Email Marketing: The OPT-IN Mailing List
Posted Under: E-Mail Marketing
The Opt-In mailing list is beyond a doubt the most straightforward and useful of all mailing lists.
An opt-in mailing list is one where the users must take some action in order to subscribe to it.
This typically involves the filling out of a Web-based sign-up form.
Lists where people actively add themselves, are much more responsive and produce better results with fewer complaints, than lists where people passively allow themselves to be added.
One of the main problems with opt-in mailing lists is that third party individuals sometimes add others to the lists. This is why there are now different types of opt-in lists in use with email marketing.
Confirmed opt-in mailing lists, as the name implies, confirms your subscription by email as soon as your name is added to the list.
This allows you the opportunity to immediately unsubscribe from the list by clicking on a link provided within the email for that purpose.
Here is a typical example of a confirmed email:
“You have received this email because you or someone else added your email address to our mailing list. If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below:”
“Unsubscribe”
With a confirmed opt-in mailing list, even if someone else signs you up to an ebook or newsletter that you didn’t ask for or want, you can take immediate action to remove yourself from the list. Just click the “Unsubscribe” link.
The double opt-in mailing list ensures that no one else can sign you up to a list.
With a double opt-in mailing list, the user must take the initial action to sign up to a list and when he receives a confirmation of his subscription, he must reply to the confirmation in order to be added to the list. Essentially, the user opts in twice.
Here is a typical example of a double opt-in confirmation email:
“This message is to verify that you would like to receive our blah blah blah newsletter. Before we can send you our blah blah blah newsletter, you MUST reply to this message by clicking on the link below, so your email address can be added to our mailing list.”
“If you do not wish to be added to our mailing list, simply do not respond to this email.”
The double opt-in process ensures that the subscriber did not opt-in by mistake or that someone else did not subscribe them to your email list without their consent or prior knowledge. By requiring subscribers to perform two active action steps, the bar is raised considerably and you will find more highly targeted customers responding to your email marketing efforts with fewer complaints.
Even when third party attempts are made to add somebody to your list without the subscriber’s permission, that confirmation step requiring action from the subscriber, allows the customer to opt-out of the list.
Creating a double opt-in mailing list is simple; especially if you are using Aweber
- First, go to Aweber or any other service for creating and managing email lists, and sign up for an account.
- Once you have created your account, log in to Aweber or whatever dashboard you are using and create a new list. With Aweber you click on “create and manage lists” and then on “create new list”.
- Enter a name for your list, your “from” name, your “from” email address, and your contact address. If you have a company logo, you can include it here along with your website URL and your signature. When you’re finished, save your settings.
- Next, you need to customize your double opt-in message.This is the most important setting because most email subscribers never confirm their subscriptions. Here is where you can give your confirmation email message a personal touch. If you can make it appealing enough, the user will usually confirm their subscription right away. When you’re finished, preview your message and if satisfied, save your settings.
- Lastly, you need to create the form though which your subscriber will sign up to your list.Do this by clicking on “Web Form” at the top. When you’re finished with your form, grab the html code and add it to your website or landing page or wherever you want the sign up form to appear.
That’s all you need to do on Aweber; it’s just that simple.
There is something called an opt-out list that you should avoid like the plague.
Opt-out lists are where the email addresses of users are added completely without their approval or knowledge. In email marketing, this is regarded as pure spam. Whatever you do, DO NOT SPAM. Opt-out lists have the highest complaint rate and the lowest response rate.
There is also another sneaky email marketing tactic called the confirmed opt-out list.
This list sends a confirmation to the intended recipient when their email address is added to the list. The confirmation lets the recipient know that his email address has been added to the list and allows him to unsubscribe by either clicking on a link or replying to the email message.
Opt-outs and confirmed opt-outs are both super bad for business and should be avoided at all cost.
If you are new to email marketing and have not yet started compiling your subscriber list; sign up to Aweber or some other reliable service and start building your double opt-in mailing list of subscribers today.