1. STOP, HELP and START mean different things
Standard opt-out words can include STOP, STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT, REVOKE and OPTOUT. Provider keyword matching and your application’s handling are separate; a request need not match a keyword to express a clear withdrawal.
2. Handle an opt-out as soon as you receive it
- Stop sending. Exclude the recipient from the relevant campaigns, templates, automations and manual follow-up. If you cannot safely exclude them from a queued send, pause that send while you resolve it. Notify everyone who could otherwise text them for your business.
- Save the request. Record the recipient’s number, your business and sender number, the request itself, when and how it arrived, its scope, and the action taken. Keep a link to the original message or other evidence where available. Limit access to people who need it.
- Record an actual recipient opt-out. A note saying “do not text” is not enough if the sending tool does not enforce it. Use your approved opt-out intake process and maintain your business’s suppression records. If an available contact editor provides Do not contact this phone, use it as an additional restriction; do not treat that checkbox as the complete record of a recipient’s withdrawal. For a request received outside the app, a missing control or uncertain queued-send exclusion, contact support@dispoiq.app to arrange authorized intake and technical review. Keep the affected sending paused until the withdrawal’s scope and restriction are confirmed; a saved note or a support request alone is not confirmation.
- Carry the restriction through your other tools. Honor the request in connected systems and other workspaces used by the same sender to the extent it applies. Don’t change numbers, move the contact, re-import a file, or use another account to get around it.
- Check what was stopped. A request may concern one channel or ask your business to stop all contact. Honor its actual scope. If it is unclear, pause your texts while you determine what is permitted; don’t send a promotional clarification message.
3. Avoid a second confirmation or an unwanted HELP reply
After an opt-out, only a final confirmation permitted by applicable law and provider rules may follow. It must confirm the opt-out, contain no promotion, and must not become a new follow-up conversation. You are not required to send an extra confirmation yourself. If the messaging provider’s automatic opt-out handling has already handled a command, it can send the configured response. Don’t add another response or a deal link. HELP does not change the provider’s block list; a previously opted-out recipient may not receive the configured HELP response. Make sure your sender’s HELP information identifies your business and gives a working contact route. Do not assume HELP or INFO is handled correctly by every provider or configuration. Review available response settings and existing message records, including ordinary-language withdrawals and commands in the recipient’s language. A help or technical-service response is not renewed marketing permission. If a response is missing, duplicated or promotional after a HELP or withdrawal request, keep the affected automation or sending paused and contact support for authorized review; do not add a promotional reply or assume every route recognizes every command.4. Understand the different restrictions
Check workspace-level phone restrictions before adding recipients and before sending. An active-looking contact is not proof that every restriction has cleared. Don’t assume an external sending tool shares the restriction or that a request is automatically shared across unrelated customers. Keep your own sender’s records consistent.
Reconcile the actual permission and later withdrawal records for the intended audience, sender and number before using a campaign. A buyer designation, registration answer, logged verbal conversation or absence of an opt-out flag does not substantiate the written permission required for customer-initiated SMS/MMS. If an older restriction’s origin or a request’s affected numbers, sender, channel or workspace scope is unclear, keep potentially affected sending paused and ask support to review the evidence and available restrictions. Do not clear it on the assumption that it was only an internal label.
For a provider-reported opt-out failure, stop and investigate the recorded restriction. Do not retry through another number or treat it as a temporary delivery problem. Provider and application restrictions may differ, and either can prevent a send.
5. Keep opt-outs when lists change
Before an import, list refresh, export to another permitted tool, or recipient-list merge, reconcile the numbers against your suppression records. A new contact row, spelling change, or refreshed phone match does not renew permission. Keep restrictions associated with the actual number and sender, not only a contact’s name. Deleting a contact is not an opt-out process. Contact deletion, message history, provider blocks and suppression evidence are separate records. Don’t assume deletion clears a provider block, removes all retained evidence, or makes the number eligible when you import it again. Maintain only the information needed for your lawful suppression and recordkeeping purposes. Keep it out of campaigns and limit access. A privacy request needs its own review; don’t promise the person that every opt-out record will disappear with the contact. Keep the limited evidence needed to match the affected sender and number, show the request and action taken, and honor applicable retention or dispute obligations. Review what remains necessary rather than applying an indefinite all-record hold. For an export, correction, deletion or account-closure question, use support to review the eligible records, lawful preservation and a suitable secure response; a privacy request does not itself authorize deleting evidence needed to honor an outstanding withdrawal. The 90-day export window and possible workspace deletion after 180 days, both starting when paid access ends, do not set a universal expiry date for opt-outs or give permission to resume texting.6. Resume only after valid renewed permission
If the recipient independently asks to receive messages again:- Save the new request and the disclosures presented to them. Confirm that it establishes the written permission required for your identified business, number and campaign subject.
- Check remaining recipient, contact, provider and registry restrictions. A START command may affect only one restriction; it does not release every block.
- Use only the approved process to resolve restrictions that may lawfully be resolved. If the record stays blocked, request help rather than bypassing it.
- Recheck eligibility before the next send. Do not text an opted-out recipient to solicit renewed consent.