The double opt-in versus the single opt-in email list building strategy has been, and continues to be, an ongoing debate among Internet marketers for years and there doesn’t seem to be a resolution in sight. First of all, what is a double opt-in list building technique? Simply put, someone wanting to subscribe to your ezine or wanting to take advantage of a free gift your offering in exchange for their contact information must provide their email address twice in order to gain access to the information they want.
After initially indicating their interest by giving you their address they must provide it a second time in a confirmation email you send to make sure they want to be added to your list. When they give it up a second time you then give them the content they’re seeking. On the other hand with the single opt-in strategy your visitor is given access to what they want after providing their contact information only once.
The crux of the argument is that the double opt-in method provides higher quality addresses because your visitors would have to be very interested in your information to provide their name and email on two different occasions. On the other hand the single opt-in proponents say you’re losing valuable list members by having them go through the trouble of opening an email and clicking a link to another opt-in box where they must again give you their details.
The pro double opt-in marketers say this ensures these people are genuinely interested and aren’t just tire kickers or people who are looking for something for nothing and who have no intention of doing business with you. Another argument put forward by the pro side states that the double opt-in technique also guards against someone signing up accidentally to your list or, after having signed up they’ve forgotten and complain you’re sending them spam. By having them subscribe twice you’re virtually eliminating this problem.
The pro side also argues that the assertion by the nay sayers to the double opt-in that you run the risk of losing potential customers by having them sign up twice aren’t seeing the big picture. Perhaps 30 out of 100 of these single opt-in email addresses are bogus or contain errors because the visitors only provided an email they never use to possibly receive some freebies from the business owner.
People who provide erroneous information aren’t likely to do business with you in the first place and the double opt-in technique helps weed them out before you begin wasting your time emailing information to uninterested parties. The pro side says these people won’t take the time to sign up twice and if their email was entered on the first request it will never be added to your list because it was never confirmed. This, at the end of the day, will create a more responsive list of potentially interested buyers of your product or service.
If you’re providing an incentive in return for your visitors email information let it be known up front that they will only receive it if, and when, they confirm their subscription via your subsequent email. Some people are more interested in their free bonus than what your website offers in the way of valuable content so this method is a good way to reduce these numbers.
This debate will no doubt continue for a long time to come and as the arguments have been presented to you it’s now you’re decision to make as to which email list building strategy you will use for your online business. Will it be a double opt-in subscription or a single sign-up to help build your money making list of hungry buyers?