Anyone you notify can stop hearing from you, and ReliaAnnounce handles that for you automatically. You do not have to maintain a suppression list by hand.
How someone opts out
By text — they reply with a stop word. We recognise far more than just STOP:
- English: STOP, STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT, OPTOUT, OPT-OUT, REVOKE
- French: ARRÊT, ARRÊTER, ARRÊTEZ, DÉSABONNER, DÉSABONNEMENT, DÉSINSCRIRE, ANNULER, RETRAIT, STOPPER, NON
Accents are optional — ARRET works as well as ARRÊT. A longer reply counts too: "please stop texting me" opts the person out, because we would rather honour an unclear request to stop than ignore it.
By phone — they press 9 during the call. Every ReliaAnnounce call ends with "Press 9 to stop receiving these calls."
By email — they use the unsubscribe link, or their mail provider reports the message as unwanted.
What happens next
The address is added to your suppression list immediately and a confirmation goes back: "You are unsubscribed and will receive no further messages. Reply START to resubscribe."
From then on, that address is skipped on every routine notification. It shows on your reports as suppressed, so you can see it was deliberate rather than a failure.
Bringing someone back
Only the recipient can undo an opt-out. They reply START, UNSTOP, YES or SUBSCRIBE — or in French OUI, ABONNER, DÉBUT, COMMENCER, RÉABONNER or REPRENDRE — and they are resubscribed with a confirmation.
You cannot remove someone from the suppression list on their behalf. That is the point of it.
HELP
If someone replies HELP or INFO (or AIDE in French) they get an automatic reply naming your organization, telling them how to opt out and back in, and giving your support contact. Fill in your support email and phone in Announcements → Settings → Brand identity so that reply is useful.
French replies get French answers
We detect the language of the reply and answer in the same one. If someone writes ARRÊT, the confirmation comes back in French.
FAQ
Does an opt-out on one of my lists affect my other lists? Yes — it applies to your whole account. It does not affect any other organization.
Will an opted-out person still get emergency notifications? Only if your organization has explicitly permitted that override. It is off by default.
Someone says they replied STOP but still got a message. Check the address on their contact record — an opt-out applies to the exact number or email that replied. If they have a second number on file, it is still active.
Can I see who has opted out? Yes — the contact list can be filtered by consent state, and each contact's detail shows their per-channel status.