What is an opt-in?

An opt-in is when your users agree to receive messages over WhatsApp from your business by providing you with their mobile phone number. Opt-ins must be collected before you message a user on WhatsApp. Opt-ins are one of the most preferred entry points for any business to get permission for starting a conversation with the users, or to start sending notifications to the users. 

When collecting opt-ins, you must -

• Clearly state that a person is opting in to receive messages from your business over WhatsApp.
• Clearly state the business’ name that a person is opting in to receive messages from.

On WhatsApp, you can send notifications. Consider, if you send a notification on WhatsApp to a user, and if he doesn't recognize the number or the purpose of the notification, he would block the number, or he might report it. That would affect the business. 

So opt-in is a process, by where a business is formally introduced to the user, and the users give consent for receiving notifications in the future. This eliminates the chances of your Business Whatsapp Number, being blocked or being reported by a user. 

What is Exotel?

Exotel is a platform, that enables businesses to set up opt-in campaigns. An opt-in campaign is required for a business, in order to get the user's permission for sending notifications and messages. 

Consider, a user is on a website and he signs up for a newsletter, by providing his details. This means the business has received an opt-in from the user, and that the business can send notifications to the user in the future.

Another way of receiving an opt-in is, when the user registers his account on any business's website, he provides his details for registering. This way the business receives user's data like phone numbers, email id, etc. So, a business can send an SMS or a missed call in order to get a user's opt-in. 

Who are these campaigns done for? 

These campaigns are done for users to whom you want to send Whatsapp notifications.

Exotel carries out these campaigns through SMS and calls, which is a great way to take opt-ins from the users. Exotel integration mainly focuses on improving the discoverability of your WhatsApp number. 

How do we improve the discoverability of your WhatsApp number? 

The discoverability is improved, as the users get to know that the number from which they have received an opt-in request is an important one.  This opt-in is very crucial from a quality perspective. 

How does Exotel help us?

Exotel solves these two problems - discoverability and opt-ins. 

Exotel helps us in setting up automated campaigns. As discussed, these campaigns can be set up via SMS or missed call. Consider, a user has received an opt-in request where he is requested to give a missed call on a given number if he wishes to receive further notifications or messages from the business. Here, if a user gives missed call on a number, this missed call acts as an opt-in, and as a confirmation for the business to send notifications to the user.

You can also send SMS triggers from Exotel, and the SMS will contain a link for opt-in and the link would land the user on Whatsapp number. If the user clicks on the link, we will consider it as an opt-in.

You can read here to know more about setting up an opt-in campaign using Exotel.