What is Email frequency cap?
An email frequency cap is a rule that limits how many marketing messages a single person can receive within a set period, regardless of how many campaigns and flows are scheduled.
Campaigns and automated flows are planned by different people at different times, so one customer can end up receiving several emails in a day. A cap sits above all of them and stops the pile-up.
Without a cap, rising unsubscribes and complaints are a common result. With one, you have to decide which messages take priority, so transactional emails are usually exempt and a time-sensitive flow may outrank a general newsletter.
The right number depends on your audience and content. Start cautious, look at unsubscribes and revenue per recipient, and adjust. Different groups, such as recent buyers and dormant contacts, often deserve different limits.
A worked example.
A hypothetical pet store has a welcome flow, a browse flow and a weekly newsletter. One new subscriber receives four emails in a single day. The team adds a cap and ranks the welcome flow first, so the newsletter is held back for that person until the series finishes.
Common mistakes.
- Applying a cap to transactional emails such as order confirmations
- Setting one limit for every audience regardless of engagement
- Never reviewing the cap after the sending plan changes
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