SMS opt-in, STOP, and HELP
Texting clients is regulated, and Lime Papaya handles the rules for you: clients choose to get texts, one word opts them out, and the system never texts someone who said stop. Here's how consent works end to end.
How a client opts in
- When booking online, the details step offers a checkbox: Text me appointment updates. Unchecked by default; ticking it is the client's consent.
- Opted-in clients get their reminders as texts. Everyone else gets email, so nobody falls through.
How a client opts out
- The client texts a single word: STOP (STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, and QUIT work too, any casing).
- Their carrier sends the standard confirmation text, and Lime Papaya flips their consent off. No job or reminder will text them again.
- Texting START (or YES, or UNSTOP) opts them back in.
Example. A client taps Text me appointment updates while booking her first visit. Months later she replies STOP to a reminder. From then on her reminders arrive by email instead, until the day she texts START.
Common questions
- Can the desk opt someone in by hand? No. Consent belongs to the client; it comes from their own checkbox or their own START text. That's what keeps your texting legal.
- A client says they stopped getting texts? They probably texted STOP at some point (CANCEL and END count too, and clients rarely remember). Have them text START to turn it back on.
- Does STOP block their confirmations too? STOP ends promotional and reminder texting to that number. Email keeps working, so bookings still get confirmed in writing.
- What about HELP? Carriers answer HELP with standard assistance text automatically. It doesn't change the client's opt-in either way.
Good to know
- Opt-out words are matched on the first word of the text, so "STOP please" opts out the same as "STOP".
- The reminder's fallback design means consent never costs you a no-show shield: text if allowed, email if not.