All mobile communications in the USA and Canada are required to follow prescribed “opt-out” keywords. There are five required keywords, and they are:
stop
unsubscribe
cancel
end
quit
revoke
opt-out / optout
Additionally, as the flow of communication increases, we have found that it is always best to look for “advanced alternatives” to these standard keywords. These alternatives are highly recommended to ensure your campaign is accommodating misspellings, subscriber sentiment (emojis) and alternate languages if applicable. Some alternatives may become mandatory in 2026.
Working with input from several leading brands in the industry, the Sinch Compliance Team has created a Standard opt-out keywords guide so that you are able to react quickly to and interpret the intent of your subscribers when they want to “opt-out”.
As a summary the proposed opt-out enhancement "Guide" expands standard SMS compliance beyond the mandatory keywords (STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT and REVOKE) by recognizing a comprehensive set of alternate opt-out expressions, common misspellings, typographical errors, keyword variations, embedded opt-out requests within longer messages, alternate language support (including Spanish), emojis, and polarized or profane recipient responses where the intent to opt out is clear. This approach is designed to improve suppression accuracy, ensure recipients are promptly removed from messaging programs regardless of how they express their request, and reduce compliance risk by interpreting opt-out intent rather than relying solely on exact keyword matches.
Take a look at the Sinch SMS Product page to learn more about our SMS products, or click here to sign up to our self-service portal and get started today.
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