Optimize Customer.io costs and usage. Use when reducing expenses, optimizing usage, or right-sizing your Customer.io plan. Trigger with phrases like "customer.io cost", "reduce customer.io spend", "customer.io billing", "customer.io pricing".
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name: customerio-cost-tuning description: | Optimize Customer.io costs and usage. Use when reducing expenses, optimizing usage, or right-sizing your Customer.io plan. Trigger with phrases like "customer.io cost", "reduce customer.io spend", "customer.io billing", "customer.io pricing". allowed-tools: Read, Write, Edit, Bash(gh:), Bash(curl:) version: 1.0.0 license: MIT author: Jeremy Longshore jeremy@intentsolutions.io
Customer.io Cost Tuning
Overview
Optimize Customer.io costs by managing profiles, reducing unnecessary operations, and right-sizing your usage.
Prerequisites
- Access to Customer.io billing dashboard
- Understanding of pricing model
- API access for usage analysis
Customer.io Pricing Model
| Component | Pricing Basis |
|---|---|
| Profiles | Number of people tracked |
| Emails | Volume sent (included amount varies) |
| SMS | Per message sent |
| Push | Volume sent |
| Objects | Included with plan |
Instructions
Step 1: Profile Cleanup
// scripts/profile-audit.ts
import { APIClient, RegionUS } from '@customerio/track';
interface ProfileAudit {
total: number;
inactive30Days: number;
inactive90Days: number;
noEmail: number;
suppressed: number;
recommendations: string[];
}
async function auditProfiles(): Promise<ProfileAudit> {
const audit: ProfileAudit = {
total: 0,
inactive30Days: 0,
inactive90Days: 0,
noEmail: 0,
suppressed: 0,
recommendations: []
};
// Query via Customer.io App API or export
// Analyze profile data
const now = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000);
const thirtyDaysAgo = now - (30 * 24 * 60 * 60);
const ninetyDaysAgo = now - (90 * 24 * 60 * 60);
// Example analysis
if (audit.inactive90Days > audit.total * 0.3) {
audit.recommendations.push(
'Consider archiving profiles inactive >90 days to reduce costs'
);
}
if (audit.noEmail > audit.total * 0.1) {
audit.recommendations.push(
'Remove profiles without email addresses (cannot receive communications)'
);
}
return audit;
}
Step 2: Suppress Inactive Users
// lib/profile-management.ts
import { TrackClient, RegionUS } from '@customerio/track';
const client = new TrackClient(
process.env.CUSTOMERIO_SITE_ID!,
process.env.CUSTOMERIO_API_KEY!,
{ region: RegionUS }
);
// Suppress users who haven't engaged
async function suppressInactiveUsers(
userIds: string[],
dryRun: boolean = true
): Promise<{ suppressed: string[]; errors: string[] }> {
const results = { suppressed: [] as string[], errors: [] as string[] };
for (const userId of userIds) {
if (dryRun) {
console.log(`[DRY RUN] Would suppress: ${userId}`);
results.suppressed.push(userId);
continue;
}
try {
await client.suppress(userId);
results.suppressed.push(userId);
} catch (error: any) {
results.errors.push(`${userId}: ${error.message}`);
}
}
return results;
}
// Delete users to fully remove from billing
async function deleteUsers(
userIds: string[],
dryRun: boolean = true
): Promise<{ deleted: string[]; errors: string[] }> {
const results = { deleted: [] as string[], errors: [] as string[] };
for (const userId of userIds) {
if (dryRun) {
console.log(`[DRY RUN] Would delete: ${userId}`);
results.deleted.push(userId);
continue;
}
try {
await client.destroy(userId);
results.deleted.push(userId);
} catch (error: any) {
results.errors.push(`${userId}: ${error.message}`);
}
}
return results;
}
Step 3: Event Deduplication
// lib/smart-tracking.ts
import { LRUCache } from 'lru-cache';
import { TrackClient } from '@customerio/track';
const recentEvents = new LRUCache<string, number>({
max: 100000,
ttl: 3600000 // 1 hour
});
interface TrackingConfig {
dedupWindowMs: number;
skipEvents: string[];
sampleRate: Record<string, number>;
}
const config: TrackingConfig = {
dedupWindowMs: 60000, // 1 minute dedup window
skipEvents: [
'page_viewed', // High volume, low value
'heartbeat'
],
sampleRate: {
'feature_used': 0.1, // Sample 10% of feature usage
'search_performed': 0.5 // Sample 50% of searches
}
};
export function shouldTrackEvent(
userId: string,
eventName: string,
data?: Record<string, any>
): boolean {
// Skip excluded events
if (config.skipEvents.includes(eventName)) {
return false;
}
// Apply sampling for high-volume events
const sampleRate = config.sampleRate[eventName];
if (sampleRate !== undefined && Math.random() > sampleRate) {
return false;
}
// Deduplicate identical events
const eventKey = `${userId}:${eventName}:${JSON.stringify(data || {})}`;
if (recentEvents.has(eventKey)) {
return false;
}
recentEvents.set(eventKey, Date.now());
return true;
}
Step 4: Email Cost Optimization
// lib/email-optimization.ts
interface EmailOptimizationConfig {
// Skip transactional emails for users who never open
skipInactiveAfterDays: number;
// Consolidate multiple notifications
batchNotifications: boolean;
batchWindowMinutes: number;
// Suppress bounced emails
suppressAfterBounces: number;
}
const emailConfig: EmailOptimizationConfig = {
skipInactiveAfterDays: 180, // Skip users inactive 6 months
batchNotifications: true,
batchWindowMinutes: 30,
suppressAfterBounces: 3
};
// Check if user should receive emails
async function shouldSendEmail(
userId: string,
emailType: 'transactional' | 'marketing'
): Promise<boolean> {
// Always send critical transactional (password reset, security)
if (emailType === 'transactional') {
return true;
}
// Check engagement history
const user = await getUserMetrics(userId);
// Skip users who haven't opened in 6 months
const sixMonthsAgo = Date.now() - (180 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000);
if (user.lastEmailOpenedAt < sixMonthsAgo) {
return false;
}
// Skip users with high bounce count
if (user.bounceCount >= emailConfig.suppressAfterBounces) {
return false;
}
return true;
}
Step 5: Usage Monitoring Dashboard
// lib/usage-monitor.ts
interface UsageMetrics {
period: string;
profiles: {
total: number;
new: number;
deleted: number;
};
events: {
total: number;
byType: Record<string, number>;
};
emails: {
sent: number;
delivered: number;
opened: number;
bounced: number;
};
estimatedCost: number;
}
async function getUsageMetrics(
startDate: Date,
endDate: Date
): Promise<UsageMetrics> {
// Query Customer.io Reporting API
// or aggregate from your tracking
return {
period: `${startDate.toISOString()} - ${endDate.toISOString()}`,
profiles: {
total: 10000,
new: 500,
deleted: 100
},
events: {
total: 50000,
byType: {
'signed_up': 500,
'feature_used': 20000,
'page_viewed': 25000 // Candidate for sampling
}
},
emails: {
sent: 15000,
delivered: 14500,
opened: 4350,
bounced: 150
},
estimatedCost: 299 // Monthly estimate
};
}
// Alert on unexpected usage spikes
function checkUsageAlerts(metrics: UsageMetrics): string[] {
const alerts: string[] = [];
// Profile growth alert
if (metrics.profiles.new > metrics.profiles.total * 0.1) {
alerts.push('Unusual profile growth detected');
}
// Event volume alert
if (metrics.events.total > 100000) {
alerts.push('High event volume - consider sampling');
}
// Bounce rate alert
if (metrics.emails.bounced / metrics.emails.sent > 0.05) {
alerts.push('High bounce rate - clean email list');
}
return alerts;
}
Step 6: Cost Reduction Checklist
## Monthly Cost Review Checklist
### Profile Optimization
- [ ] Remove profiles with no email
- [ ] Archive inactive profiles (>90 days)
- [ ] Suppress hard bounced emails
- [ ] Merge duplicate profiles
### Event Optimization
- [ ] Identify high-volume, low-value events
- [ ] Implement sampling for analytics events
- [ ] Deduplicate redundant events
- [ ] Remove deprecated event types
### Email Optimization
- [ ] Clean suppression list
- [ ] Re-engage or remove inactive subscribers
- [ ] Consolidate notification emails
- [ ] Optimize send frequency
### Plan Optimization
- [ ] Review plan vs actual usage
- [ ] Consider annual billing for discount
- [ ] Evaluate feature usage vs plan tier
Cost Savings Estimates
| Optimization | Typical Savings |
|---|---|
| Profile cleanup | 10-30% |
| Event deduplication | 5-15% |
| Email list hygiene | 5-10% |
| Sampling high-volume events | 10-20% |
| Annual billing | 10-20% |
Error Handling
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| Accidental deletion | Customer.io has 30-day recovery |
| Over-suppression | Track suppression reasons |
| Usage spike | Set up usage alerts |
Resources
Next Steps
After cost optimization, proceed to customerio-reference-architecture for architecture patterns.
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