Customer permission, marketing opt-outs and stopped messages

Messaging consent is a customer’s choice about receiving messages from your business. It is different from whether you have their phone number, whether a WhatsApp template is approved, or whether you can reply right now.

How it works

A WhatsApp template is a ready-made message that needs approval from Meta, the company behind WhatsApp, before you can send it. In this article, “proactive” means a message initiated by the business, such as a reminder or follow-up.

This article explains omotto’s recorded consent and sending checks for WhatsApp. The same conversational stop-and-resume handling is not available in omotto for Telegram, Instagram or website chat. Do not assume a request in one channel has changed permission in another.

This is product guidance, not legal advice. Your business is responsible for obtaining suitable permission, respecting withdrawals and following the rules that apply to its messages.

A customer profile can have several contacts, including more than one on the same channel. Consent is recorded for each contact:

State on screen	What it means	Effect on WhatsApp sending
No choice recorded	The starting state when no choice has been recorded. It is not proof of permission.	New automation marketing sends need recorded marketing permission or a valid confirmation of permission for the send.
Allowed	A positive choice has been recorded for this contact. Check whether its scope is Marketing or All messages.	Only a Marketing-scoped opt-in satisfies Use their recorded consent for a new marketing automation. An All messages opt-in can lift an earlier stop, but does not satisfy that option. Neither overrides an identity-linked contact’s opt-out or other sending rules.
Opted out of marketing	The customer has withdrawn marketing permission.	Blocks marketing templates, and templates whose category cannot be verified. Does not by itself block service or authentication templates, or ordinary conversation replies.
Opted out of all messages	The customer has withdrawn permission for all business-initiated messages.	Blocks every template and proactive messages such as reminders and notifications. Ordinary replies to the customer’s own messages can still continue within the channel’s reply window.

Despite the last label, Opted out of all messages does not mean “ignore this person if they write again.” Nor does a new incoming message automatically restore marketing permission.

The Marketing display is read-only. It is not a switch for staff to subscribe or unsubscribe someone. There is also no business-wide consent switch on this profile.

Where to find it

Current choice: customer profile → Contact details → Marketing.
Previous records: Inbox → customer’s conversation → information panel → History → Consent history.
Automation consent setting: Settings → Automations → select an automation → template-sending action.

Set it up

Check the current choice

Open the customer’s profile at the location above.
Find the contact information. On a narrow screen, scroll below the main content.
Read the consent rows. Match the channel and contact label, rather than assuming every contact shares the same consent.

Check the history

Open the customer’s conversation.
Open its consent history at the location above. It appears when the contact has consent records.
Check the state, date, source and scope of the entries.

The history is for that conversation’s contact, newest first. The scope, when recorded, is Marketing or All messages. Some entries also identify the staff member involved. Older entries may not have a scope.

A record marked Client-attested (this send only) is a business statement about a particular send. It is not a permanent subscription, even if its state badge says Opted in. Check the profile’s current state as well as the history.

Your permissions affect which customer information and linked contacts you can inspect.

Open the automation you want to edit at the location above.
Select its template-sending action.
Choose the sending line.
Choose the template.
If the selected template is marketing, choose the appropriate option under Their consent.
Review the Preview panel after changing the settings. It updates automatically; there is no Preview button.
Click Save.

In Preview, Matched means the event passed the starting conditions, not that permission to send exists. Would send counts only predicted customer sends; a matched row can say that no message would be sent because consent is missing. The template mockup is only a sample. Preview does not send a message or create customer consent. Only choose a confirmation option when you have permission; it is not a workaround for missing consent or an opt-out.

Settings

In the automation editor, the Their consent choice has a searchable list. Type words from the choice name to find a recorded-consent option or an incoming yes/no field; searching does not grant consent or change what the selected choice requires. Save the draft from the top bar after checking the choice.

When editing an automation with a fixed WhatsApp template, selecting a Marketing template reveals Their consent. The default is Use their recorded consent.

Choice under Their consent	What it does	When to use it
Use their recorded consent	Uses the recipient contact’s recorded Marketing-scoped opt-in. An All messages opt-in does not qualify, even if the profile says Allowed. With no qualifying permission, a new automation does not send the marketing template.	When omotto already has the recipient’s marketing permission recorded. This is the default.
Shopify SMS marketing: subscribed, on Shopify events	Uses the store customer’s recorded SMS subscription only for Customer phone. Shipping or billing phone choices require consent already recorded for that recipient in omotto, even when the number matches. Email marketing consent does not count.	When the event includes subscribed SMS evidence for the selected store customer phone. Missing or unsubscribed status supplies no permission. See recipient phone choices.
I confirm we have their consent, when offered outside Shopify	Saves your statement of permission for this action. Each use records evidence for that send, without changing the customer’s ongoing consent state.	Only when your business really has the relevant permission, including permission collected outside omotto. It never overrides an opt-out.
A yes/no field from the incoming event, if offered	Uses that field as the business’s confirmation for the individual send. Only a real yes qualifies. A missing value, no, or invalid value does not grant permission.	When the automation’s incoming data includes a declared yes/no consent field. This option is not shown for every event.

The saved confirmation is not a one-time checkbox that permanently subscribes the customer. It remains a choice on the action and is used for its sends. Changing the sending line, template or language selection clears the consent choice; check it again before saving.

If you choose an incoming yes/no field, that field must confirm permission for the action to proceed. A missing or no value stops it rather than falling back to recorded consent.

For an automation where each incoming request names its own template, the editor shows Template named by the request instead of a fixed template choice. Marketing requests need send-specific permission evidence unless the recipient already has the required recorded marketing permission. See automations for that setup.

What happens when…

A customer asks to stop or resume messages

On WhatsApp, requests are handled in the customer’s own conversation. Clear requests distinguish promotions from all business-initiated messages:

“Stop sending offers” means marketing only.
“Do not contact me again” means all proactive messages, including reminders and notifications.
When the bot is answering, an unclear request such as “remove me” needs clarification about which of those choices the customer means.

A request to resume messages must also be explicit. Resuming All messages can remove the earlier stop for that contact, subject to linked opt-outs and other sending checks. It does not count as a Marketing-scoped opt-in for Use their recorded consent. Even after the profile changes to Allowed, check the recorded scope before relying on it for a marketing automation.

When the bot handles the request during a conversation, a successful update is confirmed there. This handling is built in where supported; it is not an optional skill that the owner needs to enable.

If the bot cannot take a turn—for example, because it is off, a customer pause or limit applies, or a person has taken over—omotto checks unanswered WhatsApp text for opt-out requests in the background. This check does not reply to the customer and does not restore permission. An unclear stop request records a marketing-only opt-out and asks staff to review whether all messages should stop. Voice notes, other media-only messages and rehearsals are not included. If the check cannot run, the conversation gets a note asking staff to review the request.

Each person must make their own request. A request to unsubscribe a spouse or another customer does not change that other person’s consent. Similarly, a third party saying “they want messages again” is not the customer’s own request to resume.

A request must be processed before the recorded state changes. Do not treat a particular word such as “STOP” as an instant, separate unsubscribe mechanism. The background check is not an instant guarantee: if the bot is delayed or unavailable, staff must still read the request, check the recorded state and prevent unwanted follow-ups. Pause the relevant automation if needed, and contact omotto support if you cannot get the request recorded. Do not send another promotion to test whether the stop worked.

Customer profiles are linked

omotto also checks known links between profiles belonging to the same person. Within the same channel, the most restrictive linked choice applies:

An all-message opt-out blocks proactive messages to the person’s other linked contacts on that channel.
A marketing opt-out blocks marketing templates to those contacts.
A positive opt-in does not spread in the opposite direction. New automation marketing sends need permission for the actual recipient, not merely an opt-in on a different linked contact.

Consent does not automatically carry across channels. Permission or an opt-out on WhatsApp is not a recorded choice for Telegram, Instagram or website chat.

If another linked contact on the same channel still has an opt-out, a request to resume from just one conversation cannot clear it. The request must also come from the opted-out contact’s own conversation. If the links or permissions cannot be verified, proactive sending can be stopped for safety. That does not necessarily mean the customer opted out; contact support if the state and the sending result do not agree.

An older automation behaves differently

New automations enforce the positive-permission requirement for marketing templates. Older trigger-based sends, including flows moved from the older system, can be in a warning-only transition rather than the same blocking stage. A warning or a successful older send is not proof that permission exists.

Opt-outs remain binding in either case. If an older flow behaves differently from a newly created automation, contact support to check which rules apply. This is not something you change on the customer profile.

A template category or the reply window changes

Meta, the company behind WhatsApp, requires permission before business-initiated contact. Having a number in Shopify, in a customer record or in an uploaded list is not that permission. Neither is Meta’s approval of a template.

For templates, omotto uses the category currently recorded from Meta:

Marketing includes promotional templates and is blocked by a marketing opt-out.
Utility and Authentication templates are not blocked by a marketing-only opt-out. They are still blocked by an all-message opt-out.
If a template’s category cannot be verified, omotto does not treat it as an exception to a marketing opt-out. New automation template sends also cannot use an unknown category to bypass the permission check.

Permission is checked again before sending. A queued message can therefore be stopped after it was prepared, for example after an opt-out or a template-category change.

Separately, WhatsApp allows free-form replies during the 24 hours after the customer’s latest message. Outside that window, an approved template is required. An open window does not cancel an opt-out, and permission does not reopen a closed window. See WhatsApp templates and the 24-hour window.

Another permission or pause changes

These are not messaging consent:

Permission to share within a customer group: decides what information related people may share. It does not subscribe anyone to marketing.
Verification: checks control of a phone number or email. The separate User identification feature checks membership in your business system. Neither grants permission to send promotions.
Human takeover: changes who handles the conversation. It does not change the customer’s marketing choice.
Pause on suspected misuse or a manual timeout: pauses automated replies for another reason. It is not an unsubscribe, and ending the pause does not undo an opt-out.
A website-chat follow-up choice: permission to answer that specific request is not ongoing marketing permission. See website chat.

Troubleshooting

A message is stopped unexpectedly

Check the recipient’s current contact state.
Check the consent history. If the profile says Allowed, verify that the scope is Marketing before using recorded consent for a marketing automation.
Check linked contacts for an opt-out on the same channel.
Check the actual template category.
Check the automation’s Their consent choice.

For other sending problems, see WhatsApp connection problems. If the information still does not explain the result, contact omotto support. Do not change templates or switch contacts merely to get around an opt-out.

The official WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy covers permission, withdrawal requests, templates and the customer-service window. Your business must also meet applicable legal requirements.