# OPS-066 — Watch the opt-out rate, and act at both thresholds

> The per-campaign opt-out rate must be monitored, audited above roughly 0.5% on a send, and the campaign suspended with a root-cause analysis above 4% in 24 hours.

- **Rule ID:** OPS-066
- **Layer:** Operational (`OPERATIONAL`)
- **Checks:** `per-campaign opt-out rate`
- **Severity:** BLOCKING — Breaking this rule gets the submission rejected outright.
- **When it bites:** Falls due after approval, once you are live and sending
- **How it is detected:** Not knowable before submission — reported with its deadline
- **Fix type:** Wait on an external system or a required interval
- **Required by:** T-Mobile, TCR
- **Applies:** Applies to every 10DLC registration.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/operational/ops-066/

## Why this rule exists

The opt-out rate is the earliest honest signal that a list is not what it was thought to be, and it moves before complaints do. The two thresholds mean different things: the lower one says audit where these numbers came from, the higher one says stop, because a rate that high is usually a purchased list or a consent scope nobody checked, and carriers act on it whether or not you do.

## How to fix it

Report the opt-out rate per send and per rolling day, alarm at 0.5% and 4%, and write down what each alarm triggers — a consent audit at the lower, an immediate pause and root-cause analysis at the higher. Done when the numbers have owners rather than dashboards.

## Example of a compliant value

```text
Send of 40,000 → 260 opt-outs (0.65%) → consent audit on the segment before the next send.
```

## Check this yourself

**Who is paged when the opt-out rate hits 4% in 24 hours, and do they have the authority to stop a send?**

1. Report the rate per send and per rolling day, and alarm at 0.5% and 4%.
2. Write down what each alarm triggers: a consent audit at the lower, an immediate pause and root-cause analysis at the higher.
3. Name the person now — the window in which acting helps is hours.

*What wrong looks like:* A rate that high is usually a purchased list or a consent scope nobody checked, and carriers act on it whether or not you do. Dashboards without owners are how the hours pass.

## Notes

Absorbs OPS-067, the higher threshold on the same monitor. Needs live traffic. What the user has to do is decide now who is paged at 4% and what authority they have to stop a send, because the window in which acting helps is hours.