Wunderkind uses a combination of frequency caps, priority rules, and time-based limits to control how often individual users receive text messages. These safeguards apply across key behavioral programs (such as Welcome, Abandonment, and Catalog) and interact with On Demand campaigns. These caps limit how many text messages a single subscriber can receive within a given time period, ensuring your audience isn't over-messaged while still maximizing engagement and revenue.
Frequency caps are applied behind the scenes — no setup or configuration is required on your end. This article explains how these caps work across your different text message types.
Table of contents
- Text message types
- Priority hierarchy
- Behavioral text frequency caps
- Catalog text frequency caps
- Quiet hours for texts
- On Demand text send limits
- FAQs
Text message types
Frequency caps apply across three categories of Wunderkind text messages:
- Behavioral texts — Automated messages triggered by subscriber activity on your site, including Welcome and Abandonment texts.
- Catalog texts — Automated messages triggered by changes in your product catalog, including Back in Stock, Price Drop, and Low Stock texts.
- On Demand texts — Scheduled or one-time messages sent to a defined audience segment. These are typically tied to marketing events such as sales, promotions, or new product launches.
Priority hierarchy
Wunderkind assigns a priority level to each behavioral text type. When a subscriber qualifies for multiple messages, higher-priority texts take precedence:
| Priority | Text type |
|---|---|
| Highest | Cart Abandonment |
| ↓ | Product Abandonment |
| Lowest | Category Abandonment |
Behavioral series are ordered by priority so that higher-priority series block lower-priority series for a period of 7 days. For example, if a user receives a Cart Abandonment series, they will not receive a Product Abandonment series at the same time.
This priority system ensures that the most relevant, high-intent message is delivered first. If a subscriber has already received a higher-priority text, lower-priority texts are suppressed for a defined period.
Behavioral text frequency caps
The following rules govern how often a subscriber can receive behavioral and On Demand texts:
| Rule | Details |
|---|---|
| Daily cap | A subscriber cannot receive more than 2 series (including On Demand sends) in a single day. |
| 7-day priority suppression | A subscriber cannot receive a lower-priority text if they have already received a higher-priority text within the last 7 days. |
| Monthly cap | A subscriber cannot receive more than 4 abandonment series within a 30-day period. |
How behavioral and On Demand texts interact
Because the 2-series daily cap includes both behavioral and On Demand sends, a subscriber can receive up to 2 series in a single day in total. For example, a subscriber could receive 1 behavioral text and 1 On Demand text on the same day, as long as the 2-series daily cap has not already been reached.
Example
If a subscriber receives a Cart Abandonment text on Monday, they will not receive a Product Abandonment text for the rest of that 7-day window, because Cart Abandonment is a higher priority than Product Abandonment.
Catalog text frequency caps
Catalog texts (Back in Stock, Price Drop, Low Stock) follow their own set of frequency caps in addition to the rules above:
| Rule | Details |
|---|---|
| 7-day module cap | A subscriber can receive a maximum of 1 catalog module (e.g., one Back in Stock notification) within 7 days. |
| 14-day series cap | A subscriber can receive a maximum of 4 catalog series (across Price Drop, Low Stock, and Back in Stock) within 14 days. |
| 12-hour suppression window | If a subscriber has received any other text (including behavioral or On Demand) within the last 12 hours, they will not receive a catalog text during that window. |
How catalog caps relate to abandonment caps
Your text frequency caps apply across both abandonment and catalog messages:
- Abandonment texts (cart, product, category) count towards the daily maximum of 2 series per day.
- Catalog texts (Back in Stock, Price Drop, Low Stock) have their own limits, such as a maximum of 1 Price Drop in 7 days and 4 total Catalog series within 14 days per subscriber.
- Catalog texts also include the 12-hour suppression safeguard: if a subscriber has received any other text in the last 12 hours, they will not receive a catalog text during that window.
Quiet hours for texts
Wunderkind supports quiet hours for behavioral and catalog texts to protect subscriber experience and align with best practices for send times.
During your configured quiet hours (for example, 9:00 PM–9:00 AM in each subscriber's local time):
- Abandonment and catalog texts are held instead of sent right away.
- After quiet hours end, those messages are automatically released during a more optimal window — typically 12:00 PM–2:00 PM local time — to balance performance and subscriber experience.
Your specific quiet-hour window and replay time can be customized per brand, so your Wunderkind team can confirm and adjust the settings for your account if needed.
When Smart Send is used for an On-Demand text campaign, it follows the Quiet Hours configured in the website settings. During this period, subscribers will not receive that On Demand message, even if Smart Send would otherwise choose that time. Quiet periods are enforced in the subscriber’s local timezone, with recommended windows designed to keep sends within compliant, subscriber-friendly hours.
On Demand text send limits
On Demand texts count toward the daily 2-series cap alongside behavioral texts. This means:
- A subscriber can receive up to 2 series in a single day, and that total includes both behavioral, catalog, and On Demand sends.
- An example pattern might be 1 behavioral text series and 1 On Demand text series in the same day, as long as the 2-series daily cap has not already been reached.
- If a subscriber has already reached the 2-series limit for that day, additional behavioral or On Demand series will be suppressed for that subscriber until the next day. The sends above the limit that they were eligible for on the previous day will be skipped.
FAQs
What is a “series” in the context of text caps?
A series refers to a structured flow or program (for example, a Price Drop or Product Abandonment series), not a single text. Frequency caps apply to the number of series a user enters — for example, the daily limit of 2 series per day and the monthly limit of 4 abandonment-purpose series.
Can we prevent users in abandonment flows from getting an On Demand send?
Yes. As a manual workaround, you can configure a Connect segment that excludes users with recent abandonment behavior (for example, users who added to cart or viewed a product within the last X days). This helps prevent users who are already in an abandonment flow from also receiving an On Demand campaign.
However, Wunderkind does not recommend using this approach proactively, because it also removes many high-intent users who might otherwise convert. This option is best used only when there are strong concerns about over-messaging.
Are there frequency caps that apply only to On Demand texts?
Wunderkind does not currently apply dedicated frequency caps that look only at On Demand texts. If a subscriber qualifies for more than one On Demand campaign in the same day, they can receive each of those sends, as long as they are still within their overall series limits. Utilize the segmentation criteria in Connect for a specific On Demand send if the desire is to prevent users from receiving both On Demand sends.
If you have questions about text send frequency caps or want to adjust a campaign’s strategy, please contact your Wunderkind rep.
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