The short answer
Suppression has to be one list that every outbound tool reads before it sends, updated the moment a request arrives on any channel and in any wording. The characteristic failure is architectural rather than legal: a rep marks a lead in the CRM, the SMS platform reads a different table, and an automated message goes out three days later to somebody who asked you to stop.
Every broker knows they have to honour an opt-out. Very few have a system where honouring one on a phone call actually stops the email sequence, and that gap is where the demand letters come from.
One list, read by everything
- A single suppression table keyed on phone and email, owned by nobody’s individual tool.
- Every outbound system — dialler, SMS, email, sequences — checks it immediately before sending, not on import.
- Writes come from anywhere: a rep on a call, an inbound STOP, an email unsubscribe, a support message.
- Entries are permanent and survive CRM migrations, which is the moment they are most often lost.
Revocation is not a keyword
| What the merchant says | Is it a revocation? |
|---|---|
| "STOP" by text | Yes, and automatically actioned |
| "Take me off your list" on a call | Yes |
| "Stop emailing me" in a reply | Yes, on every channel |
| "I am not interested right now" | No — but log it and respect the cadence |
| "Do not call me again" | Yes, permanently |
A revocation made in any reasonable way, on any channel, applies to all of them. Reps need a one-click way to record it, because a process that requires them to update four systems is a process that will be skipped on a busy afternoon.
Test it like a system, not a policy
Put your own number through the flow. Opt out on a call, then check whether the SMS sequence, the email cadence and the dialler all stop. Most floors that run this test once discover at least one channel that did not, and it is invariably a channel somebody assumed was covered.