What Is A Double Opt-In Email List And Why Is It Important?
A double opt-in email list is like any email based newsletter or e-course where people can sign-up through the Internet either on a webpage or sending an email to mailing list management software. What makes an email list “double opt-in” is that any person who subscribes must confirm their request twice.
The first time is when the user submits their email address to the web based form. For example, anyone who submits their name and email to my Blog Traffic Tips Newsletter at BlogTrafficKing.com must enter their first name and email address and then hit the button to submit their request to join the newsletter.
After the initial request is received by the email list software a special confirmation email is sent to the address the person input into the form. This is the second opt-in. The email contains a link which the recipient must click to confirm their subscription request. Once they have done this they have “double opted-in”.
You can see an example of the confirmation email also on my BlogTrafficKing.com page here – http://www.blogtrafficking.com/thank-you.html. This is the page I present to people after they fill out the subscription form to make sure they understand how to double opt-in and to ensure the confirmation email doesn’t surprise them and they delete it thinking it is SPAM.
Why Is Double Opt-In Important?
There are several reasons why double opt-in is necessary, but a few key reasons I believe make it mandatory. The double opt-in confirms that the person who entered their email address actually wants to subscribe to the list. If this extra confirmation is not present (single opt-in) then any person could enter any email address to sign-up any other person.
Imagine if you upset someone and they decided to get revenge on you by entering your email address into hundreds of pornographic email newsletters. You would be forced to abandon that email account (unless you really really like porn) if these lists were single opt-in.
From the email list owner’s perspective it’s important that only people who genuinely want to be on your list are signed up. If you use a single-opt on method and, like the example I gave above, someone entered hundreds of email addresses of people who did not want to subscribe to your list, you would end up with a very poor quality list. Those “spam” subscribers wouldn’t respond to what you were offering since they are not your target market.
Do You Want An Effective Email List?
The whole point of an opt-in email list is to attract people who subscribe demonstrating that they are prospects for what you offer – their request for information signifies this. Using a double opt-in list is extremely important for keeping the quality of your email list high.
Consider you are selling advertising space in your email newsletter. You could boast that your email list has 20,000 members but they are all single opt-in and very likely many of the addresses on the list are not valid or go to people who never requested to be on your list. Your advertiser purchases some space in your newsletter but gets poor results so doesn’t buy again.
Now imagine a list contains 2,000, double opt-in hungry prospects that match a key target market. That same advertiser buys space in the newsletter and because of the more precise targeting and confirmed email addresses on the list, generates a better response. The result – a happier advertiser who becomes a repeat buyer of adspace in your newsletter.
Just being able to say “XYZ number of DOUBLE OPT-IN subscribers” is a much better selling point for any person attempting to monetize their list via advertisement placements.
Reduce SPAM Complaints
All email list owners get unsubscribers and spam complaints – it’s the nature of email marketing. People hate spam and anything that smells even a tiny bit like it or if a person can’t remember signing up to your list, may result in a spam complaint (AOL email subscribers are the worst for this in my experience). Even if you have a nice big fat area at the start of your newsletter that describes how to unsubscribe for an email list you will still get people who hit that complaint link.
By using double opt-in you can reduce spam complaints down to single digit percentages or lower. A single opt-in email newsletter lends itself to abuse, resulting in more spam complaints and potential banning of your domain name by the major ISPs. This is something you must avoid at all costs because once you are on an email blacklist it is hard to get yourself off.
One final point on spam – while double opt-in is not law yet I foresee in the very near future it will be. Using a single opt-in email list will be illegal and anyone found doing so may face legal prosecution. If none of the above arguments are enough to sway you, the threat of legal action should do it.
How To Set-Up Double Opt-In
I use AWeber.com (aff) to handle all my email lists (you can read my review of AWeber) and it has a switch you can flick on any email list to make it double opt-in. Be warned though, once you flick that switch there is no going back to single opt-in for that list, you will have to create a new one if you want single opt-in (you get unlimited autoresponder lists with AWeber though so it’s not that big a deal). The AWeber software handles the double opt-in process automatically and has plenty of customization options so you can determine what message is sent back to the user in the confirmation email.
GetReponse (aff) also has a double opt-in facility and I’m fairly confident that most robust third part email list manager/autoresponder services should have the double opt-in feature. If they don’t then they are not keeping up to date so I would recommend moving to a company that does.
If you use your own software, either custom built or purchased online, then you may or may not have a double opt-in feature. That’s a question for your technical person.
Get Serious About Email List Building
Last week I was checking my subscriber stats in my AWeber account and noticed that one of my email lists had over 80 subscribers in a 24 hour period where the average was usually 10-20. I was hoping it was because of a traffic spike from some exposure on a website or blog, but unfortunately it was not. A spam bot of some kind had submitted over 60 email addresses, all very similar, and clearly not from real humans. Thankfully none of these email addresses will be confirmed because of the double opt-in protection my list has, ensuring the integrity of my list is not adversely affected.
If you are serious about building a quality email list, and you should be if you are in Internet business, then double opt-in is a must. Even if it means you lose a few genuine subscribers because they don’t follow the double opt-in process, it is worth it to protect you from all the negative things that can occur reducing the quality of your list.
Yaro Starak
Email List Builder
What Is A Namesqueeze?
I’ve mentioned the namesqueeze technique previously on this blog. It’s a very popular technique in Internet marketing circles and I’ve been itching to try it out myself. With the launch of Blog Traffic King I finally had a reason to test the namesqueeze and so far, I’m impressed, it works really well.
Squeezing The Email Address
The namesqueeze is most often used to collect email addresses from prospective customers. The idea is that visitors to your website, if they find your offer compelling enough, will opt in to your mailing list. Sometimes the offer may be an email newsletter with helpful information about a specific topic (in my case, a blog traffic newsletter), or a free report or 7 day e-course, mini e-book or downloadable audio. Sometimes the namesqueeze is used as a gateway to enter the main website so visitors have to give their name and email address first, before gaining access to the content.
From the marketers point of view you gain the all important contact point and can continue to soft sell your products or services. Namesqueeze pages generally bring in targeted visitors because for a person to give their email address they must be interested in what you offer.
It’s About Focus
If you have ever done any online marketing you will know that your conversion rate is probably the most important statistic (along with cost per conversion). The conversion rate is the percentage of visitors to your page that “convert” and do what your page is designed to make them do.
Traditionally conversion rates online tend to sit at about 1-2% as an average. Namesqueeze pages on the other hand generally enjoy double digit conversion rates and can approach 100% if the offer is compelling and the traffic targeted.
The explanation for such high conversion rates is focus. Namesqueeze pages focus on a single action – the email opt-in – and all the copy on the page is focused on convincing the visitor to sign up. There are no distractions, no outgoing links, no sub-pages – just a simple process that convinces the reader to join.
Compelling Copy
Namesqueeze pages rely extensively on the power of words to sell. Audio may be included to help the process but simply tells visitors to follow the written instructions and sign up. Images may also enhance the presentation but without powerful words with a compelling message and clear call to action a namesqueeze page doesn’t work.
Targeted Traffic
The other key ingredient for a successful namesqueeze campaign is the right type of visitor. The methods used to send traffic to a namesqueeze page must ensure that readers are interested in the topic. Pay per click advertising is the most common method used to send traffic to namesqueeze pages because you can tightly align the message with keywords.
How I Built My Namesqueeze Page
With Blog Traffic King I did the work myself. I visited some other namesqueeze pages and asked for feedback from some Internet marketing friends but that’s all the outside assistance I required. The good thing about namesqueeze pages is that they are small, focus on the text and don’t need to be pretty. It’s all about making the message as compelling as possible.
I coded the page myself mostly by grabbing the HTML from some of my other pages I’d built in the past. I used a text editor to work on the raw HTML code. I recorded the audio using Audacity, and converted it to streaming audio buttons using Wicked Streaming (a program no longer available – you can try BYO Audio or Instand Audio). I created the graphics using Paint Shop Pro and some photos I had taken with my digital camera. I host the page on my reseller account and registered the domain with Yahoo! Domains.
To bring in traffic I set up Google AdWords Pay Per Click campaigns which I continuously refine and test to maximize the conversion rate. I use the conversion tracking tools provided by Google to track the conversion rates on each keyword. I use AwStats server statistics to see what keywords are bringing in search traffic and source new keywords which I can plug into AdWords to test for more PPC traffic.
I also advertise the blog traffic newsletter on my blogs and link to the Blog Traffic King namesqueeze page in my signature profile in any forums I frequent.
My Conversion Rates
When I first started my AdWords campaign my conversion rate averaged 40% across the board. As I broke down my campaign into groups the conversion rates started to fluctuate but they are consistently in double figures. Some low traffic keyword phrases have a 100% conversion rate.
My best day had over 35 sign-ups (this came after posting about Blog Traffic King on this blog) and I consistently average 10 new sign-ups per day, which I consider fantastic given this is only the start of my promotional campaign. In total I have had three people unsubscribe with the justification usually being “not enough time to read emails anymore” (I can understand that!), which is a near-zero unsubscribe ratio.
I’ve received more than ten direct unsolicited positive feedback comments from readers who state they are receiving a lot of value from my newsletter, which is fantastic. Positive feedback tells me that I have the right type of people on my newsletter – those who stand to gain the most from what I offer now and in the future – the perfect win-win relationship, and of course that I am providing value, which is very important to me.
Try A Namesqueeze
If you plan to sell online and you want to build a contact list of somesort the namesqueeze technique is a must. It’s beautiful in it’s simplicity, has a clear focus and consequently enjoys high conversion rates. At the least you should consider testing this method for your niche.
Once you have a successful namesqueeze in operation it’s very easy to tweak it to improve your conversion rates. By isolating key variables such as headlines you can test changes and monitor your results. By optimizing elements you can slowly increase the conversion rate. Then all you need to do is send more targeted traffic sound in the knowledge that your namesqueeze page will work hard for you to sign-up new prospects.
Yaro Starak
Online Marketer
