Build Your Email List via Opt-In Registrations but Not Necessarily Double Opt-In Registrations

Most email marketing experts will advise you to follow double opt-in procedures when building your email list. That's good advice if your advocacy perspective is potentially offensive to non-believers or if you have a low tolerance for complaints. Double opt-in procedures are also warranted if you plan to outsource your mailing operations to an external Email Service Provider that will only handle double opt-in mailing lists.

On the other hand, double opt-in procedures fritter away as many as 30% of your potential subscribers who abandon the sign-up process between Opt-In Step 1 and Opt-In Step 2.

Here's what happens:

Step 1a: The would-be subscriber fills out the registration form, clicks a checkbox to indicate his interest in joining your mailing list, and then clicks the registration form's submit button. At minimum, that triggers your database to create a record for the new registrant, including his contact information, as well as the IP address of his computer, the date, and time that the "submit button" was clicked.

If the registration process ends here, the permission-level is referred to as "Opt-In" or "Single Opt-In."

Step 1b: If you want additional assurance that the registrant really meant to subscribe, clicking the registration form's "submit button" could also trigger a "Thank You for Subscribing" email to the new registrant, which includes instructions for opting-out in case there's been a misunderstanding.

If the registration process ends here, the permission-level is somewhat-confusingly referred to as "Confirmed Opt-In."

Step 2: If you want even further reassurance that the registrant (a) really, really meant to subscribe and/or (b) did not give a false email address, then a confirmation email is sent that requires a response before the subscription process is complete. That response is usually satisfied by clicking on a special link within the confirmation email that is embedded with the user's identification code. Clicking on that link triggers:

At that point, the permission-level is referred to as "Double Opt-in" or "Verified Opt-In." Step 2 verifies that the subscriber has access to the registered email address and can receive an email from you without it bouncing back.

Proponents of Double Opt-In procedures argue that would-be subscribers who abandon the sign-up process between Step 1 and Step 2 wouldn't have been responsive volunteers anyway. They correctly point out that double opt-in subscribers yield the highest click-thrus rates and lodge the fewest complaints, easing the strain on your campaign and membership service staff.

But, personally, I'm not a big fan of turning away 30% of my potential subscribers, unless the complaint or bounce rate is unacceptably high, or unless required by local law or your outsourcing vendor.