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Opt-out keyword handling

People can opt-out of SMS messages by sending an opt-out keyword to your Twilio sender number—like STOP or UNSUBSCRIBE. In Customer.io, we’ll respect your users’ preferences and show you which senders people have opted-out of, so you can see whether or not they’re eligible to receive your messages.

How it works

While Customer.io doesn’t receive SMS replies directly, we capture opt-in and opt-out information from Twilio so that we respect your audience’s preferences and show you which numbers people have opted out of.

We show a list of opt-outs in the SMS Opt-outs section of any person’s profile. This list updates in near real-time as people opt out or back into SMS messaging for a given phone number.

This list only shows explicit opt-outs for a given phone number. While it updates if someone opts out or into SMS messaging for a given phone number, it doesn’t show the numbers people have opted into.

Override an opt-out

You might want to remove someone from the list if they were mistakenly marked as opted out or if you change their opt-in status manually in Twilio.

Note that removing an opt-out entry only removes the opt-out from the person in Customer.io; it doesn’t change their opt-out status in Twilio. If a person is still opted out of messages in Twilio and you try to send that person a message, Twilio will block your message and their opt-out will re-appear in Customer.io.

To override an opt-out:

1. Go to the People page.
2. Select the person whose opt-out you want to override.
3. Scroll to the SMS Opt-outs section and click Manage.
4. Click Remove next to the number you want to override.

Segment users by SMS opt-out status

When you send an SMS message, we’ll automatically ignore members of your audience who’ve opted out of messages. You might segment people who’ve opted into or out of SMS messages to target the right people with SMS messages.

When you create a segment, you can use the Opt out condition to include or exclude people who’ve opted out of a particular sender number. Then you can use this segment as a filter for messages.

SMS opt-out in campaigns

When someone opts out of SMS messages but reaches an SMS message in a campaign, we’ll skip the message. While this ensures that your campaigns comply with various regulatory requirements, it means you may skip parts of your campaign workflow for certain users.

You can handle this situation gracefully by setting up segments containing people who’ve opted out of SMS messages and then filter people based on their opt-out status:

• Use True/False branches to send someone alternative messages if they opt out of SMS.

  

  
• Filter users out of your attribute or segment-triggered campaign entirely by setting up a condition for the campaign that excludes people who are in your opt-out segment.

  

  
• Filter users out of your event-triggered campaign entirely by setting a campaign filter to exclude people who belong to your “people who opted out of SMS” segment.

  

  

FAQ

What if someone opts out without using a keyword?

Imagine someone wants to opt out of SMS, but they tell you via phone call, email, or another channel. In this case, you’ll need to manually update their status in Twilio.

This will not automatically update their opt-out status in Customer.io until you attempt to send them a message. That’s when we’ll check Twilio for opt-out information.

A user opted-out but I don’t see them on the opt-outs list

In general, this probably means that the opt-out wasn’t triggered by a keyword.

But we also rely on Twilio to tell us about opt-outs. If someone sends an opt-out keyword but it isn’t reflected in Customer.io, it’s possible that there was an interruption in the service we use to capture opt-out information from Twilio.