Did you know that you can also use variables in automations? For example, if a contact enters an automation using the "Makes an order" trigger, his passage through the automation is linked to an order. You can then use variables in the order to dynamically build the automaton.

An example:

A customer places an order, which is sent to Ecomail via API, along with an additional order attribute expire_date which specifies how long it will take for the item to expire. We can then use a variable instead of a specific value for the wait step in the automation: