How STOP SMS works
Find more about the SMS opt-out process.
Definition
The “Stop SMS” feature is designed to help you stay compliant with legal regulations (such as GDPR) while also respecting your users' communication preferences. When you enable this feature in your SMS campaigns, recipients receive a clear option to opt out of future SMS communications.
Once a user responds to the SMS message with the unsubscribe code, their "unsubscribed from SMS" attribute gets updated with the "true" value.
NOTE! This feature is currently available ONLY for CM.com and MessageFlow integrations.
NOTE! The "Stop SMS" feature is not the same configuration as SMS delivery provider integration. It's a separate process. Make sure your regional laws allow you to use separate providers for SMS delivery and opt-out processes legally. Otherwise, you can use MessageFlow for both goals.
Account Configuration
First of all, you need to make sure your team already has a number for opt-out at one of the providers: MessageFlow or CM.com .
If there is no number purchased - please contact your User.com account manager first to settle the details and the process of the phone number purchase.
In case you already have a number - make sure your phone number supports the two-way communication and follow the steps below.
MessageFlow
Log in to the MessageFlow dashboard.
Open the "Webhooks" menu in the Admin panel.
Scroll down to the “2-way Communication – Incoming SMS” section.
Select the phone number that will be used for STOP SMS feature.
Click on "Edit settings".
In the URL field, enter the following address:
https://.user.com/call-center/sms/twoway/webhook/Please remember to replace the with the name of your User.com app (from the url of the app).
For the "Authentication Mode", select "Basic auth".
Click the "Generate SecretKey" button and save the generated key in a secure place. This key will be used later.
Contact your User.com representative and request setting the "two-way SMS provider". Please, remember to provide the following values:
Name: Business name of the phone number. For example, "Marketing PL".
Short number: The phone number chosen in the MessageFlow panel.
Provider name: "MessageFlow" in this case.
Authentication key: Paste the SecretKey you generated in the MessageFlow panel.
Get the confirmation from your User.com agent. Once the connection is ready, you can use the "Stop SMS" feature in your SMS campaigns.
NOTE! Remember to connect your SMS account to be able to send SMS campaigns from User.com
CM.com
Log in to the CM.com dashboard.
Open the "Channels" section and click on "SMS Numbers & Keywords".
Navigate to the profile of the acquired phone number.
Choose the numer from the list.
In the phone number profile scroll down to the "Incoming messages" section.
Click "Add destination" and set the following values:
Destination: Webhook
Content type: JSON
Webhook URL: https://appname.user.com/call-center/sms/twoway/cm/webhook (Remember to replace "appname" with your User.com tenant name.)
Reach out to your dedicated CM.com representative and request to associate an API key with the phone number by adding a following header:
"X-Api-Key": {api_key}Wait for the confirmation from the CM.com side.
Contact your User.com representative and request setting the "two-way SMS provider". Please, remember to provide the following values:
Get the confirmation from your User.com agent. Once the connection is ready, you can use the "Stop SMS" feature in your SMS campaigns.
NOTE! Remember to connect your SMS account to be able to send SMS campaigns from User.com
How to Activate
Now when you have a special number for "STOP SMS" option configured, you can use it in the SMS campaigns.
Enter the Campaigns > SMS section.
Click on "Create new" button.
Decide on the name, category and the type of the campaign (more about SMS campaigns).
Turn on the "Add STOP SMS information".
On the next step you will see the preview of the message with the unsubscribe code added to it.
The rest of the steps of the campaign creation stays the same.
Use Case
Scenario: An e-commerce business wants to send automated SMS updates about upcoming seasonal sales to users who recently made a purchase.
Campaign itself can be sent with the help of one of the providers User.com has an integration with. (You can find full list in Settings > Integrations section of the application), when the opt-out process is managed by MessageFlow/CM.com short code.
It's a convenient way of managing the opt-out process, as most of the phone numbers for marketing deliveries do not accept direct responses from the user. Such a connection allows to manage the unsubscribe process even in such a case.
Finally a message will include the information about the offer + a short unsubscribe code that can be used by the user to prevent the delivery of the future campaigns. Automatically filtering out unsubscribed users helps reduce complaints and improves your deliverability and sender reputation.
