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On WhatsApp, sending without permission isn’t just a legal issue — it’s an immediate operational risk: people who receive without having asked block you, and blocks drive down your number’s rating, which limits or pauses your sending. This article defines when you can send, and how Cliqo records the proof.

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The rule: marketing requires opt-in

A marketing message (promotion, news, coupon, cart recovery) requires that the contact has authorized receiving WhatsApp from your brand — an authorization on record, with date and source. Meta puts the burden of proof on the sender: an opt-in you cannot prove is an opt-in you do not have. Where an opt-in is born in Cliqo:
  • Store pop-up — the WhatsApp checkbox is separate from the email one, unchecked by default.
  • Form inside an email — a WhatsApp field with explicit consent.
  • Manual signup with the box checked.
  • Import — only with your explicit declaration that the list has WhatsApp opt-in, and the bar here is high: declare only what you can prove (understand why).

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The exception: utility

Utility messages tied to the customer’s own order — purchase confirmation, delivery status, payment notice — are the recognized exception: the number came from the purchase itself and the message is what the customer expects to receive. Two conditions, always: the template’s category is utility (not marketing in disguise), and opt-outs are honored. In Cliqo, this exception applies to automations: a utility step doesn’t require a marketing opt-in, only that the contact hasn’t revoked. Campaigns (bulk sends) require an opt-in from every recipient, whatever the template’s category. Start there, by the way: utility has a block rate close to zero, builds the number’s reputation, and prepares the base for opted-in marketing.

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SAIR is always honored

In any message, if the customer replies SAIR (Portuguese for “leave” — i.e. unsubscribe; or variations like “parar”, “stop”, “cancelar”, “cancele”, “descadastrar” — the engine recognizes them, with or without punctuation, accents or emoji), the opt-in is revoked on the spot and they receive no more marketing. The reply has to be just the word: “não quero sair” (“I don’t want to leave”) unsubscribes no one. When you create a marketing template without the opt-out instruction, the screen warns you and offers to insert it with one click; and in the campaign’s Review step, the checklist flags a template that doesn’t say how to opt out. A WhatsApp opt-out does not remove the contact from email: the channels have independent consents.

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What Cliqo checks for you

Before every bulk send, the audience goes through the eligibility funnel: only contacts with a valid number + active opt-in + no block receive. The campaign’s Audience step shows how many were left out and why, and the check before dispatch recounts — you never send “in the dark”. And if negative signals rise during the dispatch, the safety guards pause it on their own.