How to allow customers to pause SMS messages

You will learn 

Learn how to allow customers to pause receiving text campaigns without unsubscribing completely from SMS. 

Use this strategy before you launch large, multi-message campaigns or around holidays that may be sensitive. 

Before you begin

The process for allowing customers to pause is:

1. Decide on the property that will indicate a pause.
2. Ask subscribers to either: 
   • Text in a certain word.
     *Note that this does not work for branded sender IDs.
   • Click a button on a sign-up form.
3. Create a segment of people with the property.
4. Exclude the segment from any campaigns related to that holiday. 

Decide on the property that will indicate a pause

The property will be used in your flow, form, segment, etc., so it’s important to think through what you want to use before you start setting these up. 

You can use the same property every time or change it for each major promotion or holiday. Each approach has its own pros and cons, as explained in the table below. 

Next, we discuss how to collect this property from your subscribers, starting with asking customers to text in a certain word. If you only have a branded sender ID, jump ahead to learn how to collect a property using a button in a sign-up form. 

Ask customers to text in a word

If you have a number that can receive text messages (i.e., not a branded sender ID), you can:

1. Choose the word for subscribers to text in.
2. Prepare your campaign to ask people to text you a certain word. 
3. Use a flow to add a profile property for anyone who texts the keyword in.

Choose the word for subscribers to text in

The word you choose to use should be:

• Unique enough that subscribers won’t text it accidentally (e.g., don’t use “heart” during Valentine’s Day).
• Not part of another common word someone might text in (e.g., don’t use “no” since it’s part of many other words, like “not,” “afternoon,” etc.) 
• Easy enough for subscribers to spell and text to you.

Prepare a campaign to ask if subscribers want to pause

We say “prepare” because while you need information from the campaign, you don’t want to actually send it until you finish setting up the flow. 

1. Navigate to the Campaigns tab.
2. Click Create campaign.
3. Name the campaign.
4. Select Save and continue. 
5. Choose your recipients (i.e., anyone you plan to market to during the holiday). 
6. Select Continue to content.
7. Design your message.
   
8. Select Save & continue in the upper right.
9. Click Campaigns in the left-hand sidebar.
10. Find and hover over the campaign you just created.
11. In the modal that pops up, click Copy message ID. 
    Note: for campaigns, using either the ID in the URL or the campaign ID (typically ~26 digits) does not work. You must copy the message ID, as shown below.
    
12. Do not send this campaign until you set up the flow (discussed in the next section). 

Create a flow that triggers when a subscriber texts your word

We’ll say that “pause” is the word subscribers will text in. Now, we need a flow to respond and add a profile property when a subscriber texts in this word. 

1. Navigate to Flows > Create flow > Create from scratch.
2. Select All triggers > Metric.
3. Choose Sent SMS as the action that triggers the flow.
4. In the Trigger filters section, click Add.   
5. Click Add trigger filter. 
6. Use the following filters:
   1. Message > equals [add the copied message ID]
      AND
   2. Message body > contains Pause
      OR
   3. Message body > contains pause
      OR
   4. Note: include alternate spellings,  typos, or capitalizations by adding OR between the filters.
      
7. Click Save > Confirm and save.
8. Add an SMS message directly below the trigger. 
9. In the right sidebar, click Edit in the Content section. 
10. Customize the content for that SMS.
    
11. Select Save. 
12. Under the SMS, add a Profile property update action.
13. Click + Add step.
14. Set the action to Create a new property and choose the property you want (e.g., Paused? for a generic property or Paused-BFCM2024 if you want to change it for each promotion).
    Note that the property must exist on at least 1 profile before you can use it for a Profile property update action.
    
15. Click Update all actions. 
16. Set the flow to Live and then save.
17. Go back and send the campaign to ask subscribers if they want to pause SMS. 

If you also are using a branded sender ID, continue reading. Otherwise, skip ahead to learn how to create a segment of people who asked to pause. 

Collect a property using a button on a form

For branded sender IDs, you need a method that doesn’t rely on people texting you back.

There are 2 steps to this: 

1. Create a form that asks if subscribers want to pause.
2. Send a campaign that links to your form.

Create a form that asks if subscribers want to pause

You can create a form and collect a hidden profile property whenever someone clicks a button. 

To do this: 

1. Create a full-page form in Klaviyo. 
2. Design the form as you see fit, but make sure you include at least 1 button. 
   
3. Click on the button (e.g., “Pause” in the example above).
4. Under Button Click Action, set the following:
   1. Action to Submit Form.
   2. After Submit to Show next step.
      
5. Under Submit Hidden Fields, click + Add a property.
6. Set the property that you want (e.g., e.g., Paused? for a generic property or Paused-BFCM2024 if you want to change it for each promotion).
   Note that at least 1 profile in your account must have this property before you can use it in your form.
   
7. Above the preview of your form, select Success to design the page that shows after a user clicks the button.
   
8. On the Success page, confirm that the user will no longer get texts for that holiday.
   
9. Select Targeting & behavior. 
10. In the Display tab, set the following: 
    1. Timing to Immediately. 
    2. Frequency to 0 days.
       
       If you plan to re-use this form for any holiday in the future, uncheck the box for Don’t show again if form was submitted or if go to URL button was clicked. This will allow the form to show every time someone navigates to the link.
    3. Devices to Both desktop and mobile.
       
       
11. Scroll to the top of the sidebar and click into the Targeting tab. 
12. Change the targeting settings so that: 
    1. Visitors to Show to any existing profile. 
    2. URLs to Only show on certain URLs > Containing > #pause
       Note that here, “#pause” is an anchor link we’ll use for our campaign. The hashtag is required, but you can replace “pause” with another word.
       
13. Click Publish to set the form live. 

Create your campaign with a link to your form

1. Navigate to the Campaigns tab.
2. Click Create campaign.
3. Name the campaign.
4. Select Save and continue. 
5. Choose your recipients and tags. 
6. Select Continue to content.
7. Design your message. 
8. For the link, add your website, then add the anchor link (e.g., #pause) at the end.
   Example: www.mywebsite.com#pause
   
9. Click Save. 
10. Schedule or send the campaign.

Create a segment of people who paused

The next step is to create a segment of everyone who texted with the profile property you added in your flow. 

1. Navigate to Lists & segments > Create New > Create segment.
2. Name your segment (e.g., Pause segment).
3. Add the profile property as the segment’s condition (e.g., Paused? or Paused-BFCM2024):
   Properties about someone > Paused? equals true 
   
4. Click Create segment. 

Exclude the segment from your campaigns

Once you create this segment, simply exclude it from any campaign, flow, or form that has to do with that holiday or time of year. 

The example below shows how this looks for a Klaviyo campaign. 

Additional resources

• How to create flows to respond to sent SMS messages
• How to use SMS in replenishment flows
• How to send order updates via SMS