Frequency Caps — How Often a Visitor Sees It

Left alone, a popup shows on every page load, for ever. That is almost never what anyone wants,
and it is the single fastest way to make a good campaign feel like harassment. Frequency caps are how you say
“enough”.

There are two levels, and they do different jobs:

Both apply. An action stops when either its own rule or the campaign’s cap says so, so the
stricter of the two is what a visitor experiences.

Capping one action

On the action’s display step. The screen states the default plainly: “With nothing ticked here, this
shows on every page load, for ever. Every rule you tick makes it appear less.”

• Stop showing it after they have seen it enough — after so many impressions it goes quiet for
  so many sessions.
• Stop showing it after they click it. They did what you asked. Showing it again is the fastest
  way to make a win feel like nagging.
• Stop showing it after they close it. Counted per visitor. Closing is the clearest signal that
  they do not want it.
• Only show it in bursts — visible for a stretch, hidden for a stretch, around and around.
• Only show it just after another action ran — within a chosen window of that action firing.
  Outside it, this one stays hidden.

Alongside these sit the timing controls — show after a delay, show it for a
fixed time, and whether to show a close × in the corner. A campaign with no close button cannot
learn that somebody wants it gone.

Capping the whole campaign

On the campaign’s How often card. This is the one to reach for when a campaign carries several
actions, because it counts them together — three actions each allowed three views is nine
interruptions, unless the campaign says otherwise.

The presets

• Show it every time — no cap. Every visitor who matches sees it on every page.
• Once per session — one time per visit, then again next time they come back.
• Once per visitor, ever — one time and never again on this browser.
• A few times, then a break — the common case: 4 views or 1 click within a day, then pause
  for a session.
• Custom — set the conditions yourself.

What you are actually setting

A cap is a budget, a window, and a pause:

• The view budget — how many views are allowed. The card draws one dot per allowed view, with
  the last one amber: after it, the campaign pauses.
• Stop when they click it and stop when they close it — separate counts, each
  optional. Whichever limit is reached first ends the run.
• Counted within — a session, a day, a week, a month, or all time.
• Then pause for — a number of sessions, a stretch of hours or days, or
  never — pause forever.

When a view counts

Two choices, and they are not the same:

• When it is actually seen — the visitor really had it on screen.
• When it is delivered — counted whether or not it appeared on screen.
  Simpler, and reaches the cap sooner.

Delivered is the safer setting for anything you would rather under-show than over-show. Seen is the honest one for
measuring reach.

Which actions it covers

Every action in this campaign, or only some of them — tick the ones that
count. The choice only appears once a campaign has at least two actions; with one, the cap covers it and there is
nothing to narrow. Rows outside the tick list are marked not counted in the cap, so a permanent element can sit
in the same campaign as a capped popup without eating its budget.

Choosing a cap

Related

• Where content shows — placement, triggers and the rest of the
  display step.
• Overlaps and conflicts — when two campaigns both
  want the same moment.
• Popup & banner action — every trigger, including
  exit intent on mobile.