Blue bubbles
How much can I send
The short answer
One warmed number safely handles 50 to 100 new cold contacts per day. Before it is warmed, treat 40 per day as the ceiling. This is a channel limit, not a Beam limit, and no amount of budget removes it.
Inbound-first has no ramp limit
Everything above describes you messaging them first. When the contact texts you first, the ramp does not apply. There is no warm-up ceiling on answering someone who reached out, and a contact who started the conversation cannot report it the way they can report an unsolicited message.
This is why the strongest plays put the first message in the lead's hands: a form that opens their Messages app, a QR code, an ad call-to-action, or a missed-call text-back. See Getting leads to text first.
Reply rate is the health metric
Keep replies above roughly 70%. A list that does not reply is a list that is about to cost you a number. A couple of spam reports will undo weeks of ramp, so slow down the moment reply rate slips rather than pushing through it.
How many numbers a client needs
| Lines | New cold contacts per day |
|---|---|
| 1 | 50 to 100 |
| 3 | 150 to 300 |
| 5 | 250 to 500 |
For text-message sending specifically, run two or three lines for any meaningful volume and keep one line in reserve. A new sender with an untested list often discovers the hard way that the list is worse than they thought, and a reserve line means that discovery does not take the campaign down with it.
Before you promise a client a timeline
- Ask whether the play is inbound-first or cold outbound. Recommend inbound-first.
- If cold, do the sizing math above and put it in writing before signing.
- Screen the list so you know the blue-versus-text split.
- Request lines with lead time. Provisioning timing and specific area-code availability are confirmed by the operator, not guaranteed.
- Start at 40 per day per line and climb only while reply rate holds.