> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.digifist.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Exclusion Rules

> Exclude specific Customer Lists or Segments from an automation entirely, independent of trigger and frequency cap logic.

Exclusion rules let you permanently exclude members of specific Customer Lists or Customer Segments from an automation — regardless of whether they match the trigger, pass the frequency cap, or have `SUBSCRIBED` consent. A customer who is a member of an excluded list or segment will never be enrolled in that automation while the exclusion is in place.

Exclusion rules are configured per automation and complement — rather than replace — consent filtering and frequency caps.

## What this covers

* How exclusion rules work and when they are evaluated
* Configuring list and segment exclusions
* The difference between exclusion rules and frequency caps
* Common exclusion patterns

## How exclusion rules work

When a trigger event fires for a customer, Galantis evaluates the following checks in sequence before enrolling the customer:

1. Is the customer's `marketing_state = SUBSCRIBED`?
2. Is the customer within the frequency cap window?
3. Is the customer a member of any excluded list or segment?

If the customer is a member of an excluded list or segment, they are not enrolled — regardless of the outcomes of checks 1 and 2. The exclusion is recorded in the activity log.

Exclusion rules are evaluated at the moment of trigger — they reflect the customer's list and segment membership at that point in time. A customer added to an excluded list after they have already been enrolled and are mid-flow is not affected retroactively — exclusion prevents enrollment, it does not cancel in-progress executions.

## Configuring exclusion rules

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the automation settings">
    Navigate to **Automations → \[Automation Name] → Settings** (or the exclusion rules panel within the flow configuration).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add excluded lists">
    Select one or more Customer Lists to exclude. Any customer who is a member of a selected list at the time of trigger will be skipped.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add excluded segments">
    Select one or more Customer Segments to exclude. Segment membership is evaluated dynamically at trigger time — a customer who joins the excluded segment after the automation was activated will be excluded from that point forward.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save exclusion configuration">
    Exclusion rules take effect immediately on save. No re-activation is required.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Exclusion rules vs frequency caps

Both exclusion rules and frequency caps prevent customers from being enrolled, but they serve different purposes:

|                | Exclusion Rules                                  | Frequency Caps                               |
| -------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------- |
| **Based on**   | List or segment membership                       | Time since last enrollment                   |
| **Scope**      | Specific customers in defined groups             | All customers, per time window               |
| **Permanence** | As long as the customer is a list/segment member | Until the cap window expires                 |
| **Use case**   | Suppress specific audiences entirely             | Limit message frequency across all customers |

Use exclusion rules when certain customers should never receive a specific automation. Use frequency caps to control how often any customer can be enrolled.

## Common exclusion patterns

**Suppress recent purchasers from a recovery flow**
Exclude a segment defined as `Days since last order < 3`. Customers who purchased very recently are unlikely to respond to a recovery message and may find it irrelevant or annoying.

**Exclude active automation participants**
If a customer is already enrolled in a high-touch post-purchase sequence, exclude them from a separate re-engagement automation during the same period to avoid sending too many messages simultaneously.

**Suppress a suppression list**
Maintain a "Do Not Contact" Customer List for customers who have requested no messaging outside the standard opt-out flow. Add this list as an exclusion on every automation.

**Exclude VIP customers from standard flows**
If VIP customers receive a separate, dedicated automation, exclude the VIP list from your standard flows to prevent them from receiving both the VIP and the standard messaging sequences.

## Related guides

* [Frequency Caps](./frequency-caps) — Time-based enrollment limits per customer
* [Audience — Lists](/whatsapp/audience/lists) — Creating and managing Customer Lists for use as exclusions
* [Audience — Segments](/whatsapp/audience/segments) — Creating dynamic segments for exclusion rules
* [Activity Tracking](./activity-tracking) — How exclusion-blocked enrollments are recorded