What is pacing?
Message pacing means leaving a gap between messages and capping how many go out in an hour and a day, so an account sends at a speed a person could.
Also called: Message pacing.
In plain words
A person replying to customers sends a message, reads the next one, thinks and types. Software can send a hundred messages in a second. Platforms know the difference, and an account that sends faster than any human could is easy to spot.
Pacing slows software down to a human rhythm. It sets a minimum gap between messages from the same account, and a cap on how many go out each hour. A daily limit then sits on top, as the ceiling for the whole day.
For a small business, pacing rarely gets in the way. Customers who write in are answered within seconds of each other, which feels fast to them. The places pacing shows are bulk jobs, such as following up with a long list, which take longer than they would without it.
If a message has to wait, a well-built tool queues it or tells the agent when to try again, rather than dropping it.
How it works in Spaces
Spaces paces every account on its own side. The gap between messages is WhatsApp 15 seconds, Instagram 15 seconds, LinkedIn 20 seconds, Messenger 20 seconds, X 20 seconds, Email 30 seconds.
The same pacing applies whether a message comes from your agent, a scheduled message, a routine or the API. If the agent tries to send too soon, Spaces holds the message, sends nothing and tells the agent how long to wait. Trying again with the same message never sends it twice.
Related terms
- Daily limit: A daily limit is the most messages, or new conversations, an account is allowed to send in one day before sending stops until the next day.
- Warm-up: Warm-up means starting a new or newly connected account with only a few new conversations a day and increasing slowly over a few weeks, so the platform sees normal behaviour rather than a sudden burst.
- New conversation: A new conversation is a message you send to someone who has not written to you in that chat yet, as opposed to a reply in a conversation the other person started.
- Routine: A routine is a rule that runs on its own, on a schedule or when something happens, such as sending a set reply when a message with a keyword arrives.
FAQ
Will pacing make my replies slow?
Rarely. The gap is measured in seconds, so customers still get quick answers.
Can I turn pacing off?
No. Pacing is part of how Spaces keeps accounts safer, and it applies to every account.
What happens to a message that has to wait?
Nothing is sent. Your agent is told how long to wait and tries again with the same message.
Do scheduled messages follow pacing too?
Yes. Scheduled messages and routines use the same limits as a message your agent sends.
Is pacing the same on every channel?
No. Each channel has its own gap and caps, listed on its limits page.
Useful next: Pacing and limits by channel, Account safety, What happens when you hit a limit. Every term: the glossary.