Managing Email and SMS Sending Limits and Overages in Arketa
Arketa provides tools to help you manage your email and SMS sending limits effectively. This guide explains the limits, how overages work, and how to monitor and control your usage.
Overview of Email and SMS Limits
Email Limit: Each month, you can send up to 10,000 marketing emails. Transactional emails, such as booking confirmations and receipts, do not count toward this limit.
SMS Limit: You can send up to 2,500 SMS credits per month.
Push notification campaigns are also excluded from the email limit.
What Happens When You Reach the Limit?
If you do not enable overages, marketing email and SMS sending will pause once you hit the limit. Transactional messages are not affected by this pause.
The monthly allotment resets on the first day of each calendar month.
Notifications about exceeding the limit may arrive in bulk, which can be alarming but is expected when thresholds are crossed.
Enabling and Managing Overages
To continue sending messages beyond the included limits, you can enable overages:
Navigate to Settings > My Plan > Billing.
Scroll to the bottom of the page to the CRM Usage section.
Toggle on the “Allow overage” option.
Optionally, set a monetary cap to control overage costs.
Cost Details for Overages
Email Overages: Additional emails are billed at $0.0005 per email ($0.50 per 1,000 emails).
SMS Overages: Additional SMS credits are billed at $0.015 per credit ($15 per 1,000 credits).
Monitoring Usage and Setting Spend Caps
To monitor your usage and manage overages:
Go to Settings > My Plan > Billing and scroll to the CRM usage section at the bottom of the page to view your current email and SMS usage.
Set a monthly spend cap to limit overage costs. This section provides a breakdown of your email consumption and helps you track your usage against the monthly limit.
Differentiating Marketing and Transactional Emails
Marketing Emails: Includes marketing broadcasts (mass email campaigns), automations that send marketing emails (e.g., workflow actions), and user-initiated marketing sends from the marketing inbox and campaign tests. These count toward the 10,000-email limit.
Transactional Emails: Includes booking confirmations, receipts, class reminders, and appointment reminders. Push notification campaigns are also excluded and do not count toward the limit.
FAQs
Why am I hitting the limit even though my broadcast count is low?
Email usage is calculated across all sending sources, including broadcasts, automations, and conversations. Ensure you account for all these activities when monitoring your usage.
Has the email allotment changed?
No, the email allotment remains the same. You can confirm your current allowance and consumption in the Usage section under Billing.
Why did I start exceeding the limit recently?
Marketing message limit enforcement began on June 1. This change means that all marketing emails now count toward the limit, while transactional emails remain excluded.
Can I see a breakdown of overage charges by campaign?
No, overage charges are reported as a single lump sum without a detailed breakdown.
Does enabling overages cost extra?
Yes, enabling overages incurs additional costs. You can set a spend cap to control how much you go over. By following these steps and guidelines, you can effectively manage your email and SMS usage in Arketa, ensuring uninterrupted communication with your audience.