A frequency cap restricts the number of times a customer is sent an email or text message within a given timeframe. Frequency caps can now be set at the account-level through Bluecore's marketing settings.
As a default, Bluecore enables baseline channel frequency caps in every account to protect you from deploying campaigns without frequency caps.
NOTE: Frequency capping on an individual campaign will continue to be supported. Learn how to set up campaign frequency caps here.
Update your channel frequency caps by following the below steps.
Navigate to the flag icon on the left-hand side of the navigation bar.
Go to Communicate.
Then Settings.
Click the Channel Frequency Capping tab on the marketing settings page.
ADD AN EMAIL FREQUENCY CAP
Configure a single rule for triggered, promotional/batch, or the same campaign. Enter how many hours a customer will receive this campaign type.
NOTE: Applying a channel frequency cap will not apply to campaigns using our Transactional API.
PROMOTIONAL/BATCH CAMPAIGNS
Configure your campaigns so that customers receive one batch campaign every X hours. This will suppress any promotional/batch campaigns that attempt to go to that particular customer if they have received any other promotional/batch campaigns from Bluecore in the last X hours.
TRIGGERED CAMPAIGNS
Configure your campaigns so that customers receive one triggered campaign every X hours. This will suppress any triggered campaigns that attempt to go to that particular customer if they have received any other triggered campaigns from Bluecore in the last X hours.
SAME CAMPAIGN
Configure a setting for all of your automated campaigns to follow. This disqualifies your customers to receive the same trigger repeatedly in a short timeframe.
ADD AN SMS FREQUENCY CAP
Similar to email frequency caps, SMS frequency caps can be configured for promotional/batch, triggered, and the same campaigns for hour time periods. Below are the recommended and automatically configured frequency caps for SMS. Bluecore’s recommendation is to not message more than three times a week or more than once a day as a best practice.
To ensure mobile compliance, the TCPA requires that text messages are only sent between 8 AM and 9 PM in the recipients' time zone. For promotional/batch campaigns that are scheduled outside of this window, they will be delivered the following morning. To honor frequency capping, this message is sent, which then prohibits customers from receiving another promotional/batch message in that same day. For triggered campaigns, the frequency caps configured here are always honored unless overridden as triggered campaigns outside of the TCPA compliance window are suppressed. Click here for more information on SMS sending times.
Frequency caps can be overridden on a campaign-level by following the steps outlined here.
PROMOTIONAL/BATCH CAMPAIGNS
Configure your campaigns so that customers receive one batch campaign every X hours. This will suppress any promotional/batch campaigns that attempt to go to that particular customer if they have received any other promotional/batch campaigns from Bluecore in the last X hours.
TRIGGERED CAMPAIGNS
Configure your campaigns so that customers receive one triggered campaign every X hours. This will suppress any triggered campaigns that attempt to go to that particular customer if they have received any other triggered campaigns from Bluecore in the last X hours. At this time, these frequency caps are available for the pre-canned triggered SMS campaigns: abandoned cart, abandoned product, abandoned search, and post purchase, or if an automated campaign is classified as triggered.
SAME CAMPAIGN
Configure a setting for all of your automated campaigns to follow. This disqualifies your customers to receive the same trigger repeatedly in a short timeframe.
FAQ
Q: How do I know if a campaign is classified as triggered or promotional/batch?
A: This is a campaign-level setting determined when you create a new email campaign and can be updated at any time. You can see the campaign type on the campaign's summary page under settings:
Q: I'm already setting frequency caps on the individual campaign-level. How do channel frequency caps work here?
A: Any previously configured or net new campaign-level frequency cap will be respected in addition to any channel frequency caps.
Q: How does this feature change my workflow over time?
A: Over time, we hope that you adapt to these new channel settings so you can stop configuring them on the campaign-level.
Q: What if I need a frequency rule for a specific campaign that is not covered by the channel rules?
A: You can still configure additional, more advanced rules at the campaign-level as needed.
Q: How do frequency capping and Auto-Prioritizer work together to manage email frequency?
A: Auto-Prioritizer is still our leading method for managing frequency capping. Auto-Prioritizer automatically applies to all of your email campaigns, unless explicitly overridden on the campaign or audience-level configuration.
Q: How does frequency capping work with multi-touch campaigns?
A: Channel frequency caps will be applied to every touch 1, but not later touches in the journey. This will ensure that users will receive the entire journey after they've initially qualified.
Q: Is there a way to override frequency capping and send to the entire audience when creating a campaign?
A: Yes, when creating a campaign select the override channel frequency capping/Auto-Prioritizer and send to your entire audience option to send the campaign to the entire audience.
Q: Can I view a summary of my channel frequency caps?
A: View a summary of all channel frequency caps on the campaign summary page. Caps may not be edited here.
Q: How do email and SMS frequency caps work?
A: Email and SMS frequency caps are independent of each other. Frequency caps that are configured for email are only for email campaigns, and SMS frequency caps are specific to SMS.
Q: How do I override the channel frequency caps for SMS?
A: Channel frequency caps can be overridden when configuring a campaign. Learn more about overriding channel frequency caps in this article.