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An opt-out is a person’s request to stop contact at a phone number. Hyzl honors it from every recovery state.

Words that stop contact

Hyzl stops contact when the whole text is one of these words or phrases:
  • STOP
  • STOPALL
  • UNSUBSCRIBE
  • CANCEL
  • END
  • QUIT
  • REVOKE
  • OPT OUT, also written OPTOUT or OPT-OUT
  • REMOVE ME
  • TAKE ME OFF
Capitalization does not matter. Final punctuation and extra spaces do not matter, so STOP. and Opt out! also work. REVOKE and OPT OUT are on the list of words that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says revoke consent.

Plain requests to stop

People do not always reply with one word. Hyzl also honors a short text that asks to stop in plain words, such as “please stop texting me”, “take me off your list”, “stop calling”, “don’t call or text me again” or “I’m not interested, stop”. People also copy the footer back, as in “Reply STOP to opt out” or “STOP to opt out”. Hyzl treats all of these exactly like STOP. Hyzl reads a text as a request to stop when all of these are true:
  • The text is shorter than 80 characters.
  • The text has no question mark.
  • The text asks in one of these ways:
    • “stop” or “quit” with what to stop, as in “stop texting me”, “stop calling” or “stop with the texts”.
    • “don’t”, “do not” or “never” with “call”, “text”, “message” or “contact”, as in “don’t call me”, “do not contact me” or “never text me again”.
    • “unsubscribe”, “opt out”, “opt me out”, “remove me” or “take me off”, as in “remove me from your list”.
    • “remove my number”, “remove this number”, “delete my number”, “lose my number” or “take my number off”.
    • “no more texts”, “no more calls” or “put me on your do not call list”.
    • “stop” on its own in its sentence, as in “not interested, stop”, “please stop”, “wrong number stop” or “Reply STOP to opt out”.
These texts do not stop contact:
  • A question, such as “can you stop the renewal?” or “stop by the airport lounge?”.
  • A negation, such as “don’t stop looking” or “do not stop”.
  • Words about someone or something else, such as “I don’t call that a deal”, “I don’t text much”, “remove me from the trial” or “stop charging me”.
  • A request for another time or place, such as “don’t call me before nine” or “don’t call me at work”.
  • A request for the other channel, such as “don’t call me, text me instead” or “stop calling, texting is fine”. One opt-out stops every text and call, so the AI rep keeps the conversation going instead.
  • A copy of the footer with something that disagrees, such as “Reply STOP to opt out. Not me, I love these deals”.
  • A stop on a flight, such as “non stop” or “one stop is fine for me”.
  • CANCEL inside a sentence, such as “cancel my subscription”. It is usually about the plan, not the texts.
  • A text of 80 characters or more. Hyzl treats it as part of the conversation.

What happens after STOP

Hyzl ends the recovery and clears scheduled texts and calls. The Inbox shows the conversation as Stopped and blocks merchant replies. Hyzl records the opt-out for that app and phone number. A new paywall event or a different userId does not remove it. Hyzl checks that record before every reply: the AI rep’s replies and your replies from the Inbox. A number that opted out gets no reply, even when a newer person in the Inbox uses the same number. If you try to reply to that person, the Inbox says that this person has opted out. Hyzl attempts to send this one final confirmation:
You’re unsubscribed and won’t get any more texts or calls from us. Reply START if you change your mind.
Twilio Advanced Opt-Out is the carrier-level stop service. It can send its own confirmation before Hyzl sends one. Twilio can then block Hyzl’s confirmation with code 21610, which is expected.

When a request to stop is not clear

Sometimes a person asks to stop in words that Hyzl does not read as a request, such as “you won’t stop bothering me”. The AI rep answers that message, but nothing is recorded yet. So the AI rep never says that they are unsubscribed or removed. It tells them in one short sentence that replying STOP takes them off right away. If a reply says that they are unsubscribed anyway, Hyzl sends this reply in its place:
Sorry about that. Reply STOP and we’ll take you off right away.
Preview Hyzl works the same way. A STOP there gets the STOP confirmation, and a reply that claims an opt-out shows the reply above instead.

On a call

A person can also ask the AI rep to stop on a call, in their own words, such as “please stop calling me”, “don’t call me again”, “take me off your list” or “remove me”. The AI rep does not argue or pitch. It says:
Understood, I’ll take you off our list, so you won’t get any more calls or texts from us.
Then it says goodbye and ends the call. When the call ends, Hyzl records the same opt-out as a STOP for that phone number. It does this when the person asked, and also when the AI rep said it would take them off the list. It stops calls and texts, ends the recovery and clears scheduled texts and calls. A person who already paid keeps that status, but the number is still recorded as opted out. The AI rep also cannot text that number a link on a later call. Some words do not stop contact on a call:
  • “Stop” on its own. People say “stop, stop” to interrupt the AI rep and ask something else.
  • “Stop the call”, which asks to end this call.
  • A request for another time, place or channel, such as “don’t call me before nine” or “don’t call me, text me instead”.
  • A question that is not a request, such as “is it non stop?”. A request put as a question still counts, such as “can you take me off your list?”.
  • An offer from the AI rep that the person did not accept, such as “if you like, I’ll take you off our list”.
A test call never records an opt-out, because it rings your own phone. Neither does a call to your app’s number from a phone you used for a test call or a test text, because that is you calling. A caller who hides their number cannot be recorded, because Hyzl does not know the number.

Carrier opt-outs

Sometimes the phone carrier refuses a text because the number already opted out of Hyzl’s number. This happens when the person replied STOP before, or when the number now belongs to someone else. Twilio reports it with code 21610, either straight away or a few seconds after the send. Hyzl treats it the same as STOP. It records the opt-out for that app and phone number, ends the recovery, and clears scheduled texts and calls. The Inbox shows the conversation as Stopped. There may be no STOP message in the thread, because the carrier refused the text instead. A person who already paid, or whose recovery already ended, keeps that status, but the number is still recorded as opted out.

What START does

START, UNSTOP, and YES are start words. Outside an open conversation, Hyzl sends this reply:
Thanks for getting back to us. You can text or call this number any time and we’ll help.
This reply does not restore consent, clear the phone-number opt-out, or restart recovery. A later paywall event remains stopped while the phone-number opt-out record exists. Inside an open conversation, YES works as a normal answer. It does not interrupt the conversation.

What HELP does today

Inside an open conversation, HELP works as an ordinary reply and Hyzl answers it. Outside an open conversation, Hyzl records it but sends no reply. The consent wording promises a dedicated HELP response. That response does not exist yet. Track the correction in HYZ-144.