Opt-Out, STOP & HELP
Mandatory STOP and HELP keyword handling, plus the FCC's April 2025 rule that lets consumers revoke consent by any reasonable means — and the one post-revocation message you're still allowed to send.
Honoring opt-out is a hard requirement under both the TCPA and the CTIA Messaging Principles. Carriers test STOP/HELP handling during campaign review, and the FCC tightened the rules significantly in 2025: you can no longer force a consumer to use your exact keyword.
Mandatory STOP and HELP keywords
| Keyword set | Purpose | Required behavior |
|---|---|---|
| STOP / CANCEL / QUIT / UNSUBSCRIBE / END | Opt-out | Send one confirmation of the opt-out, then stop all further messages. Remove the number from the program (within ~24 hours). |
| HELP / INFO | Assistance | Reply with the business name and a support contact (and typically a link to terms). |
These keywords must be supported on every campaign, and your campaign registration declares the opt-out, HELP, and confirmation messages (each 20–320 characters). The STOP confirmation is the only message you may send after a STOP — and only once.
The April 11, 2025 rule: “any reasonable means”
The mechanics:
- Per-se reasonable words include STOP, QUIT, END, REVOKE, OPT-OUT, CANCEL, and UNSUBSCRIBE — but any clearly expressed intent to opt out counts, however it’s phrased.
- A prescribed method you offer (e.g. “Reply STOP”) is conclusively reasonable. A non-prescribed method (free-text, a different channel) carries a rebuttable presumption of reasonableness — the burden is on you to show a given request wasn’t a real opt-out.
- Practically: your opt-out handling has to catch more than a fixed keyword list. Build for intent, not exact-match.
Honor within 10 business days
You must honor a revocation within 10 business days (as soon as practicable). This is the outer bound, not a target — STOP itself should still stop messages effectively immediately. The 10-business-day window covers revocations that arrive through channels or wording your automated keyword handler doesn’t instantly process.
The one message you’re still allowed to send
After a revocation you may send exactly one message, subject to strict limits:
- Sent within 5 minutes of the revocation.
- Only to confirm or clarify the scope of the opt-out.
- No marketing content of any kind.
- Anything beyond that single message requires an affirmative response from the consumer.
A plain STOP confirmation (“You’re unsubscribed from [Brand]. No more messages will be sent.”) satisfies this. Using it to upsell, win back, or “are you sure?” with an offer does not.
The “revoke-all” provision — delayed to 2027
The revocation rule also includes a cross-channel “revoke-all” provision: a revocation on one type of message (say, marketing texts) would apply to all unrelated message types from that sender. That part has been waived and delayed.
Until then, a STOP applies to the specific program it was sent to. Build your opt-out plumbing now so that when the revoke-all rule takes effect, a single revocation can cascade across every program tied to that number.
Next
- Consent & opt-in — the opt-in side: the compliant CTA and welcome message.
- Quiet hours — the other live litigation risk in marketing SMS.
- Regulatory change tracker — all dated rule changes in one table.