STOP by SMS

What happens when a customer replies STOP to a text?

When a customer replies STOP to a text, a Muzau agent adds their number to the opt-out list and does not answer that STOP. Any SMS sent to that number from Muzau afterwards, by the agent or by your team, is blocked before it goes out, with nobody having to log it. Only a message that is just STOP counts. Their emails are not cut off: stopping those too stays your decision.

Why a whole team has to honor a STOP

A STOP is the shortest reply a customer can send, and the clearest. The risk is not misreading it, it is forgetting it. It lands on a phone, one person reads it, and nothing records it anywhere else. A few days later, a colleague confirms an appointment by text with the same customer, or answers an old question: the customer said no, and we are still writing to them.

A STOP by SMS does not necessarily mean the customer is leaving. It says: no more texts. They can still write to you by email, come to the planned appointment or sign their quote. Keeping them as a customer means respecting exactly that no, without forgetting it and without stretching it to what they did not say.

How the agent goes about it

Input

A text received on the agent's number that is just STOP

It does

Adds the number to the opt-out list, does not reply, blocks later sends

It delivers

No more SMS to that number, from the agent or from the team

What counts as a STOP

Muzau's SMS agent recognizes STOP, ARRET, STOP SMS, UNSUBSCRIBE and a few other words with the same meaning, in capitals or lowercase. Only a message that is just that word counts. "Stop, I meant Tuesday" is still a reply, and the agent answers it like any other text. A customer correcting a date is not cut off from you by a word caught in passing.

No reply to a STOP, not even to confirm

As soon as a STOP arrives, the Muzau agent adds the customer's number to your business's opt-out list and does not answer it: no text to confirm, no attempt to keep the customer. The message is kept in the conversation, like any text received on the agent's number.

Every later SMS is blocked, the team's too

Muzau blocks, at the moment of sending, any SMS to an opted-out number, whichever agent it comes from. A reply prepared before the STOP and approved after it does not go out. A text your team writes from the conversation card does not go out either. If the customer writes again later, their message is received and kept, but no reply goes to their number. If the agent is set to reply on its own, a card warns you: "this person asked not to receive any more texts".

A STOP by SMS does not cut off emails

Stopping email follow-ups too after a STOP by SMS stays your decision: you can choose "Never follow up" for this person when the agent offers you their conversation. For a customer who replies by SMS to a follow-up, see the SMS reply to an email follow-up.

Handling an SMS STOP well: the checklist

Whether your texts go out from a phone, a piece of software or an agent, a STOP is handled the same way. Here is what to check.

• The STOP is recorded where the whole team can see it, not on a single phone.
• The word alone is told apart from a sentence that contains it: "stop, Thursday is fine" is not a request to stop. Read the whole message before cutting anyone off.
• No text goes out after the STOP, neither to ask why nor to offer a deal.
• The number is carried over to every tool that sends texts in your name: a list that only applies to one tool lets the next one through.
• The STOP is neither stretched nor shrunk: it covers texts. If the customer then writes by email, answer by email, without going back to SMS.
• The person handling this customer is told: a planned appointment or a quote in progress carries on by email, not by text.
• A number only comes off the list if the customer asks for it themselves.

Finally, reread the texts that came before the STOPs you received. A text that says who is writing and why, in a sentence or two, leaves less room for doubt: see whether to tell the customer they are talking to an AI, and the right length for a business text.

What it does not do

• It does not remove the customer's email from your sends after a STOP by SMS: the opt-out covers their number, and a STOP sent by email is handled separately.
• It does not take a word slipped into a sentence for a STOP: "stop, I meant Tuesday" is still a reply, and only a message that is just the word stops the texts.
• It no longer replies by SMS to a customer who said STOP, even if they write again: their message is kept, but no reply goes to their number.

Frequently asked questions

Should you reply to a STOP text?

A Muzau agent does not reply to a STOP: it sends no text to confirm. The customer's number goes on the business's opt-out list, and no more SMS leaves Muzau for them. The message received stays in the conversation.

Can a customer who replied STOP by SMS still get emails?

Yes, nothing changes for their emails: with Muzau, a STOP by SMS covers the phone number, not the email address. If the customer replies STOP to an email, or asks by email not to be contacted, they go on the do-not-contact list, and no more follow-ups go to them, whichever agent it is.

What happens if a customer writes again after sending STOP?

Their text is received and kept in the conversation. But with Muzau, no reply goes to a number that said STOP, neither from the agent nor from your team. When the agent replies on its own, a card tells you this person asked not to receive any more texts.

Does the word STOP in a sentence stop the texts?

No. A Muzau agent only counts as a STOP a message that is just that word, or ARRET, STOP SMS or UNSUBSCRIBE. "Stop, I meant Tuesday" is still a reply, and the agent answers it as usual.

Does the STOP apply to all of the business's texts?

Yes, for all those sent from Muzau: a customer who replies STOP gets no more texts, neither from the agent that received the STOP, nor from another agent of the business, nor from a team member who wants to write to them from the conversation card. A text sent from another phone or another tool is not blocked.