What is a threshold?
A threshold is the minimum amount of evidence a signal needs before it qualifies to become a message. A purchase signal needs a minimum number of recent purchases; an attention signal needs a minimum number of recent views. Below the threshold, the signal exists but is not allowed to surface.
Why do thresholds exist?
To keep messaging honest. A single view or a lone purchase is real but not meaningful — surfacing it as social proof would overstate what is actually happening. Thresholds are the floor that prevents low-confidence signals from being shown as if they were strong ones. If the evidence is not there, nothing fires.
How is a threshold different from eligibility?
A threshold asks whether there is enough evidence; eligibility asks whether the message is appropriate here. A signal can clear its threshold — enough purchases — but still be ineligible on a given surface, like a “new in” message at checkout. Threshold is the evidence gate; eligibility is the context gate. Both must pass before a message is even a candidate.
Where do thresholds sit in the pipeline?
Early. On every request the engine reads live demand, then checks each signal against its threshold before any scoring happens. Thresholds decide which signals are even in the running; scoring decides which of the qualifying ones wins.
See thresholds in the platform
The engine checks every signal against its threshold before it can become a message, on every request.