At Community, we use message deduplication to protect the customer experience by ensuring members don’t receive the same message multiple times.
Duplicate sends can happen when messages are triggered more than once in a short period, and deduplication prevents those repeats from being delivered.
What Is Message Deduplication?
Message deduplication is the process of identifying and suppressing duplicate messages before they are delivered to members.
In practice, this means...
- If the same message is triggered multiple times
- To the same member
- Within a defined time window
... then only one message is actually delivered.
This helps prevent confusion, improves member experience, and reduces the risk of appearing spammy.
Why Duplicate Messages Happen Sometimes
Duplicate messages are a normal side effect of modern messaging systems.
They can occur when:
- Messages triggered by flows, or integrations, share the same message content
- Manually sending campaigns or DMs from the Community UI, whether intentionally or unintentionally
- Using an API to send messages (ex. your dev team runs a replay that accidentally triggers messages in production)
Deduplication acts as a safeguard to ensure your audience doesn’t receive those repeats.
How Deduplication Works in Community
Deduplication in Community happens at the edge (before delivery).
- The system evaluates messages right before they are sent
- If a duplicate is detected within the defined window, it is not delivered to the member
Important Note
✅ The message may still appear as sent in your dashboard
❌ But it is not actually delivered again to the recipient
We realize this can be confusing for you as a Leader. If you need clarification, please submit a ticket including detailed information on the messages in question
Deduplication Windows by Message Type
Deduplication windows vary based on the type of message being sent:
- Campaigns: 5 minutes
- Onboarding/Opt-In Messages: 10 minutes
- Automated Messages: 30 minutes
- Keyword Flows
- Messages originating from integrations
- All Other Messages: 30 minutes
FAQs
- Why are my Keyword Response Flows not being delivered?
If multiple Keyword Response Flows use the same exact message copy, they are subject to the 30 minute window. We recommend slightly altering message copy to avoid deduplication. - Why do I see these messages in my dashboard if they aren't actually sent?
Deduplication happens before delivery, not before logging. Our system may record multiple send attempts, but only one message is actually delivered. - Can I change deduplication windows?
Not currently. Please reach out to us if you have a detailed use case that you believe requires custom deduplication windows for your Community - How can I avoid triggering deduplication?
Avoid sending identical messages repeatedly in a short time, and audit potential duplicate triggers such as Flows, API calls, and integrations.