System Deferral Reasons

The System Deferral Reason field helps explain why a Participant Action was not processed as originally scheduled.

This field is mainly used for troubleshooting actions. Depending on the reason, an action may wait and be retried later, be skipped, or be converted to a manual action for review.

API name: System_Deferral_Reason__c

How to read this field

Not all deferrals mean the same thing.

Some actions are delayed and retried later. Others are skipped and will not continue automatically. For example, Guided Selling uses separate values for actions that are waiting for criteria and actions that are skipped because criteria were not met.

System Deferral Reason values

WAIT_CRITERIA
The action has action criteria that are not currently met. The action may be retried later after the record changes and the criteria are met.

SKIP_CRITERIA
The action has action criteria that were not met, and the action is configured to skip instead of wait.

PREVIOUSLY_ATTEMPTED_EMAIL
Guided Selling detected that the email action was already attempted and should not be sent again.

BLANK_EMAIL_ADDRESS
An email action could not continue because a valid email address was not available.

SF_EMAIL_TEMPLATE
The email action is tied to a Salesforce email template that does not continue through the expected Guided Selling automated email path.

SFDC_EMAIL_ACTION
The email action is configured to use the Salesforce email type and is excluded from the native Guided Selling email processing path.

EMPTY_EMAIL_BODY
The automatic email resolved to blank content. In this situation, the action may be converted to a manual action so the user can review it.

BAD_SYNTAX_EMAIL_BODY
The email body contains unresolved or invalid merge syntax that prevents the automatic email from being used as expected.

OPT_OUT
The participant is opted out of the communication type required for the action. This may apply to email, call, or SMS actions depending on the participant’s settings.

BUSINESS_HOURS
The action was deferred because it fell outside the allowed delivery window.

OWNED_BY_GS_DELEGATION_USER
The action is owned by a user who has Guided Selling Delegation permissions only and does not have the full Guided Selling permissions required to process the action.

EMAIL_LIMIT
The email action could not be processed because an email sending limit was reached. The action may be delayed and attempted again later.

NYLAS_DISCONNECTED
The connected email provider was not available when the action was evaluated.

How to use this field

The System Deferral Reason field is most useful when reviewed together with other Participant Action fields, such as:

• Action Type
• Expected Execution Date
• Actual Execution Date
• Action Status
• Show on Engage
• Action Opt Out
• Bad Merge Syntax Detected

Reviewing these fields together can help you understand whether an action is waiting to be retried, skipped permanently, blocked by participant data, converted to a manual step, or delayed because of timing or sending conditions.

Notes

• This field is primarily intended for troubleshooting
• A deferral reason does not always mean the action failed
• In many cases, the action is simply delayed until it can proceed
• Some values are more common for automatic email actions than for call, SMS, or task actions