Understanding State Laws Limiting Frequency of Marketing Text Messages

Understanding State Laws Limiting Frequency of Marketing Text Messages

Estimated 4 minute read

Updated Jan 15, 2026, 12:00 AM EST

Table of contents

How it works
View or change this setting
How skipped messages due to state law frequency limits appear in Klaviyo
State law frequency limits vs. Smart Sending
Additional resources

Certain states — including Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Maryland — have enacted regulations that limit how many promotional text messages a person can receive within a rolling 24-hour period. Klaviyo automatically enforces text message state law frequency limits for recipients in these states to help better protect your brand from potential violations.

This information is intended solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be construed as legal advice. The content provided is general in nature and may not reflect the most up-to-date information. Klaviyo strongly advises consulting with a qualified legal counsel to ensure your compliance with applicable laws and regulations in connection with your use of our services.

How it works

State law frequency limits are:

On by default for all accounts
Enforced only for numbers whose area code corresponds with Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Maryland
Applied only to promotional SMS, MMS, and RCS messages
Evaluated on a rolling 24-hour basis per phone number

For each recipient, Klaviyo evaluates promotional text messages using a rolling 24-hour window. This means the system continuously looks back 24 hours from the moment a new message is about to send. If the recipient has already received 3 promotional messages (across both campaigns and flows) within that rolling window, any additional promotional messages are automatically skipped until enough time passes for one of the earlier messages to fall outside that 24-hour look-back period.

Example: How a rolling 24-hour window works

SMS #1 is sent at 10:00 AM
SMS #2 is sent at 12:00 PM
SMS #3 is sent at 4:00 PM

If you attempt to send SMS #4 at 8:00 PM, it is skipped because all 3 previous messages occurred within the last 24 hours.

However, if you attempt SMS #4 the next day at 10:01 AM, SMS #1 has now fallen outside the rolling 24-hour window, so only SMS #2 and #3 count. The send is allowed because the recipient now has fewer than 3 messages in the current window.

Which messages are affected

State law frequency limits apply to messages that advertise or market something (i.e., that are promotional in nature). This includes both:

Promotional campaign messages
Promotional flow messages

It does not apply to:

Transactional messages
Compliance keyword responses (e.g., STOP, HELP)
Custom subscribe keyword replies (e.g., JOIN)
Help Center conversation messages
AI or live agent replies
Text message previews

View or change this setting

State law frequency limits are on by default, and we recommend leaving them enabled if you send text messages to U.S. subscribers in Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon, or Maryland.

You need permission to edit account settings to change this setting. Owners and Admins have this permission.

Turning this feature off may increase your compliance risk in those states.

To view or change the setting:

Select your account name in the lower-left corner.
Click Settings.
Select Text message > Sender preferences.
Scroll to State law frequency limits.
Select or clear Enable text messaging limit, then click Save.

How skipped messages due to state law frequency limits appear in Klaviyo

When this feature prevents a message from sending:

The message is logged as a Skipped Text Message
You’ll see Skipped: Frequency Capped in the Recipient activity tab of a sent campaign.

State law frequency limits vs. Smart Sending

State law frequency limits and Smart Sending both have the ability to skip messages, but they solve different problems:

Feature	Main Purpose	Applies to	Configurable?
Smart Sending	Improve subscriber experience	Promotional messages	Yes
State law frequency limits	Legal compliance in specific states	Promotional messages	You can turn the setting on or off. The limit is fixed at 3 messages per 24 hours.

Smart Sending and State law frequency limits operate independently, and either one can skip a message.

In practice:

If a message violates your Smart Sending window, it will be skipped for Smart Sending.
If a message would exceed the 3-message limit in 24 hours in a regulated state, it will be skipped due to State law frequency limits.
When a message qualifies for both Smart Sending and State law frequency limits, Smart Sending will block it first. The message still counts toward both limits, but Smart Sending has priority in determining the skip reason.

In the following examples, state law frequency limits are on, and Smart Sending is enabled for the messages and checks both campaigns and flows.

Example 1: Smart Sending skips the message

Smart Sending window = 24 hours
You send a promotional text message to a recipient
You attempt another send 1 hour later

Result: Skipped for Smart Sending, because that rule is met before any frequency issue applies.

Example 2: State law frequency limits skip the message

Smart Sending window = 1 hour
You send 3 promotional text messages spaced more than 1 hour apart to a recipient with a phone number area code corresponding to Oklahoma, Oregon, Maryland, or Florida
You attempt a 4th send more than 1 hour after the 3rd message, while all 3 previous messages are still within the past 24 hours.

Result: Skipped due to State law frequency limits, because the recipient already received 3 promotional messages in the last 24 hours.

Example 3: Both conditions could apply, but only one will show

Smart Sending window = 1 hour
The recipient (with an Oklahoma, Oregon, Florida, or Maryland area code phone number) has already received 3 promotional text messages in the past 24 hours (which would normally trigger State law frequency limits)
You attempt a 4th send less than 1 hour after the 3rd message, while all 3 previous messages are still within the past 24 hours.

Result: Skipped for Smart Sending, because Smart Sending takes priority even though the send would also exceed State law frequency limits. The message still counts toward both limits.