The Email Opt-In Controversy: Single or Double Confirmation?

I have been continuously involved with email marketing since the mid 90’s. That goes back before the term “email marketing” even existed.

That even goes back to before the notion of “opt-in” email was broadly popularized by Seth Godin in his 1999 book, Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends, And Friends Into Customers.

Over the years I have moderated the concept of “double opt-in” email confirmation and “single opt-in” email confirmation within organizations and among clients.  In recent years, I have tended towards a neutral position on the matter (after having been biased towards double opt-in).

Nowadays, after laying all the cards out on the table (advantages and disadvantages of each), and answering questions, I leave the decision up to the client.

♦ In brief, when a person enters their information (e.g. name and email) to complete the subscription process, that’s a single opt-in confirmation.

♦ If the person enters their information, and then needs to receive and open an email and click on a link within that email, to “confirm” their subscription, that’s a double opt-in.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Single or Double Opt-in

♦ Single opt-in’s generate larger lists and are simpler for the subscribers.

♦ Double opt-in’s generate higher quality lists, because it weeds out a percentage of emails that were inadvertently added. (Such as individuals entering email addresses other than their own). Also, because there are less spam complaints on double opt-in lists, the delivery rate can be higher than single opt-in lists.

Generally speaking, I prefer the confidence and quality of lists that double opt-ins generate. But I have seen lists for some clients that maintain favorable statistics (open rates, bounce rates, delivery, etc), even with single opt-in.  Does that mean single opt-in is the best idea for all clients?  I don’t think so.

There is more to know about the advantages and disadvantages to both sides of the equation.

Bill McCloskey, at ClickZ, has encapsulated both sides of the controversy with his post, Double Opt-in, Redux (although his personal preference is single opt-in).  Be sure to peruse the comments at the bottom of his post, as well.

The Basics of Email Marketing

Not every single business needs an online newsletter. But the majority will  benefit from one.

Having a way to update customers and potential customers is a relatively simple and low-cost way to maintain and build a relationship with a percentage of visitors who would have otherwise stopped by and then left your website, likely to never return.

The majority of visitors to your website have arrived to find something, usually via a search engine.  If they don’t see what they want right away, they’ll leave within seconds.

However, even if they do see something of interest, they are not likely to stay very long.

Unless your visitors see a perfect match for what they are searching for, they are going to be on their way.

However, some percentage of those visitors are potential customers at a later time, even if they did not become so immediately.

How Many Visitors Are You Capturing Every Day?

Without capturing identities and then automatically emailing them ongoing information (traditionally in the form of some type of electronic newsletter), potential future sales are being left on the table every day.

Not having a way to maintain communications with interested visitors is just wasting a potential asset that your website and business could have.

If anything, email marketing is so common place, and has been around for so long (relative to other Internet communication media), that it is easily given short shrift. Which can be too bad for a company that has not reviewed and updated their email program for many years, or for a company that has never event started one.

Establishing and maintaining some form of an email marketing program is so rudimentary, that it’s point #4 of the Outline For an Online Business.

Email Marketing Resources

Here are some resources regarding the basics of email marketing:

How to be Hated via Email In One Easy Lesson

What Are YOU Giving Away For FREE?

Writing Email Subject Lines

Simple Flow Chart for an Email Marketing Joint Venture Campaign

Should You Offer a Paid Online Newsletter?

Jeanne Jennings atClickZ, posted Quick Tips for Successful E-mail Newsletters

The 7 Orbits of Internet Marketing

I would be remiss if I failed to also mention my own free newsletter. Click here for Skyworks Orbit and learn The 7 Orbits of Internet Marketing.

Should You Offer a Paid Online Newsletter?

A client of mine has been entertaining the concept of offering a paid newsletter. It certainly seems compelling: Write an ongoing valuable stream of content to attract more and more subscribers, which equates to more and more profit for roughly the same amount of work.

My reply was to note that this model was more popular ten years ago, although it is certainly still in existence today. However, as the earlier success of online (email) newsletters grew popular, the concept of offering them for free, as a low-cost marketing media, also garnered success. So much so, that in this day and age, free newsletters of some sort are so ubiquitous that they REALLY need to be compelling to stand out.

Regardless, that does not suggest that “you” should not consider offering one yourself. Or stated more specifically, you should offer something free in exchange for the email addresses of visitors, so that you can build a relationship with them and keep them connected to you, which will make them more amenable to paying money to you. (Read What Are YOU Giving Away For FREE? for more info).

Offering A Paid Newsletter Read more »

Simple Flow Chart for an Email Marketing Joint Venture Campaign

What are the sequence of steps involved in a joint venture email campaign? That’s the question I was answering when I sketched this flow chart for a client to illustrate an email joint venture that we are developing and which will be launched within a few days.

In short, three email messages will be sent to the subscribers of Joint Venture Partner (A) over the course of 2 weeks. The emails will offer a free video and a series of three downloads in exchange for their names and emails.

Some percentage of interested subscribers from the email database of Joint Venture Partner (A) will be directed to the Landing Page of my client (Joint Venture Partner B) to view a video that will further inspire and encourage the visitors to subscribe to the offer.

Although the primary intent of the video message is to increase the percentage of subscribers via this video Landing Page, a secondary purpose is to develop a relationship with the visitors that positions the subject of the video as a thought leader in his niche industry.

Once the subscribers have entered their names and emails (and optional phone number), they will be directed to a “Success” page which features a one-question poll to gather additional info from the subscribers, which will be used for the marketing of follow-up products/services.

These new subscribers will instantly receive the first PDF download, via email, and will receive PDF downloads #2 and #3 over the following 10 days, also via email, which will familiarize the subscribers to the ongoing email newsletter which will continue on into the future offering valuable information, as well as offers for products and services, all specifically relevant to the same niche subject.

Joint Venture Partner (A) will also share in the profits generated by this campaign that I have developed for this client.

Once this campaign has run its course, a new one will be initiated with a different joint venture partner. Furthermore, additional subscriber generating strategies will be developed, tested and refined, as part of an ongoing process of increasing leads and sales.

How to be Hated via Email In One Easy Lesson

Spam. Minimally, it’s a nuisance (albeit a never-ending one).

At times when you may already be frustrated from having too much to accomplish with too little time, spam can provoke anger when you’ve discovered that you inadvertently deleted an important message among all the spam you were dumping.

And too much of that can lead to hatred.

Which is why you rarely see a notable or respectable brand promoted through spam.

Responsible marketers do not spam. We establish email lists through permission-based marketing efforts that also allow subscribers to unsubscribe at their convenience.

OK, that sets up the good guys and the bad guys wearing white hats and black hats in the world of email marketing. But are there any gray hats?

Well, when you entertain the notion of renting or purchasing email lists instead of building your own, it’s difficult to be exactly sure what you are getting for your money.

Since the company that is providing the list is in the business of obtaining as many names as possible, while renting or selling them to as many businesses as possible, their interests are not in harmony with yours: Ensuring that your message gets to individuals who want it, and converting them to customers. (And for many marketers, doing so without damaging their brand’s reputation).

Should your list provider relax their standards for email acquisition, they could be setting you up as a spammer, without you realizing it.

For more insight on the subject, check out these ClickZ articles on purchasing and renting email lists:

♦ E-Mail List Purchase: A Shortcut to Success?

♦ E-mail List Rentals: Red Flags and Results

This is not to suggest that renting or buying a professional, targeted, opt-in email list cannot be done, but it’s your business reputation that is at risk (and such a list would not likely be an inexpensive one).

Just keep in mind how much you and I hate spam….

Email Marketing Naïveté

Even in this day and age, there are small businesses owners who consider that because email is inexpensive and easy to send, that there’s not much to know about it. Of course, given that most of their attention is on running a business, they cannot be faulted for their naïveté about email marketing.

But if anyone has gone through the trouble of collecting email addresses, and crafting a campaign of messages, then having an awareness of at least what it will take to get the message into inboxes of the recipients should be of interest.

Stefan Pollard wrote a good overview on the subject entitled, How to Get Your Mail Past the Inbox Bouncers

It should be emphasized that using a permission-based, commercial email service is an important component of getting a group of bulk emails to arrive at the intended destination.