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An opt-out means a customer has asked not to be sent marketing. Companion records it on their contact and enforces it for you.

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STOP and START

A customer who replies STOP is opted out of marketing automatically. START opts them back in. The whole message has to be the keyword. “STOP” counts. “Please stop by the shop” does not. Capital letters do not matter. “Stop promotions” is the label of WhatsApp’s own opt-out button on marketing templates, so tapping that button counts too.

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Record an opt-out by hand

Owners, admins and managers, on the Contacts page.
Use this when a customer tells you another way, such as in a call or in the middle of a chat.
1

Open the contact

Go to Contacts and select the contact.
2

Opt them out

Choose Opt out of marketing.
To opt out several people at once, tick their rows, choose Opt out of marketing, then Opt out. To reverse it, open the contact and choose Opt back in to marketing. Only do this if the customer has asked to hear from you again. In the phone app, anyone handling a chat can record an opt-out. Open the customer’s details in the conversation and choose Record an opt-out under Marketing. Only a manager, an admin or the owner can lift one.

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Other ways a contact is opted out

  • An import. If your CSV has an opted-out column, those people are opted out. See Import and export.
  • Your shop. A customer your connected shop has as unsubscribed is opted out. See Sync from your shop.
The contact’s details show when they opted out and how, for example that they replied STOP. To list everyone who has opted out, go to Contacts and set the Marketing filter to Opted out.

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What an opted-out contact still receives

If you try to send a marketing template to someone who has opted out, Companion does not send it and tells you why. A scheduled broadcast works out who it reaches when it sends. Anyone who opts out before then is left out.

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Importing and syncing never opt anyone in

Being on a spreadsheet, or being a customer in your shop, is not consent to WhatsApp marketing. So:
  • An import can opt people out, but never in.
  • A sync from your shop can opt people out, but never in.
  • Neither one clears an opt-out already held in Companion.
Adding a contact by hand does not opt them in to anything either. The safest way to start is to invite people to message you first.

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Opt-outs survive merging and erasing

  • Merging. If either of two merged contacts had opted out, the contact you keep is opted out.
  • Erasing. If you erase a contact who had opted out, Companion remembers the opt-out without keeping their number. If they are ever imported, synced or added again, they come back opted out.