Why you actually want double opt in

I’m actually surprised how many people want single opt in for Rocket Responder. I understand the core reason, they want more people on their list. But the whole reason you confirm a subscription is to make sure the person actually signed up for it.

Everyone rants about spam. Nobody likes it. So why wouldn’t you want to play by the same rules you expect for your inbox?

You want an active list right? You want your subscribers to click your links, buy your products, etc. So start out on their good side with a quick confirmation email.

It’s OK if they don’t confirm immediately, it’s OK if not everyone confirms. It’s MUCH better than having them think negatively about you or even worse, reporting your email as spam!

You could also think of it this way.. Most autoresponders charge based on number of subscribers. Do you really want to be paying MONTHLY for subscribers who never wanted your email, marked it as spam and have it always go to spam, or filter it to delete automatically? No way!

Just something to think about.

16 thoughts to “Why you actually want double opt in”

  1. The trouble is people can be lazy and often don’t click a verification link even if they are interested. It does depend what the opt-in is for but overall, it’s not a clear cut argument.

    Cheers
    Stuart

    1. Single opt-in produces far more spam complaints than double opt-in. Even though the individual member using RR has their own personal reputation to contend with, ultimately, it is TimTech that bears the real responsibility. Complaints/reports about individual members are very unlikely compared to complaints/reports that would negatively impact RR in whole, meaning, a handful of members can seriously hurt the entire membership of RR.

      1. Yes, I understand why your doing double opt-in for RR but as a philosophical argument it’s not clear cut. For example a good introduction to get an opt-in can result in later complaints nevertheless, due to a poorly put together subsequent broadcast. I don’t believe that people necessarily remember that they double opted in for something a few months down the line. There will be less potential complaints with less subscribers, that’s true.

        Having said that, trying to keep things tight in the early days of RR makes sense. Mind you, some people even complain about good quality content, I’ve seen that happen.

        Personally and ideally, I still prefer to have the choice but I understand the dilemma.

        1. The more complaints arises because single opt in people start to get into buying lists and having “permission” to email people. So you’re right, singe optin isn’t bad when the people doing it are good. It’s just unfortunate that people thing single optin means “list of people who haven’t opted out” vs “list of people who want content”.

  2. Hi Tim,

    It’s your job as an email marketer to tell people why they need to confirm their email address. I have specific video welcome messages telling people what to do next. Not everyone who joins a list is experienced enough to know that the promised free report means they have to check their email address.

    Also if you look at your stats and find [email protected] then you need to improve your pages to make people want to give you real details for the information. The marketing community is maturing and getting the personal details is more difficult.

    Andrew

  3. The argument that double opt-in produces fewer people who dont read your email is a fallacy. I am on numerous double opt-in lists, and most go to an automatic ‘junk’ folder where they are never read. Think of it like this, when you join a TE most if not all, are double opt-in, and yet I probably read maybe 2% of all TE owner emails, the rest are just ignored unread. It is a reality that many owners have to face – our emails are likely to be ignored, despite our best attempts to get them read.
    That said, I still agree that double opt-in is the right way to go, if only to also reduce the malicious signup rate.

    1. interesting point about the malicious sign up rate.

      Re: the 2% readership on TE owner emails, I think people at least scan the subject to see what’s interesting. On the rare day that l don’t mail out from PromoLotto, there is a definite dip in surfing activity.

    2. The (limited) data we have from users importing lists from other autoresponders shows us the people who have double optin have higher clicks and opens then those from single optin for a few reasons:

      1 – single optins had tons of invalid email addresses and even spam traps (which accept email as if it’s legit). Not sure if this is industry practice but it’s clear not every system removes bounced email addresses..

      2 – when you double opt in you have to confirm, and to confirm you have to get the email and open it and click it. single you don’t, so it could be going to spam or being filtered away already.

      But again it’s not that single optin is 100% bad every time, but my emphasis is that double optin is actually GOOD to do.

  4. Every auto-responder I have ever used has been double opt-in. I know it sucks to see people get the conformation e-mail and never click it, but if they can’t click a confirmation link in an e-mail they were just informed they are getting, would they ever click an ad link in any later mails? I would rather keep it double opt-in.

  5. So far my click-and-read rate (subscribers who received a RR email from me, clicked a link and went to my blog post) is running at about 58%, which seems pretty good to me. So I have no complaints about my subscribers having to confirm.

  6. I’ve tried single opt-in lists and you get spam complaints. Plus I didn’t see those lists as being all that effective. Though that could have to do with the content, as they are not generally my own emails in those lists, and more hypey than I would usually write myself.

    With double opt-in, I use a thank you page to tell the person to check their inbox for the confirmation email, and tell them that they will receive their freebie/download/whatever I offered after they confirm. That way, the ones who are actually interested make the effort.

  7. Of course you want double opt-in. I don’t see why anyone would want single opt-in, for the same reasons mentioned in the post.

  8. When you’ve incorporated your auto-responder into an existing sales funnel that the individual has already confirmed, the double opt-in seems like one step too many. When they are signing up directly to your list, the double opt-in makes sense.

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