The dilemma:

You know that having a double opt-in* process for your newsletter/ezine list is the “best practice”. Several reasons:

• less chance of being called a spammer by someone who doesn’t remember filling in the form (or because someone else filled out the form with their email address)
• fewer bad email addresses in your list
• some mailing list delivery services require it!

BUT–sometimes your subscribers don’t click that link they receive from you in the confirmation email. And so you lose 10, 20, even 50% of your “subscribers”. Arghh!

How can you improve your opt-in rates? Generally, the more compelling and relevant your “offer” is to folks, and the easier it is for them to complete the process, the better opt-in rate you will enjoy.

• Have some really strong copy that describes your ezine and the benefits they will receive.
• Provide an incentive for folks to subscribe. A free ebook, ecourse, etc.
• Remind folks that they must confirm (click the link in the confirmation email) to receive the incentive. You can do this on the signup or thank you page.
• Help them make sure they receive the confirmation email, by offering a page explaining how to add your ezine to their whitelist. (Feel free to borrow ours)
• Show them how to confirm. A snapshot of the confirmation email, with the confirmation link circled, is one way to make it crystal-clear.
• Make sure your confirmation email matches the description of your ezine. Use the same wording, etc. Nothing will reduce your confirmation rates like using the generic confirmation email text!

I’d love to hear some success stories from implementing these ideas! Just scroll down to Post Comment. Your email address will be used only if we need to contact you about your comment.

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*Double opt-in:

1. new subscriber fills out a form on your site
2. your list management software sends aconfirmation email with a special coded link
3. new subscriber clicks the link

Single opt-in eliminates steps 2 and 3.

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Last 5 posts by Terri Zwierzynski

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 29th, 2006 at 6:20 pm and is filed under Internet Marketing, Email Marketing, Web Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.