What you'll build
By the end of this guide, you'll have a form that waits (after it's submitted, after it's updated, or from a date on the form) and then acts: it sends an email or WhatsApp message, calls a webhook, or updates a field.
When to use this
A patient, customer, or attendee needs a check-in. A day after an appointment, delivery, or service date, but only for the people who haven't already told you they're fine.
A deadline passes without action. A few days after an invoice or renewal date, automatically skipped if it's already been paid.
A lead goes cold. A delayed second touch
Any "remind me later", without wiring up a separate reminder tool just for one workflow.
💡 Example: send a reminder email 3 days after a date on your form, an invoice due date, a service date, an appointment. Formaloo waits the 3 days, checks whether anything's changed (like a paid or resolved status), and only sends if it's still needed.
Step-by-step
Create your form, then go to Advanced logic.
Start with Form for a blank one ready to customize, or describe what you need to Magic Create and let it build the fields for you. From your form editor, go to Advanced logic.
Pick On Submit or On Update.
You’ll see both as tabs at the top. Pick the one that matches when your wait should start:
Add a rule and set your condition.
Click Add rule, then pick the field you want this rule based on, and how to check it, for example, "if Status is Approved."
ℹ️ Need more than one check? Click Add Condition to combine multiple checks with AND/OR, for example, Status is Pending AND Priority is High.
From the Then dropdown, choose Wait.
This is the whole point of this guide: instead of acting right away, Formaloo waits first. When the wait is over, your follow-up runs: an email, a WhatsApp message, a webhook call, a field update, or even another wait.
Pick Duration or Until a date.
Duration is an amount of time, plus what to count it from.
On an On Submit rule, count from the record is submitted, or from a date or date/time field on your form.
On an On Update rule, you also get the record is updated. The wait starts the moment someone saves an edit that matches your If.
Until a date skips the counting. You pick the moment directly: an exact date and time, or something relative like “tomorrow” or “the coming Friday”.
ℹ️ Counting from a date field? If that field is empty on a response, no follow-up is scheduled for it.
Choose Always or If under “Run this follow-up”.
This decides whether the follow-up runs when the wait is over:
Always: the follow-up runs, no check. Example: send a reminder 3 days later, no exceptions.
If: you set a condition, and Formaloo checks it against the record as it is when the wait ends. The follow-up runs only if the condition is true at that moment.
The If at the top of the rule is only checked once, when the wait starts. Anything you want checked when the wait ends goes here. It can be the same field or a completely different one, and the follow-up can be any action, including another Wait:
Same field: top If Status is Pending → wait 2 days → If Status is Pending → chase the approver. Anyone approved during the wait is skipped.
Different field: top If Status is Approved → wait 3 days → If Payment Status is Unpaid → send a payment reminder.
Another wait: top If Status is Pending → wait 2 days → If Status is Pending → Wait 2 more days → If Status is Pending → email the manager.
Pick what actually happens.
Send email: pick a template and who it goes to.
Send WhatsApp message: needs a connected WhatsApp Business account.
Call webhook.
Assign: set a field to a value, for example change Status to Expired.
Wait again, to add another delay after this one.
💡 You're not limited to one wait.
Want a sequence, like "chase, then escalate"? Choose Wait again right here to add the next delay after this one.
Want two separate reminders, like a chase email after 2 days and a different escalation after 4 days? Go back and create a second rule instead, each with its own Wait.
Save, then test with a short wait first.
Set the wait to a couple of minutes, submit a real response, and confirm it works before switching to your real delay. Allow an extra minute or two: a follow-up can arrive shortly after the exact time.
ℹ️ What happens if the record changes while it’s waiting?
Edits don’t move or cancel it. Once a follow-up is waiting, saving the record again doesn’t touch it. The countdown doesn’t reset, and the follow-up still runs at its original time.
No double messages. While a follow-up is waiting, other edits won’t schedule a second one for the same wait. However many times the record is saved, it runs once.
After it runs, it can start again. Once the follow-up has run, the next edit that matches your top If can start a brand-new countdown.
The final check uses the latest values. If Run this follow-up is set to If, Formaloo checks the record as it is when the wait ends, not as it was when the wait started.
Example. Your On Update rule: If Status is Approved → Wait 1 day → send a reminder.Monday 10:00: Status is set to Approved and saved. The wait starts.
Monday 16:00: Someone edits a note and saves. Nothing changes. The reminder is still due Tuesday 10:00.
Tuesday 10:00: The reminder goes out, once.
Wednesday 09:00: Someone edits a note again. Status is still Approved and the last follow-up has already run, so a new wait starts. Another reminder goes out Thursday 09:00.
Is or is changed to?
Pick is changed to if you want one follow-up each time the value changes. In the example, Wednesday’s note edit wouldn’t start anything, because Status didn’t change.
Pick is if any later save, while the value still matches, should be able to start a new follow-up.
Final result
Your form now takes care of its own follow-ups. No spreadsheet of “who needs a reminder”, no one checking back a day later.
Formaloo waits in the background, then does exactly what you set up.