Including opt-out instructions with your SMS campaigns is a requirement in most countries, and a best practice everywhere. Iterable makes it easy to customize the text and frequency of SMS opt-out instructions and include them in your SMS campaigns.
You might want to customize these settings to:
- Comply with specific regulations for your region, industry, or use case.
- Provide clear instructions to your users.
- Optimize your deliverability.
- Support your brand voice.
- Control the user experience.
- Optimize your SMS costs.
Org Admins and members with the Manage Settings project permission can view and update these settings any time.
Available settings vary based on the SMS service you use and where you send messages to:
If your project sends from a Telnyx or Twilio account that you manage, or from Iterable SMS without global access, you can customize opt-out instructions for all SMS campaigns using SMS opt-out instructions settings.
If your project sends from Iterable SMS with global access, you can customize opt-out instructions for each country using Global SMS Settings.
In this article
SMS opt-out instructions
When you send SMS campaigns using your own account from Telnyx or Twilio, or using Iterable SMS without global access, Iterable automatically includes opt-out instructions at the end of the message body. The text of the instructions, as well as how often they're included, vary based on your project settings.
To view and change your current settings, go to Settings > Project Settings and find Include SMS Opt-Out Instructions.
When you change these settings, updates apply to all SMS campaigns that haven't been sent yet, including the SMS campaigns you've already created but haven't sent from Iterable yet. This includes existing blast campaigns that are scheduled to send in the future, and active and inactive triggered and journey campaigns.
Frequency
You can choose to include opt-out instructions with every SMS campaign, or only with the first SMS campaign you send to any given user.
To do this, use the Include SMS Opt-Out Instructions setting in your project settings.
Only with the first SMS campaign to each contact: Adds opt-out instructions only to the first SMS campaign you send to each user. Carriers may filter messages that don't include opt-out instructions, so this option can negatively impact your deliverability.
With every SMS campaign: Adds opt-out instructions to every campaign, to every user. This is the default setting for new Iterable projects.
Opt-out text
You can customize the opt-out instructions that Iterable includes in your SMS campaigns. To do this, update the SMS Opt-Out Instructions Text setting in your project settings.
By default, Iterable provides these SMS opt-out instructions:
Msg&data rates may apply. Text 'STOP' to quit.
This text adds 48 characters to the end of the message body.
To customize the opt-out instruction text, go to Settings > Project Settings, update the text in the SMS Opt-Out Instructions Text setting, and click Save Project Settings.
Global SMS settings
When you use Iterable SMS to send messages internationally (outside of the US and Canada), Iterable automatically includes opt-out instructions at the end of the message body. The text and language of the instructions, as well as how often they're included, vary based on the country the message is sent to.
Iterable determines the destination country for opt-out instructions based on the user's phone number.
To see your current settings, go to Settings > Project Settings and find Global SMS Settings. Click Manage to visit the Global SMS Settings page.
Frequency
By default, Iterable includes SMS opt-out instructions in every campaign, to every user.
For US and Canada only, you can change these settings. For other countries, the frequency is set and can't be changed. (For compliance reasons, even Iterable employees cannot override this setting.)
Iterable has two options for how often to include opt-out instructions in SMS messages:
With Every SMS Campaign - Your project automatically includes opt-out instructions in every campaign, to every user. This is the default setting for new Iterable projects. Select this option to maximize your deliverability.
With the First SMS Campaign - (US and Canada only) Your project automatically includes opt-out instructions only in the first SMS campaign it sends to any given user. Caution: This option can negatively impact your deliverability, since carriers may filter messages that don't include opt-out instructions.
Opt-out text
By default, Iterable provides SMS opt-out instructions in the native language of the country that you are sending SMS to (based on the user's phone number).
For English-speaking countries, this text is:
Msg&data rates may apply. Text 'STOP' to opt-out.
This text adds 48 characters to the end of the message body.
If changes have been made, you can view the past versions of the opt-out instructions. To do this, go to the overflow menu and select Version History.
Numeric opt-out text
Numeric opt-out text sends with SMS messages from long code and short code sender IDs. These instructions include an opt-out keyword that the user can send in reply to unsubscribe their phone number.
To learn more about opt-out keywords, read SMS Unsubscribes and Resubscribes.
Alphanumeric opt-out text
Alphanumeric opt-out text sends from messages sent by alphanumeric sender IDs, and is only available for select countries when you send with Iterable SMS.
Because alphanumeric sender IDs can't receive replies, users can't opt-out by
replying with a keyword. Instead, Iterable sends a link that a user can visit
to opt out their phone number. Iterable includes an unsubscribe link in the
opt-out instructions by using a merge parameter, {{unsubscribeByPhoneUrl}}.
This provides a URL that is dynamically generated for every user who receives a
message from an alphanumeric sender ID.
To learn more about this URL, read SMS Unsubscribes and Resubscribes.
Customizing Global SMS settings
When you change the settings in the Global SMS screen, updates apply to all SMS campaigns that haven't sent, including the SMS campaigns you've already created but haven't sent from Iterable yet. This includes existing blast campaigns scheduled for the future, and active and inactive triggered and journey campaigns.
To customize these settings:
Find the country you want to edit.
Go to the overflow menu and select Edit Instructions.
-
Update the Frequency as-needed (US and Canada only).
- Some countries require opt-out instructions with every message. For these destinations, the frequency is set and cannot be changed. (For compliance reasons, even Iterable employees cannot override this setting.)
-
Update the Alphanumeric opt-out text and/or Numeric opt-out text as-needed.
- To reset the current opt-out instructions back to Iterable's default text, click on the return arrow when hovering over the opt-out instructions here.
Click Save Changes.
Want to learn more?
For more information about some of the topics in this article, check out this Iterable Academy course. Iterable Academy is open to everyone — you don't need to be an Iterable customer!