In this article, we will explain how to add an unsubscribe option to your SMS messages.

Before you start

• Understand and follow the SMS marketing regulations in your recipient country. 
• If you are sending an SMS campaign to recipients in the United States or Canada, you have to register for a toll-free number and comply with the regulations. If you send an SMS campaign without complying with these regulations, your campaign will not be sent and will be suspended. To help you comply with the United States SMS marketing regulations, we enabled the Manage compliance for United States 🇺🇸 feature. To learn more, check our dedicated article Always comply with the United States SMS marketing regulations with our compliance feature.

Is it mandatory to add an unsubscribe option in SMS messages?

SMS campaigns

The CNIL imposes that all SMS campaigns must contain a way for the recipients to easily unsubscribe from the sending list of the message sender.

Transactional SMS

When sending transactional SMS (confirmation code, purchase, appointment reminder, etc.), adding a way to unsubscribe is not mandatory.

How does Brevo manage SMS unsubscriptions?

The management of SMS unsubscriptions is automatically done by Brevo. After unsubscribing, contacts are automatically blocklisted and receive an automatic confirmation message.

What are the unsubscribe options available for SMS messages?

Brevo offers two options to let your contacts unsubscribe from your SMS messages:

• Unsubscribe link
• STOP code

Unsubscribe link

The unsubscribe link is a system that allows each recipient of SMS messages to have an easy way to unsubscribe from the sending list of the message sender by simply clicking on a link in the SMS.

Step 1: Create your unsubscribe form

1. Go to Contacts > Forms > Unsubscription.
2. Click Create a new unsubscription form.
   

Step 2: Customize your SMS unsubscribe form

1. At the Setup step, name your unsubscribe form.
   
2. At the Design step:
   1. Select the Enter your email address to unsubscribe block.
   2. In the Attribute list, select SMS.
      
   3. Customize the rest of the form to meet your needs.
3. At the Settings step:
   1. Select whether or not you want to redirect your contacts to a confirmation page.
   2. If necessary, select to which confirmation page you want to redirect your contacts.
      
4. At the Messages step, customize the messages shown when a contact unsubscribes:
   • Success message: displayed when a contact successfully unsubscribes.
   • Invalid user information: displayed when the information provided does not match the field format.
   • Error message: displayed when the unsubscription failed.
   • Empty field: displayed when the contact did not enter any information in the field.
   • Contact number does not exist: displayed when the contact entered a number that does not appear in your contact list.
     

Step 3: Share your SMS unsubscribe link

1. At the Share step, click the icon to preview your SMS unsubscription form.
2. To add your SMS unsubscribe link to your SMS campaigns:
   1. Copy the Quick share link.
      
   2. Paste it into your SMS message.

Your contacts can now unsubscribe from your SMS messages whenever needed.

STOP code

The STOP code is a system that allows each recipient of SMS messages to have an easy way to unsubscribe from the sending list of the message sender by simply replying the word "STOP".

Brevo offers STOP code management for SMS messages sent to contacts in the following countries:

When sending SMS messages to contacts in these countries, include at the end of every SMS "Reply STOP to [STOP_CODE]", where STOP_CODE will, at the time of sending, automatically be replaced by a code specific to SMS campaigns or transactional SMS.

⏩ What's next?

• Manually subscribe or blocklist a contact from your emails and SMS
• Is there a separate blocklist for SMS messages?
• SMS opt-out keywords (HELP, STOP, START, INFO)

🤔 Have a question?

If you have a question, feel free to contact our support team by creating a ticket from your account. If you don't have an account yet, you can contact us here.