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Message prioritisation in Braze lets business importance, not send time, decide which opted-in message uses a user's limited frequency cap. For retention automation, that matters because a promotion scheduled earlier can use up the room that a win-back or loyalty message needs later. This guide covers what to opt in, how to rank, and where prioritisation stops.
Key Takeaways
- Message Prioritization is an optional layer on top of frequency capping, listed as generally available in the 15 Oct 2026 release notes.
- Only opted-in messages that share the same frequency capping rule compete with each other.
- A promotion that is not opted in can still use up the last of the room in the cap.
- A Canvas takes one category for all of its steps, so ranking happens between Canvases.
- The Canvas look-ahead stops at boundary steps such as Action Paths and personalised delays.
- A retry window is the only way a message that wasn't selected can send later, so set one only when a late send is acceptable.
What is message prioritisation in Braze?
Message Prioritization is an optional layer on top of frequency capping. When several opted-in messages compete for the same user, it decides which one sends. Braze listed it as generally available in its 15 Oct 2026 release notes.
Frequency capping on its own sends whatever is due first. That is a sensible rule for a cap, but it has no view of which message matters more to your business. Prioritisation adds that view through categories and ranked rules.
Why does retention automation in Braze lose the frequency cap?
The Braze documentation describes the exposure directly: a promotion that sends earlier can use up the room in the cap that a loyalty reward or time-sensitive message needs later that day.
Our reading is that retention journeys are built on behaviour, such as a lapse or a missed milestone, so they fire when the user acts and not when a promotion calendar says so. That tends to place them after the scheduled sends, which is the position the documentation describes as exposed.
A retention programme can be well designed and still be crowded out by a calendar nobody planned around. Prioritisation moves the contest from send time to business importance.
Which messages can compete for the cap?
Scheduled campaigns, action-based campaigns and Canvas Message steps compete in one ranked pool when they share a frequency cap. A message only competes if it is opted in, assigned a category, and counts toward the same applicable cap rule as the others. The table shows where each message type sits, based on the Braze Message Prioritization documentation.
| Message type | In the ranked pool? |
|---|---|
| Scheduled campaign | Yes, once opted in and categorised |
| Action-based campaign | Yes, once opted in and categorised |
| Canvas Message step on one supported channel | Yes, once the Canvas is opted in |
| Campaign that sends on more than one channel | Cannot be opted in |
| Canvas Message step on more than one channel | Not ranked, sends as usual |
| API-triggered campaign or Canvas | Does not participate |
| Content Card, in-app message or Banner | Not eligible, because they are not subject to frequency capping |
In-app messages and Banners use their own priority settings, so they sit outside this ranking.
How should you rank retention against promotions?
Braze suggests one question for deciding: if a user can receive only one message today, which one should it be? Work down from the send that matters to the business above all others. The tiers below are CustomerIK's reading of that question for a retention programme.
| Tier | Example | Treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Must send | Order and account notices | Turn frequency capping off before you configure prioritisation |
| Top rank | Loyalty rewards and time-sensitive retention messages | Opt in, highest category |
| Middle rank | Lapse and win-back Canvases | Opt in, second category |
| Lowest rank | Routine promotions | Opt in, lowest category |
The documentation says transactional messages, legal notifications and any campaign that must never be held back should have frequency capping turned off. Whether a particular message counts as transactional or legal is a question for your own compliance team. This post does not settle it.
How do you set it up for a retention programme?
The order of work matters more than the clicking. The documentation names incomplete opt-ins among the common gaps, so opt-in comes before any fine ranking.
- List every capped campaign and Canvas that can reach the same user under the same cap rule.
- Rank them with the one-message-today question.
- Turn frequency capping off for the must-send messages.
- Create categories and ranked rules in Settings > Message Prioritization.
- Opt in every capped campaign and Canvas that should compete, promotions included.
- Check each Canvas, because a Canvas takes one category for all of its steps.
We recommend putting opt-in ahead of ranking, because a ranking that covers half the programme gives a false sense of order. Finish the list in step one before you tune the rules in step four.
What do Canvas steps change?
To evaluate a Canvas, Braze performs a look-ahead. It traverses the Canvas to predict which future messages a user may receive, and when. How the look-ahead treats each step depends on the step type.
| Step category | Effect on the look-ahead | Examples from the documentation |
|---|---|---|
| Messaging steps | Counted as eligible messages | Message step, Content Optimizer step |
| Continuation steps | Skipped, the look-ahead passes through | Fixed delay, User Update step |
| Boundary steps | The look-ahead stops until the user passes the step | Action Paths, Experiment, personalised delay |
| Branching steps | The look-ahead follows every possible path | Decision Split, Audience Path |
Until a user reaches and moves past a boundary step, Braze does not look ahead to the downstream higher-priority message. A lower-priority campaign may still send in that gap and count toward the cap.
Our reading is that retention Canvases commonly wait on a user action or a personalised delay, so rank protects the step in front of the user better than the step behind a boundary. Check where your boundary steps sit, then decide whether the cap leaves room for the message that follows them.
The one-category rule has a design consequence too. You can't rank a welcome email over a later promotion inside one opted-in Canvas. Where two messages deserve different ranks, build them as separate Canvases.
When should you set a retry window?
Without a retry window, a message that isn't selected to send is aborted for that occurrence. A retry window is the only way it can send later. Each retry is another attempt, not a send, so it can lose the ranking again.
The documentation advises setting a window only when a late send is acceptable. The maximum window is one day or three days, depending on plan tier. Canvas retry windows are set at the step level.
A message whose value is the moment, such as a nudge sent because a user just went quiet, can go stale in a day. We suggest setting windows on routine promotions, which can wait, and leaving the nudge without one.
What can go wrong?
The promotion that was never opted in. Messages outside the pool still attempt to send and still count toward the same caps. A high-volume promotion can send earlier and use the last of the room, so a later top-rank loyalty message misses the cap even though it won the ranking.
Abort logic in Liquid. Braze advises avoiding abort_message Liquid on opted-in messages and keeping audience membership stable through send time. If the higher-ranked message then doesn't send, the lower-priority message that was held back isn't retried at once, and only a retry window, if set, tries it again daily.
Multichannel steps. A Message step that sends on more than one channel isn't ranked. If your lapse Canvas pairs push with an in-app message in one step, it sends as usual and sits outside the pool.
Other send-time gates. Quiet hours, rate limits and Liquid still apply at send time. Ranking does not bypass them.
Assuming what happens to the user. The frequency capping documentation says users still advance through a Canvas when a message isn't sent because of global frequency capping, but the prioritisation page doesn't say the same for a message that isn't selected. We don't know, so test the path in a sandbox workspace before you design around it.
What does a worked example look like?
This example is hypothetical. It uses no client data and no figures.
Take a hypothetical retailer with four email programmes under one cap rule: order confirmations, a loyalty reward campaign, a lapse Canvas and a weekly promotion. The team asks which email a customer should receive if only one fits today. Loyalty comes first, the lapse Canvas second, the promotion last.
Order confirmations get frequency capping switched off, so they send regardless. The other three are opted in under three categories, ranked in that order.
The team then finds that the lapse Canvas has a personalised delay before its second message. Until a customer passes that delay, the promotion isn't held back for the second message, so the team leaves room in the cap rather than assume it is protected.
The promotion gets a one-day retry window, because a promotion can wait. The lapse Canvas gets none, because a nudge sent a day late no longer matches the lapse.
How does this connect to the rest of the programme?
Prioritisation decides who wins a limited cap. It doesn't decide what to send or when. Those questions sit in how to trigger retention messages at the right time in Braze and in the wider retention automation tactics for reducing churn.
A ranked cap works best with good targets, so read how to build effective win-back campaigns in Braze and loyalty campaigns that drive results when you place those programmes in your tiers. To judge whether a ranking is helping, use the measures in retention metrics every marketer should track in Braze. Our six failure modes for email automation in Braze covers the sending problems that sit beside this one.
For lapse re-engagement built into automated lifecycle paths, see our case study on using an interactive game to re-engage lapsing users. For the full mechanics of caps and rate limits, see the Braze frequency capping documentation.
What should you do first?
As a Braze implementation partner, CustomerIK recommends finishing the opt-in list before you tune any ranking. Move every capped campaign and Canvas into the pool, then rank the tiers, then add retry windows where a late send is acceptable.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does Message Prioritization replace frequency capping?
It is an optional layer on top of frequency capping, and an opted-in message needs frequency capping turned on and a matching cap rule to be ranked.
2. Can I rank individual steps inside a Canvas?
A Canvas has one category, and all of its steps share the same priority level, so ranking happens between Canvases.
3. Does it work for in-app messages and Banners?
They aren't subject to frequency capping, so they use their own priority settings.
4. What happens to a message that isn't selected to send?
It is aborted for that occurrence unless a retry window is set. With a window, Braze tries it again each day until it sends or the window ends.
5. Are there limits on categories, rules or retry windows?
The limits depend on plan tier and are listed on the Braze documentation page, so check it before you design the structure.
Sources
- Braze, Message Prioritization. Retrieved 29 Oct 2026.
- Braze, Rate limiting and frequency capping. Retrieved 29 Oct 2026.
- Braze, October 15, 2026 release notes. Retrieved 29 Oct 2026.
- This post rests mainly on one Braze page, and Braze features and limits can change, so the live documentation is the source of truth.
- Written by CustomerIK, a Braze implementation partner.
CustomerIK is a Braze implementation partner working across onboarding, technical integration, marketing operations and customer data management.
If your retention Canvases and promotions share one frequency cap and you want the ranking set up properly, let's talk.
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