Campaigns · how to

Manage consent, unsubscribe, and suppression

Maintain channel-specific consent evidence, email unsubscribe and suppression controls, explicit exclusions, and respectful frequency governance.

3 min readUpdated August 12, 2026
For
Owner, Admin, Member
Availability
Your current plan and entitlements
Product evidence
WRKZY · reviewed August 12, 2026
Editorial review
WRKZY Editorial
Before you begin
  • Permission to review consent and privacy controls
  • The customer's identity, channel, consent source, and latest request
  • The organization's approved unsubscribe and suppression policy
  • A safe audit trail for any manual change

Four controls answer different questions

Communication controls
ControlQuestion
ConsentDid the person authorize this channel and purpose with supportable evidence?
UnsubscribeDid the email recipient withdraw future marketing permission through the provided path?
SuppressionHas the organization or delivery system blocked this address or identity from bulk email?
Contact pressureIs another eligible message still too frequent or poorly timed?
Audience exclusionDoes this campaign deliberately omit an otherwise eligible governed group?

One control cannot substitute for another. A tag named Opted in is not consent evidence. Removing a suppression is not permission. WhatsApp permission does not transfer to email, and email permission does not transfer to WhatsApp.

On the contact, review each phone and email method. WhatsApp and email marketing status can be Opted in, Opted out, or Unknown. For an opt-in, retain the source, timestamp, and available consent text, version, and categories. Unknown is the correct state when evidence is absent.

Bulk imports that claim opt-in require evidence columns and an explicit attestation. Do not attest based on assumptions or a vendor’s generic “clean list” label.

Email unsubscribe and suppression

Email campaign launch is blocked when unsubscribe setup is not ready. Recipient preflight excludes unsubscribed, suppressed, invalid, and otherwise ineligible addresses. A completed campaign records unsubscribe activity for future eligibility.

Do not manually change a contact to eligible merely to increase sendable count. Investigate why they are suppressed, follow the organization’s remediation policy, and preserve the decision trail.

WhatsApp audience eligibility

The WhatsApp preview checks a valid normalized phone, opt-in state, deduplication, exclusions, sender and template readiness, plus campaign pressure. Skipped counts and reasons must be reviewed before launch.

Communication eligibility is evaluated at use time

  1. 01
    ProofPermission evidence

    Record why, when, and for which channel contact is permitted.

  2. 02
    GateChannel eligibility

    Recipient identity and provider rules allow this communication.

  3. 03
    StopSuppression check

    Unsubscribe, block, retention, and policy exclusions are applied.

  4. 04
    SendApproved communication

    Only the intended, governed message may proceed.

  5. 05
    UpdatePreference or retention event

    Future eligibility changes when the customer opts out or data expires.

Evidence, channel eligibility, suppression, approved communication, and later unsubscribe or retention events form a continuing control loop.

Respond to a withdrawal

  1. Confirm the customer and channel.
  2. Record Opted out or allow the governed unsubscribe event to update eligibility.
  3. Stop pending manual or automated marketing follow-up on that channel.
  4. Review scheduled campaigns and automations that may already contain a snapshot.
  5. Preserve only the minimum evidence required by policy.

Verify the control

Reopen the contact method and confirm the new channel status and evidence. Preview the contact in a marked test audience or affected scheduled workflow and verify WRKZY excludes it for the relevant reason. Do not send a live message to test an opt-out.

Escalate a suspected failure

If an opted-out or suppressed recipient received a campaign, stop related launches. Preserve campaign ID, recipient-safe identifier, channel, timestamps, consent state, and delivery evidence. Do not ask the recipient for authentication codes or expose other audience members in a screenshot.

Eligibility governed
  • Consent checked on the actual channel method
  • Unknown was not converted without evidence
  • Unsubscribe and suppression setup passes
  • Campaign exclusions and pressure reviewed
  • Scheduled or automated sends considered after opt-out
  • Incident evidence is redacted and scoped
Was this guide useful?

Choose an answer. No message text or personal information is collected.

Still need help?

Contact WRKZY support with the workspace name and a safe, redacted example.

Contact support about this guide