I’ve always been a big proponent of double opt-in for building your potential customer list online. Primarily because it adds a layer of protection against frivolous spam complaints — it’s hard to argue that you didn’t sign up when I have a record of you clicking the confirmation link.

This week I’ve learned of two colleagues’ experience with double opt-in: one positive, one negative. The difference? It all depends on who your customers are!

Case #1: Marketing consultant A is hesitant to move to double opt-in; she’s concerned about losing current subscribers in the process (with some systems, all your subscribers have to opt-in again if you change over…something to check out before you make the move!) Then she discovers that some of her current customers aren’t getting her emails anyway — because their email delivery service won’t deliver email that’s not “validated”. Turns out that going to double opt-in will fix that!

Case #2: Marketing consultant B decides to experiment with double opt-in. Within a month, she notes that her new subscriber rate has plummetted. A closer look at her subscriber base shows that they don’t spend a lot of time online and aren’t very internet-savvy — the very idea of clicking a confirmation email baffles them (what’s this, didn’t I sign up already?) They probably don’t sign up for a lot of lists anyway, and don’t deal with the volume that heavier Internet users face. So they might be less likely to make a spam complaint.

The moral of the story: Know your customers! What are their habits, do they check email hourly — or weekly? Do they use online methods to reach *their* customers? Do you have a good enough relationship with current customers that they’ll willingly click that link to stay on your list?

As this online marketer learned this week, marketing tactics are never one-size-fits-all.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 12th, 2007 at 1:16 am and is filed under Internet Marketing. 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.