What happens if frequency segments overlap with automation flows?

When frequency segments overlap with automation flows, subscribers can receive more emails than intended, violating the frequency rules you established. A subscriber might be in a low frequency segment receiving one email per week, but also enrolled in an abandoned cart automation that sends three emails over five days. The result is over mailing, poor experience, and damaged engagement.

The solution is global frequency capping that tracks total sends across all campaigns and automations. Your ESP should enforce limits such as no more than four emails per week per subscriber regardless of source. This requires coordination between your broadcast calendar and triggered flows.

Some senders create suppression logic that pauses certain automations when a subscriber recently received a broadcast, or vice versa. Others prioritize high value automations such as transactional emails and purchase confirmations over promotional broadcasts. Without this coordination, your segmentation strategy becomes meaningless. Overlapping frequency and automation is like sending two ships to the same dock at the same time. One has to wait, or they collide.