Messaging limits

With Blueshift, you can create campaigns that target the same user across multiple contexts and channels.

To minimize message fatigue, you can apply frequency capping by limiting the number of messages a user receives, either on a specific channel or across all channels combined. These user-level messaging limits can be configured from the Messaging Limits tab under Account Settings, accessible via the menu icon (≡) in the top-right corner.

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  Messages counted toward messaging limits

All messages sent to users count toward their messaging limits, except those sent through transactional campaigns such as order confirmations or password resets.

Messaging limits over multiple time periods

Setting messaging limits over multiple time periods allows you to control how many messages a user receives across different channels. This form of frequency capping helps manage user engagement and reduce message fatigue. As mentioned in the previous section, these user-level limits can be configured from the Messaging Limits tab under Account Settings.

  Enable multi-period limits

To enable messaging limits for your account, contact your CSM or email support@blueshift.com.

Consider the following when configuring messaging limits across channels and time periods:

  • You can set messaging limits for each channel or all channels combined:
    • All channels
    • Email
    • Push
    • SMS
    • In-app
    • Cloud app
  • You can define limits for the number of messages a user can receive per hour, day, week, and month for each channel.
  • Additional messages are skipped if a user exceeds their daily, weekly, or monthly limit. Queuing is not available for these time periods.
  • If a user exceeds the hourly limit, you can skip the message or queue it for the next hour.
    • Queued messages are delayed by one hour. After the delay, campaign dayparting and send time optimization settings are re-evaluated.
    • Blueshift will retry queued messages every hour for up to 3 hours (4 total attempts).

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Examples of messaging limits in action

The following examples illustrate how user-level messaging limits work across channels and time periods. They highlight how messages are sent, queued, or skipped based on the configured limits and channel behaviors.

Example 1 - Queued retries within the daily cap

Time Campaign Action
Messaging Limits:
Daily limit = 4 messages
Hourly limit = 1 message (queue to next hour)
10:30 am Campaign 1 is scheduled to send Sent: Message sent. (Daily messages = 1)
10:45 am Campaign 2 is scheduled to send Queued (1st attempt): Hourly limit exceeded.
11:15 am Campaign 3 is scheduled to send Sent: Message sent. (Daily messages = 2)
11:45 am — Queued (2nd attempt): Hourly limit still exceeded for Campaign 2.
12:05 pm Campaign 4 is scheduled to send Sent: Message sent. (Daily messages = 3)
12:45 pm — Queued (3rd attempt): Hourly limit still exceeded for Campaign 2.
1:45 pm — Sent (4th attempt): Message sent for Campaign 2. (Daily messages = 4)

Example 2 – Queued message skipped due to daily limit

Time Campaign Action
Messaging Limits:
Daily limit = 3 messages
Hourly limit = 1 message (queue to next hour)
10:30 am Campaign 1 is scheduled to send Sent: Message sent. (Daily messages = 1)
10:45 am Campaign 2 is scheduled to send Queued (1st attempt): Hourly limit exceeded.
11:15 am Campaign 3 is scheduled to send Sent: Message sent. (Daily messages = 2)
11:45 am — Queued (2nd attempt): Hourly limit still exceeded for Campaign 2.
12:05 pm Campaign 4 is scheduled to send Sent: Message sent. (Daily messages = 3)
12:45 pm — Skipped: Campaign 2 not sent. Daily message limit reached.

Example 3 – Max queue attempts reached

Time Campaign Action
Messaging Limits:
Daily limit = 6 messages
Hourly limit = 1 message (queue to next hour)
10:30 am Campaign 1 is scheduled to send Sent: Message sent. (Daily messages = 1)
10:45 am Campaign 2 is scheduled to send Queued (1st attempt): Hourly limit exceeded.
11:15 am Campaign 3 is scheduled to send Sent: Message sent. (Daily messages = 2)
11:45 am — Queued (2nd attempt): Still over hourly limit for Campaign 2.
12:05 pm Campaign 4 is scheduled to send Sent: Message sent. (Daily messages = 3)
12:45 pm — Queued (3rd attempt): Still over hourly limit for Campaign 2.
1:10 pm Campaign 5 is scheduled to send Sent: Message sent. (Daily messages = 4)
1:45 pm — Queued (4th attempt): Still over hourly limit for Campaign 2.
2:20 pm Campaign 6 is scheduled to send Sent: Message sent. (Daily messages = 4)
— — Skipped: Campaign 2 not sent. Max retries (4) reached and hourly limit still exceeded.

Example 4 – Skipped due to all-channel hourly limit

Time Campaign Action
Messaging Limits:
All Channels = 2 messages per hour (Skip)
Email = 2 messages per hour (Skip)
10:30 am Email Campaign 1 Sent: Email message sent. (Email = 1)
10:45 am Push Campaign 2 Sent: Push message sent. (Push = 1)
10:55 am Email Campaign 3 Skipped: Message not sent. The hourly limit of 2 across all channels has been reached.

Example 5 – Skipped due to stricter all-channel limit

Time Campaign Action
Messaging Limits:
All Channels = 2 per hour (Skip)
Email = 2 per hour (Queue to next hour)
10:30 am Email Campaign 1 Sent: Email sent. (Email = 1)
10:45 am Email Campaign 2 Sent: Email sent. (Email = 2)
10:55 am Email Campaign 3 Skipped: Queuing allowed for Email, but skipped due to stricter all-channel limit.

Example 6 – Daily limit overrides hourly allowance

Time Campaign Action
Messaging Limits:
All Channels = 3 per hour (Skip)
All Channels = 2 per day (Skip)
10:30 am Email Campaign 1 Sent: Email sent. (Daily = 1)
10:45 am Push Campaign 2 Sent: Push sent. (Daily = 2)
10:55 am Email Campaign 3 Skipped: Hourly limit allows, but daily limit reached. Message not sent.
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