Fuzzy Opt-out

Early Access

This is an Early Access feature. To enable it for your account, contact your CSM or raise a support ticket.

Overview

The Fuzzy Opt-Out feature in MoEngage helps you comply with the latest U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations for managing SMS subscriptions. This feature improves the accuracy of identifying and processing opt-out requests, even when users enter incorrect, misspelled, or alternative versions of opt-out keywords. It helps prevent sending SMS marketing messages to users who intend to unsubscribe, which protects the user experience and reduces compliance risks. The feature effectively handles common opt-out phrases and certain offensive terms to ensure your campaigns remain user-friendly and compliant.

Key Highlights

Some of the key highlights of this feature are as follows:

New attribute: A boolean attribute, Is Fuzzy Match, has been added to the SMS Keyword Received event.
- When Is Fuzzy Match is True:
  - The keyword type is stored as OPTOUT.
  - The user's subscription status is updated to OPTOUT.
Advanced keyword detection: The algorithm handles scenarios involving:
- Variations in letter casing.
- Leading or trailing spaces.
- Common typos, abbreviations, or alternative spellings of opt-out keywords (using fuzzy matching).
Offensive language handling: Messages containing offensive or vulgar language are treated as opt-out requests to avoid offending users with unwanted communication.
Error management:
- Missed opt-outs: Although the algorithm handles many cases, some user inputs intended as opt-outs might not be detected correctly.
- Incorrect classifications: Some messages might be mistakenly classified as opt-out requests because of ambiguous user input.

How Fuzzy Opt-Out Works

When a user replies to your SMS campaigns, the Fuzzy Opt-Out algorithm processes the message as follows:

Direct matching: The user's message is compared against a predefined list of opt-out keywords. This includes exact matches (for example, STOP or unsubscribe) and variations with different casing or extra spaces (for example, stop or UNSUBSCRIBE).
Fuzzy matching for misspelled or varied keywords: Fuzzy search logic identifies messages with typos or variations. For example, messages like Stahp, Cansel, Unsubcribe, or opt-out are detected as opt-out requests. Messages unrelated to opt-out intent are not detected.
Offensive language identification: Messages with offensive language that users generally do not wish to receive are marked as opt-out requests.
Subscription update: If an opt-out intent is confirmed (through direct or fuzzy matching), the user’s subscription status is updated to OPTOUT.

Behavior Without Fuzzy Opt-Out Enabled

If the Fuzzy Opt-Out feature is disabled, MoEngage only recognizes:

Exact keyword matches.
Minor variations, like differences in letter casing or leading and trailing spaces.

Typos, abbreviations, or alternative spellings are not recognized.

Example Scenarios

The following table shows how different user responses are handled:

User Response	Action Taken	Reasoning
STOP	Opted Out	Exact match to a predefined opt-out keyword.
stop	Opted Out	Matched keyword; case differences handled.
Stahp	Opted Out	Fuzzy match detected for a typo of Stop.
stopppppppp	Opted Out	Fuzzy match detected for a typo of Stop.
atop	Opted Out	Fuzzy match detected for a typo of Stop.
Messages containing profanity	Opted Out	Explicit offensive term identified as opt-out.
Cancel my subscription	Opted Out	Contains the opt-out keyword Cancel.
"Hey, just opt me out!"	Opted Out	Fuzzy matching detected opt-out.
HELP	No Action	Non-opt-out keyword detected.
Hello 😊	No Action	Neutral intent detected (not opt-out).

Compliance Benefits

Some of the compliance benefits are as follows:

Enhanced user experience: Ensures users are removed from campaigns when they express an intent to opt out, even with misspellings or extra spaces.
FCC compliance: Helps meet U.S. regulations requiring businesses to honor opt-out requests promptly and accurately.
Risk mitigation: Reduces the chance of fines and complaints from incorrectly processed or missed opt-out requests.

Limitations and Considerations

Some of the limitations and considerations are as follows:

False negatives: Some opt-out attempts might be missed if the user's input is ambiguous or uses highly unique phrasing that the algorithm cannot detect.
False positives: Some messages, particularly those with borderline or casual language, might be incorrectly classified as opt-out requests.
Custom keyword handling: Businesses should define additional specific opt-out keywords during setup for unique scenarios.

Conclusion

The Fuzzy Opt-Out feature is a valuable tool for keeping SMS campaigns compliant, building user trust, and minimizing risks. However, it may not cover every possible case. We recommend periodically monitoring opt-out behavior to identify areas for refinement. Use this feature to keep customers satisfied while staying compliant with regulations.