If the contacts are handled one by one you need to keep in mind that each type of node has a maximum throughput per program.
- Most nodes allow 500 contacts/minute/program to be processed.
- Response nodes and Action nodes such as Segment, Exclude segment, Filter switch and Quick filter allow 300 contacts/minute/program.
This throughput might be even lower for segment nodes if the segments are very complex. Segments that contain Behavior or Smart Insight criteria may run extremely slow compared to other segments.
Please make sure to read sections Before you start building programs and General guidelines as these pages explain how to keep the performance of your automated programs optimal.
Examples
Simple new contact program
If the new contact entry is triggered by an import, even a million contacts will get their emails almost instantly. On the other hand, if contacts are created one by one (for example through the API) then the throughput of this program is 500 contacts/minute.
New contact node a with filter
Here the filter is the bottleneck, and the program has a throughput of 300 contacts/minute.
New contact node with multiple filters
Now since we have two filters, and they have to share the same computational resources, the throughput drops to 150 contacts/minute. This is the same if the filters are in sequence or in parallel.
Wait nodes
If you set your Wait node to delay each contact for a certain number of hours, your throughput will be the standard 500 contacts/minute, and as long as the incoming contacts do not greatly exceed this, your program should perform as expected.
If you set your Wait node to hold contacts back a number of days, or wait for a specific day, you also have to define the time of day to process them. This means that your throughput will be 500 contacts/minute from that moment on.
For example, if your program collects 30,000 contacts a day, and your Wait node is set to ‘Wait one day and send at 08:00’, those 30,000 contacts will be processed at a rate of 500 per minute and it will take an hour to send all the messages.
And naturally, if your timer is followed by filters that will also affect sending speed.