Deliverability Guard calculates a safe daily limit on how many new contacts your account collects — so your email provider never sees a sudden spike in new people on your list.
Why it matters
When new contacts enter your list too quickly, inbox providers flag it as unusual activity. Deliverability Guard keeps your list growth steady and gradual, protecting the sender reputation you've built.
The goal: your new Retention.com contacts should add up to no more than 5% of the unique people you emailed in the last 30 days, spread evenly across the month. That's the threshold that keeps things safe.
How your recommended cap is calculated
If Klaviyo is connected, we calculate your recommended cap for you:
We count the unique people (Klaviyo profiles) who received at least one email from you in the last 30 days. Someone who got 10 emails counts once — this is a count of people, not total sends.
We take 5% of that number and divide it by the days in the current month. That's your recommended daily cap (minimum 1 per day).
Example: 19,354 unique people emailed in the last 30 days → 5% = 968 → ÷ 31 days = a recommended cap of 31 new contacts per day.
Refresh: The recommendation is recalculated every Monday, so as you email more unique people, the recommendation grows.
Maximum: You can raise your cap up to 1.5× the recommendation (in the example above, 45 per day).
If you've set your cap by hand, it stops following the recommendation. Your number stays exactly where you put it, even when the Monday refresh raises the recommendation and the maximum. To take advantage of a higher recommendation, check back after a Monday refresh and raise your cap yourself in Deliverability Guard.
What you'll see
If it's already active (green): You'll see "Deliverability Guard is active on your account." This means your daily collection cap is already set — for Klaviyo accounts, it was calculated automatically from the unique people you've emailed. You'll also see a recommended cap and a maximum. You can adjust it anytime by clicking Adjust Cap.
If it's not set yet: You'll be prompted to set it up. You have two options:
How to set it up
Option 1 — Get a guided estimate (recommended)
Enter roughly how many people you email in a typical week (a rough estimate is fine)
We'll suggest a starting daily cap based on that number
Review the number, then click Turn On Guard — or Recalculate if you want to adjust
Option 2 — Enter a cap directly
If you'd rather skip the estimate, click Enter Cap Directly and type in a number. A good starting point is roughly 5% of the unique people you email in a month, divided by the days in the month.
Can I change my cap later?
Yes, anytime. Go to the Deliverability Guard tool on your dashboard or the Daily Collection Cap card on your Billing page. For Klaviyo accounts, you can raise it up to 1.5× the current recommendation.
Can I turn it off?
There's no off switch — and that's intentional. Removing the cap entirely would put your deliverability at risk. You can raise your cap if you need more room, but we recommend staying close to the 5% guideline.