What does a compliant HELP and STOP message look like?
Wireless carriers require certain information to be included in HELP and STOP message content. Twilio recommends including that information in the following format for your help message to be considered compliant if it is tested by a carrier.
HELP message
Required information for when end-users text HELP to your short code.
End-user sends: HELP OR INFO
Your Short Code replies: { Campaign Name } Alerts: Help at { source of help #1 } or { source of help #2 }. Msg&data rates may apply. { message frequency }. Reply STOP to cancel.
Each end user, regardless of whether they are subscribed to your program or not, must receive a response that matches the format above.
STOP message
Required information for when end-users text STOP to your short code.
End-user sends: STOP, END, QUIT, CANCEL or UNSUBSCRIBE
Your Short Code replies: You are unsubscribed from { Campaign Name } Alerts. You will no longer receive messages from us. Reply HELP for help or { source of help #1 }. { message frequency }. Msg&data rates may apply.
Each end user, regardless of whether they are subscribed to your program or not, must receive a response that matches the format.
Managing Opt-Out Requests: Unlike on long codes, Twilio does not manage opt-out requests for short codes. This allows the short code application to independently manage subscription lists and requests from end-users to re-opt in.
End-users may be subscribed to multiple campaigns running off of one short code and may want to unsubscribe from a particular campaign. This is achieved using STOP Filtering.
STOP Filtering
When a short code is created, a database for managing opt-in and opt-out will need to be created for it.
A short code program will ask an end-user to text STOP to opt-out of all further messages from the short code. If the end-user doesn’t want to opt-out of all messages, s/he can differentiate which campaign to unsubscribe from by adding an additional keyword of STOPALL. For example:
End-user sends: STOP
Your Short Code replies: To unsubscribe from { Campaign 1 } Alerts, text 1; { Campaign 2 } Alerts, text 2. Text STOPALL to unsubscribe from all messages.
End-user sends: 1
Your Short Code: You are unsubscribed from { Campaign 1 } Alerts. You will not receive any more messages from this program. Reply HELP for help or { source of help }. Msg&data rates may apply.
OR
End-user sends: STOPALL
Your Short Code replies: You are unsubscribed from all { Campaign } Alerts, no more messages will be sent. Reply HELP for help or { source of help }. Msg&data rates may apply.