Frequently asked questions
Short answers first; every one links to the full guide.
- Do I need a credit card for the free plan?
No. The free plan needs no card at any point: 1 seat, 2 active sequences, and sending through your own connected Gmail or Outlook mailbox (capped at 250 to 1,000 emails a day, depending on the kind of account). A card is only collected if you start the 30-day trial, and even then nothing is charged during the trial.
- What happens when my 30-day trial ends?
Nothing is charged, because the trial never bills automatically. If you haven't picked a plan, your account moves to the Free plan. You keep sending through your connected Gmail or Outlook mailbox (capped at 250 to 1,000 emails a day, depending on the kind of account), and your data stays. Broadcasts and any extra teammate seats pause until you choose a plan. Your active sequences pause too, and you resume them yourself, up to 2 at a time on Free. Your custom sending domain is removed, so after you upgrade you add it again and update its DNS records to match the ones we show.
- How many emails can I send per day?
Through your connected mailbox: a daily cap per mailbox of 250 for a personal Outlook account, 400 for a personal Gmail account, and 1,000 for a Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 account, with queued sends resuming the next day. Mailbox sends never count against your plan. Platform sends (broadcasts) are metered monthly instead, from 7,500 per month on Solo up to 200,000 on Business.
- Why don't broadcasts send from my Gmail?
By design. Broadcasts are bulk mail and always use the SEMAOS platform channel; your personal mailbox only carries one-off emails and sequence steps. This keeps your own address sending personal-looking volume while the platform absorbs the bulk traffic.
- Why can my new domain only send 100 emails today?
Warmup. A new custom sending domain is limited to 100 platform sends per day for its first week, then 500 per day, then 2,000, and plan limits apply from day 22. The ramp follows whichever is slower, the domain's age or what it has actually sent (it moves up a step only after more than 700, 4,200 and 18,200 sends in total), so a domain that has barely sent stays on a lower step past those dates. Sends beyond a day's allowance wait for the next day rather than failing.
Full guide: Custom sending domains: setup, warmup, and multiple domains
- Why is my sending throttled or suspended?
Your rolling 24-hour hard-bounce rate crossed a guardrail: at 5% new platform sends are throttled until the rate drops back under 5%, and at 10% sending is suspended until support reactivates the account. Under 50 attempted sends in the window, the rate isn't acted on.
Full guide: Deliverability: bounces, complaints, and the guardrails
- Why are my open rates so high (or so low)?
Open tracking is approximate in both directions: Apple Mail Privacy Protection registers opens nobody made, image-blocking clients hide real reads, and mailbox-channel sends don't track opens at all unless you opt in. Judge campaigns by clicks and replies.
- Does SEMAOS stop a sequence when someone replies?
On Outlook, yes: a reply to an email sent from your connected Outlook mailbox stops the remaining steps for that contact automatically. For sequence emails sent through SEMAOS's sending domain or your own verified domain, turn on reply detection under Settings → Sending. Gmail reply detection isn't available, so on Gmail you pause or unenroll the contact manually.
- Someone asked to stop receiving email. What do I do?
If they click the unsubscribe link every email carries, it's already handled: they join the suppression list and are never sent to again on any channel. To handle a verbal or forwarded request, add their address under Settings → Suppression yourself.
- When do engagement scores update?
Nightly at 02:00 UTC. Today's opens and clicks show up in tomorrow's score, so a contact's number always reflects activity through the last nightly recalculation.
- How do I add teammates?
Under Settings → Team, on Starter and above (Free and Solo are single-seat). Every tier includes some seats; invites past the included count add a prorated per-seat charge of $25 per month on Starter, $19 on Team, or $15 on Business.
- Can I bring contacts from my old tool?
Yes, by CSV, up to 50 MB (roughly 150,000 rows) per file with automatic column mapping. Import your old tool's unsubscribe list into Settings → Suppression first, so past opt-outs can never be mailed by mistake.