eliminate any choice that the lead has regarding the time zone when they are booking an appointment. You can read more about this in the Turning Off Alternate Time Zones article.