How to Set Marketing Rules Your AI Agent Follows

Why Rules Matter for AI Marketing

An AI marketing agent learns from data and makes decisions based on patterns. That is its strength, but it also means the AI might take actions that make sense statistically but violate your business requirements. Maybe the data shows that 7am messages get the highest open rates, but your brand policy says no messages before 9am. Maybe a customer's behavior suggests daily contact would maximize engagement, but that frequency would annoy most people.

Rules solve this by creating hard boundaries the AI cannot cross. They are not suggestions or preferences. They are absolute constraints checked before every action. The AI optimizes within these boundaries, finding the best possible outcome that still follows every rule you have set.

Frequency Rules

Frequency rules control how often the AI can contact any single customer. Set these carefully because too much contact drives unsubscribes while too little means missed opportunities.

• Maximum messages per week: The total number of messages a customer can receive across all channels in a 7-day period. Start with 2-3 per week and adjust based on response data.
• Minimum days between contacts: The minimum gap between messages to the same customer. Setting this to 2 or 3 days prevents the AI from clustering messages on consecutive days.
• Maximum messages per channel per week: Separate limits for email, SMS, and chat. You might allow 3 emails per week but only 1 SMS.
• Campaign-specific limits: Override global limits for specific campaigns. A time-sensitive sale might warrant more frequent contact than an ongoing nurture sequence.

Timing Rules

Timing rules define when the AI can and cannot send messages.

• Quiet hours: Time windows when no messages go out. A common setting is no messages before 9am or after 8pm in the customer's time zone.
• SMS-specific windows: TCPA compliance requires SMS to be sent only during certain hours. Set these rules once and the AI enforces them automatically. See TCPA Compliance Guide for the legal requirements.
• Day restrictions: Some businesses prefer not to send marketing messages on weekends or holidays. The AI will queue messages for the next allowed day instead.

Channel Permission Rules

Channel rules determine which channels the AI can use for each customer.

• Opt-in enforcement: The AI only uses channels a customer has explicitly opted into. If someone signed up for email but not SMS, the agent will never send them a text message regardless of what the data suggests.
• Channel priorities: Set a preferred order of channels. The AI tries the highest-priority channel first and falls back to alternatives if needed.
• Channel restrictions by message type: You might allow promotional messages only via email but permit transactional messages (order confirmations, shipping updates) via SMS as well.

Content Rules

Content rules control what the AI can say in its messages.

• Discount limits: Set a maximum discount percentage the AI can offer. This prevents the AI from over-discounting to drive short-term conversions.
• Prohibited topics: List any subjects the AI should never mention in marketing messages, such as competitor products, internal pricing changes, or sensitive categories.
• Brand voice requirements: Define the tone and style the AI should use. Formal or casual, first person or third person, specific phrases to use or avoid.
• Required disclosures: Any legal disclaimers or disclosures that must appear in certain message types.

Compliance Rules

Compliance rules enforce legal requirements automatically.

• CAN-SPAM: Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link, a valid physical address, and honest subject lines. The AI handles this automatically when compliance rules are enabled.
• TCPA: SMS messages respect opt-in consent, include opt-out instructions, and only go out during legally permitted hours.
• GDPR: For customers in applicable regions, the AI respects data processing consent, honors right-to-erasure requests, and only uses data for purposes the customer consented to.

Reviewing and Adjusting Rules

Check your rules monthly and after any significant change in campaign strategy. If you notice the AI is being blocked from actions that seem reasonable, your rules may be too restrictive. If customers are complaining about frequency or timing, your rules may be too loose. The AI's performance data will show you where the boundaries are limiting results and where they are protecting your brand.