Why did a user receive more push notifications in one day than our frequency cap allows?

Frequency capping (like "one push per day") is designed to limit how many automated marketing messages a user gets from your Customer Journeys. However, a user might still receive more notifications than this limit due to a few reasons:

1. Pushes Sent via API: Notifications can also be sent directly using the Pushwoosh API. When sending via API, it's possible to use a specific parameter (e.g., capping_avoid: true in the API request) that tells the system to ignore the usual frequency capping rules. This is often done for important transactional messages or alerts that need to reach the user regardless of other marketing pushes.
   • For example, we investigated a case where a user received one push from an automated campaign (which respected the frequency cap) and another push on the same day that was sent via an API call, which likely used a parameter to bypass the cap.
2. Different Types of Messages: Frequency caps usually apply to promotional or general engagement messages. Critical alerts or transactional notifications (like order confirmations, often sent via API) might be configured to bypass these limits to ensure delivery.

When troubleshooting, it's helpful to determine if the extra pushes came from an automated Customer Journey (which should follow capping rules) or if they were sent via an API request, which allows for more flexibility in delivery, including overriding frequency caps.