Automatic Opt-Out Handling
The short answer
Automatic opt-out handling means Blue Reacher reads every inbound reply, decides whether the contact is asking you to stop, and suppresses that contact across your entire account within seconds. It catches STOP in capital letters and it catches "take me off this list" typed at 11pm on a Tuesday. Suppression covers every line, every campaign, every automation and every rep typing by hand. Each event lands in a timestamped audit trail you can export. Nothing to install, nothing to switch on.
Key takeaways
- Opt-out detection reads every inbound reply, flags contacts asking to stop, and blocks them account-wide instantly.
- Detection runs on the inbound message the instant it arrives, before anything else touches the contact.
- The FCC consent revocation rules (mostly effective 11 April 2025) require that contacts can revoke consent by any reasonable means, that STOP, QUIT, END, REVOKE, OPT OUT, CANCEL and UNSUBSCRIBE count
- Opt-out handling earns its place at every stage where a message goes out.
- Detection, account-wide suppression and the audit trail are on by default on every Blue Reacher line, with nothing to install and nothing to switch on.
- The audit trail records every opt-out event, written at the moment it happens and never editable.
How a message falls back
What is automatic opt-out handling?
Opt-out detection reads every inbound reply, flags contacts asking to stop, and blocks them account-wide instantly. Two layers work: keyword matching catches STOP, QUIT, END, REVOKE, OPT OUT, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE in any casing; plain-language detection covers real replies like "not interested, please don't text me again" or "wrong number, remove me", which is most of the volume.
- Once marked opted out, the block is account-wide and immediate: queued steps cancel before sending, new campaigns skip the contact at build, and reps see a block in the inbox. In GoHighLevel the status writes to a tag or custom field on the contact record, so the flag lives where your team works.
How does opt-out detection work in practice?
Detection runs on the inbound message the instant it arrives, before anything else touches the contact. The message is classified, the record is flagged, queued sends are pulled, and the status goes to your CRM in seconds; an opt-out arriving thirty seconds before a scheduled reminder still stops it.
- Four paths lead to a blocked state: keyword reply, plain-language reply, a rep or admin flag, or a number matched against an uploaded suppression list. All four enforce identically and every refused send is logged. Confirmation follows FCC standard: one acknowledgment inside five minutes, no marketing content, no attempt to reverse it, and you can turn it off or edit the wording.
- Suppression attaches to the contact record, not the delivery path. A contact who replies STOP over SMS fallback is suppressed on iMessage and RCS too. One contact, one status, every channel.
Active
- What puts them there
- No stop signal on record
- What happens on send
- Campaigns and manual sends deliver normally
Opted out
- What puts them there
- Keyword or plain-language stop request detected in a reply
- What happens on send
- Queued sends canceled, all future sends blocked account-wide
Suppressed on import
- What puts them there
- Number matched a suppression list you uploaded
- What happens on send
- Contact never enters a campaign in the first place
Manually suppressed
- What puts them there
- A rep or admin flags the contact from the inbox
- What happens on send
- Identical block to an automatic opt-out
Restored
- What puts them there
- An admin restores the contact after a request to resume
- What happens on send
- Sending resumes, and the stop and the restore both stay in the audit trail
The FCC consent revocation rules
The FCC consent revocation rules (mostly effective 11 April 2025) require that contacts can revoke consent by any reasonable means, that STOP, QUIT, END, REVOKE, OPT OUT, CANCEL and UNSUBSCRIBE count as per se reasonable, non-keyword wording counts equally, and revocation is honored within 10 business days. Blue Reacher honors it in seconds.
- The revoke-all provision (47 CFR 64.1200(a)(10)), treating a revocation on one message type as covering all future messages from that sender, was extended to 31 January 2027 by FCC order DA 26-12 (6 January 2026). Blue Reacher already behaves this way: a stop request on cold outbound also suppresses for reminders, renewals and review requests, so nothing in your setup changes when that date arrives.
Opt-out handling across your entire funnel
Opt-out handling earns its place at every stage where a message goes out. Campaigns, automations and manual sends all read from the same account-wide suppression list instead of campaign-level blocks. Cold outbound and dead-list reactivation produce the highest volume of stop requests; automatic handling turns that into list hygiene that cleans itself while you send.
- Speed-to-lead follow-up, appointment confirmations, reminders, no-show recovery, cancellation saves, and proposal follow-up all hit the same block. A contact who opted out during a nurture sequence never gets pulled into a reminder someone else built, and a customer who opted out of marketing does not resurface in a review request blast weeks later.
How to set up opt-out handling
How to set up opt-out handling
Detection, account-wide suppression and the audit trail are on by default on every Blue Reacher line, with nothing to install and nothing to switch on. Everything below is optional tuning covered by white-glove activation during onboarding.
- Custom stop terms and phrases specific to your market, added on top of the standard keyword and plain-language layers
- Your existing suppression list, uploaded as a CSV of numbers at onboarding and matched before any campaign can build
- The one-time confirmation reply: on or off, and the exact wording your brand uses
- CRM field mapping, native in GoHighLevel, where the opt-out writes straight to a tag or custom field on the contact record
- Other CRMs through the REST API and webhooks, with the inbound webhook payload carrying {from, content, channel, external_id}, documented at docs.bluereacher.com
- Team permissions controlling who can restore a suppressed contact, limited to admins by default
Setup happens during white-glove activation rather than on your side. Bring the CRM you already run and we will map the triggers on the call.
See it wired to your CRMWhat the audit trail records
What the audit trail records
The audit trail records every opt-out event, written at the moment it happens and never editable. Each row holds the contact, exact inbound text, channel, detection method (keyword, plain-language, manual, or import), UTC timestamp, campaign, and confirmation message if sent.
- Blocked sends are logged too. Every attempt by a campaign, automation or rep to reach a suppressed contact is recorded and refused, creating a record of enforcement. Restores carry the message that asked to resume and the admin who approved it.
- Export the whole log to CSV, filtered by date range, campaign or line, for compliance reviews, security questionnaires during procurement, and answering rare complaints with a timestamped record.
Frequently asked questions
Does Blue Reacher catch opt-outs that do not use the word STOP?
Yes. Plain-language detection reads intent, so "take me off this list", "not interested, don't text again" and "wrong person, remove me" all trigger suppression. The FCC rules require honoring revocation by any reasonable means, and typed keywords are a small share of how people write.
Does an opt-out on one campaign stop every campaign?
Yes. Suppression is account-wide across every line, campaign, automation and manual send from the moment it is recorded. That is also how the FCC's revoke-all provision works once it takes effect on 31 January 2027 under order DA 26-12, so nothing in your setup has to change on that date.
How fast does an opt-out take effect?
An opt-out takes effect in seconds. Detection runs on the inbound message before anything else touches the contact, queued sends are canceled instead of delivered, and the CRM write follows immediately. The FCC allows up to 10 business days to honor a revocation, and Blue Reacher does not use them.
Does opt-out handling cover RCS and SMS fallback?
Yes. Suppression attaches to the contact record instead of the delivery channel, so an opt-out sent over SMS fallback blocks iMessage and RCS as well. One contact carries one status, and every channel reads it.
Can I import a suppression list I already have?
Yes. Upload your existing list as a CSV of phone numbers during onboarding, and those contacts are matched and blocked before any campaign can build. Numbers carried over from an old SMS or dialer program stay suppressed without anyone re-checking them.
Can a contact opt back in after opting out?
Yes. A contact who texts your line asking to resume is flagged for review, and an admin restores them. The request and the admin who approved it both land in the audit trail, and restores are limited to admins, so a rep cannot quietly undo a stop request.
Do I need A2P registration to run this?
No A2P registration is required on Blue Reacher, for opt-out handling or anything else on your line. You get a dedicated iMessage line, managed for you, with detection, suppression and the audit trail running from day one.
What happens if a rep tries to text someone who opted out?
The send is refused and the attempt is logged. Suppressed contacts are blocked in the inbox the same way automated campaigns block them, so a rep working an old opportunity cannot reopen the thread. The blocked attempt appears in your exportable audit trail.
Send with the compliance layer already running
Every Blue Reacher line ships with automatic opt-out detection, account-wide suppression and a full audit trail on day one, so your messages never need the reply-STOP boilerplate that marks a text as a blast before anyone reads it. $249 per line per month, unlimited iMessages paced at up to 50 opted-in / 30 cold new conversations per line per day, no A2P registration required, and $449 white-glove activation waived on annual billing. Book your Blue Funnel Map and ask us to open it by text: the thread you get is what compliant looks like without the footer.