# Activate

Activate activates one or more destinations.

<figure><img src="/files/YaYOlindE2gt8XGFbP6C" alt="Journey builder canvas showing a multi-step flow with Start, Wait, Segment, Activate and Stop nodes"><figcaption><p>Activate steps appear throughout the Journey canvas — each one represents a point where contacts are sent to configured destinations.</p></figcaption></figure>

## What Activate does

Activate is the step that sends contacts out of DinMo to the destination platforms you select. When a contact reaches a Activate step, DinMo activates that contact in each configured destination.

This is the step that produces real-world output — adding contacts to an email audience, updating a CRM segment, syncing to an ad platform, or triggering any other configured destination.

## Common use cases

| Destination type      | Example                                                    |
| --------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| CRM audience          | Add contacts to a Salesforce segment for a sales follow-up |
| Email platform        | Sync to a Braze or Klaviyo audience for an automated email |
| Ad platform           | Update a Meta or Google Ads audience for retargeting       |
| Customer success tool | Add to an Intercom segment for an in-app message           |

## Configuration

| Setting                | Requirement                                                                    |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Destination            | At least one destination is required                                           |
| Multiple destinations  | You can activate multiple destinations in a single Activate step               |
| Duplicate destinations | The same destination can appear in multiple Activate steps in the same Journey |

{% hint style="info" %}
If the same destination appears in multiple Activate steps, DinMo will activate the contact each time they reach a step that references it. Review this carefully — it may be intentional (for example, adding the same contact to the same audience at different points in the flow), but it can also be an unintended duplication.
{% endhint %}

## Things to watch for

### Immediate activation after Start

Placing a Activate step directly after Start — with no Wait between them — means contacts will be activated as soon as they enter the Journey.

The publish checklist will warn you when this happens. Confirm it was a deliberate business choice before publishing.

### Stacking many Activate steps

Multiple Activate steps in immediate succession can create an overly aggressive flow that activates contacts across many destinations very quickly. Each Activate step should represent a deliberate point in the lifecycle.

## Best practices

* Add a Wait before the first Activate unless immediate activation is intentional.
* Keep each Activate step purposeful — it should represent a meaningful moment in the customer's lifecycle, not just a technical output.
* Review whether the same destination appears multiple times in the same Journey and confirm the repetition is intentional.

## Related pages

* [Wait](/journey/concepts/wait.md)
* [Create your first Journey](/journey/getting-started/create-your-first-journey.md)
* [Designing safe Journeys](/journey/best-practices/designing-safe-journeys.md)


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.dinmo.io/journey/concepts/activate.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.