Techniques are described herein to dynamically control a number of hybrid automatic repeat requests (HARQ) transmissions based at least in part on flow characteristics of a data flow. Data included in a transport block may be grouped into one or more data flows based on a variety of factors. A set of performance benchmarks may be associated with each data flow. Flow characteristics for each data flow may be measured. A network entity may determine a number of HARQ transmissions to be transmitted during a HARQ procedure based on measured flow characteristics satisfying the performance benchmarks. For example, if a performance benchmark is not satisfied by its associated flow characteristic, the network entity may request additional HARQ transmissions during the HARQ procedure.