Sequence Throttle

Throttles can help to stagger the volume of prospects moving through a sequence at one time, protect you from hitting your email provider's mailing limits, and can also help users iterate more quickly when A/B testing. 

In addition to controlling the amount of emails that go out each day, you want to make sure that you give yourself breathing room to follow up.  Throttling will make sure that you're able to have breathing room to give each person who responds an appropriate follow up.

To find your sequence throttle, click into any sequence. Click on the sequence settings, which can be found as an option next to the master sequence toggle on the top of the sequence page.

Note: Regardless of your throttle settings, prospects will first appear in a pending state. They will be added to the sequence based on the options you select.

Throttles for Sequences by Step Interval

If you are using a step interval sequence, you have a few throttle options.

Sequence Throttle Setting Options

1. Prospect Throttling: Do you want to limit the number of prospects that can be added to the sequence?
   
   
   • Enabled - The number of prospects that can be added to the sequence should be limited. This is the default setting.
   • Disabled - The number of prospects that can be added to the sequence is not limited. They will be added to the first step immediately, and activated for delivery based on the sequence schedule.
2. Auto-Activate Prospects (if Prospect throttling is enabled): Should Outreach add prospects to the first step of the sequence on your behalf?
   
   
   • Yes- activate based on throttles - Outreach will look at the number selected in step 3 and 4, limiting the number of prospects activated and added the appropriate number of prospects to the first step of the sequence. This is the default setting.
   • No - leave prospects in pending - Prospects will not be automatically added to the first step of the sequence. They’ll stay in a pending state until manually moved to the first step for action.
3. Max active prospects per user: How many prospects can be active in the sequence at once?
   
   
   • This number determines the maximum number of active prospects there can be in the sequence at a given time.
     
     • Ex: If this setting is limited to 50 max active prospects per user, I may be able to add 100 prospects to the sequence, but only 50 of those prospects can be actively moving through the sequence at once. As prospects finish or exit the sequence (they reach the last step or reply), more prospects are activated until 50 prospects are active in the sequence.
4. Max adds per user every 24 hours: How many prospects can be activated and added to step 1 of the sequence every 24 hours?"
   
   
   • This number determines the maximum number of prospects that can be activated and added to the first step of the sequence every 24 hours. This setting checks the setting in step 3, “Max Active Prospects Per User” before taking action.
     • Let’s say you limit the max adds per user setting to 50 prospects every 24 hours, but then add 200 prospects into the sequence. On the first day, 50 prospects will be active in the first step in the sequence. The remaining 150 prospects will stay in a pending state. 24 hours later, 50 additional prospects are added to the sequence, and 100 prospects will stay in a pending state. This pattern repeats every 24 hours until there are no more prospects to add to the sequence.  

How do the two throttle settings work together? 

If both throttle settings have limits, Outreach will check the number of prospects that are already active in your sequence. If you have not reached your maximum activation limit, pending prospects will be activated and added to the sequence until the max activation threshold is met.

Let’s assume the max active prospects per user is 200 and the max adds every 24 hours is 175  prospects. If there are only 150 active prospects in the sequence, Outreach will activate and add 50 additional prospects to meet the maximum of 200 active prospects per user. This check will be continuous, looking first at the maximum active prospects threshold, then adding the appropriate number of prospects to the sequence, until there are 200 prospects active in the sequence or the 24 hour maximum is met.

In both cases, any prospects that are not active will stay in a pending state.

Throttles for Sequences by Exact Date/Time

If you are creating a sequence with steps by an exact date and time, you still have the option to add a throttle. The throttle will determine the maximum number of prospects that can be added to the sequence.

1. To find your sequence throttle, click into any sequence.
2. Click on the sequence settings, which can be found as an option next to the master sequence toggle on the top of the sequence page.
   
3. Find the section labeled "Throttle Newly Added Prospects" and enter the maximum number of prospects that can be added to the sequence.
   

Note: If you try to add more prospects to the sequence than the throttle allows, you'll receive an error that says, "Max activations exceeded". You'll need to increase this number before you can add additional prospects to the sequence.