Communication limits

In this section, you can set limits on how many messages (emails, SMS, mobile, and web push notifications) are sent to a single profile within a specified time period.

Limits can be set in several ways: either per communication channel—with separate rules for messages sent from the Communication or Automation modules—or per tag.

• Communication module – Limits are applied per profile for messages sent through the Communication module within each specific channel.
• Automation module – Limits are applied per profile for messages sent through the Automation module within each specific channel. More details are provided later in this article.
• Tags – Limits are enforced per profile regardless of the communication channel, combining all tagged messages.
  • This means the limit counts all tagged messages, whether they come from email, SMS, push notifications, or whether they were sent through the Communication or Automation module.
  • For example, you can set different limits for tags such as “personalization” and “newsletter,” enabling you to customize sending limits based on the communication’s purpose rather than the channel used.
  • If a message has multiple tags and the limit for any one of them is exceeded, the message will not be sent.

Communication limit events

When messages cannot be sent due to capping the following events appear on the profile’s card:

• newsletter.capping

• push.capping

• sms.capping

• webpush.capping

  

What happens to blocked messages?

Mass messages sent via the Communication module that exceed these limits are blocked and not queued for later sending. You can monitor the number of blocked messages in the message list and choose to resend them manually if needed.

For automated workflows, blocked messages are only retried if the profile once again meets the workflow’s defined conditions.

Defining limits

For Communication and/or Automation

1. Go to Settings > Communication Limits.
2. On the section for the dedicated channel (email, SMS, mobile push, or web push), click Show.
   Result: The following toggles appear:

   

3. To:
   • impose limit on messages sent through the Communication module, enable the Automation limits toggle.
   • impose limit on messages sent through the Communication module, enable the Communication limits toggle.
4. In the Limit section, enter the maximum number of messages you want to send to a profile within time unit specified in the Period field.
5. In the Period field, enter the time unit of the limit (number and unit, for example, 1 day)
   Example configurations

   

   In the above configuration, a profile can receive up to 5 mass emails per day. Before sending an email, the system checks how many of them a profile received during last 24 hours.

   

   In the above configuration, a profile can receive up to 25 mass emails per 30 days. Before sending an email, the system checks how many of them a profile received during last 30 days.

6. Repeat step 3 and 4 for preferable message types in Communication and Automations.
7. Confirm settings by clicking Apply.
   Result: When a limit is exceeded, a capping event is generated in the activity list of the profile that was supposed to receive the message but didn’t due to the limit being reached. This event includes information about the capping type (cappingType). If the limit was exceeded in the Automation module, the ID of the workflow is included.

   

For tags

1. Go to Settings > Communication Limits.

2. On the Tags section, click Show.

3. Click Add tag.
   Result: A dropdown list appears. The list contains tags only from the predefined campaigns folder.

4. Select the tags from the list.

5. For each tag you select, define a limit:

   1. In the Limit field, enter the maximum number of messages you want to send to a profile within time unit specified in the Period field.
   2. In the Period field, specify the duration of the limit using a number and a time unit (for example, “1 day”).
      EXAMPLE: Defining a limit to 1 message, 1 day means that a profile can receive a campaign with a specific tag only once a day.

6. Confirm the settings by clicking Apply.
   Result: When a tag limit is exceeded, a capping event is generated in the activity list of the profile that was supposed to receive the message but didn’t due to the limit being reached. This event includes information about the capping type (cappingType) and the ID of the tag (cappedTagIds) for which the limit was exceeded.

   

Granular workflow limits vs global automation limits

The Automation module defines its own limits:

• how many times a workflow can be triggered in a specific time unit
• how many times a trigger can be activated in a workflow
• how many times an action can be repeated in a workflow

While defining the limits in the Settings > Communication Limits menu, remember about the limits for workflows in Automation and the other way round. Otherwise conflicts may occur between them.

Suggestions:

• Keep track of the active workflows and carefully estimate the number of sent messages through them (in your calculations include both marketing messages and system emails such as transaction summary, discount coupon emails, if you use Automation to send such emails).
• Pay attention to workflows triggered by frequently occurring profile activities, which contain actions that sent messages to profiles.
• Consult each modification of limit of action nodes (Send Email, Send SMS, Send Web Push) with the global limits.

Ignoring limits

Automation

If your workflows send system messages such as transaction confirmations, information about shipping, notifications about delay of the order delivery, and so on, you may want to make exceptions to such kind of the messages.

For such circumstances, in the action nodes: Send Email, Send Web Push, Send Mobile Push, and Send SMS, you may enable the Ignore limits option, which causes sending the message even if the the global limits for messages sent to a profile per day defined in Settings > Communication Limits are exceeded.

Communication

If you would like to ignore limits on the message you send through the Communication module, you can use the Ignore limits option in the Audience settings.