Mailing to Unconfirmed Prospects

[winebuddy]

do you do it?

Aweber provides an export function so its easy to export all those folks that signed up but didn't confirm. Then you can just load them into an email program and make the offer again to them.

But do YOU do it?

I have never tried but I just looked at my numbers and I have, over the last 6 months, amassed about 1500 that did not ever confirm their email and also never got my freebie download.

I want to know what other warriors think on this.

I mean - these people DID opt int - right? Do you think it's safe to mail to them once with the original offer?

Your thoughts?

[David Chamberlain]

I don't see why not!

I'd do it if I was you, they have already shown interest.

Maybe even acknowledge the fact that they never confirmed.

Say something along the lines of...

I noticed you were interested in xxxxxx and that you never received it, well I'm sending it to you now, with xxxxxx bonus.

Personally, I wouldn't want to let 1500 subscribers get away...but thats me!

Dave

[winebuddy]

any other opinions?

[Kay King]

In one very long running mlm the practice was to send two followup "confirmation reminders" within 30 days. In a discussion about it I was told by the high-ups in that program that they had been advised that was OK but not to contact at all once 30 days from initial signup had passed.

Don't know if that has changed or not but it was a regular practice with them and they are careful to adhere to the letter of the law.

kay

[kindsvater]

If they didn't confirm their email address they did not "opt-in."

You also do not necessarily know who it was that initially submitted their email address on your website.

These also may be 'typo' or 'fake' addresses. For the typos, the person may have signed up again and received your info.

While it is reasonable to follow-up to ask why someone failed to follow-through - maybe a spam / junk filter got in the way.

But ... You're playing with fire, especially for those addresses that are 6 months old.

Possible sales versus possible ramifications from spam complaints.

I'm definitely conservative in my approach.

[tkulzer]

For all the reasons Brian stated above, you should not do this.

As one added incentive, don't do this because if you do and our team finds out we will cancel your account. If they didn't confirm, they don't want further emails from you. Continuing the do so would be a violation of our terms of service.

[myob]

I would not bother with them, and would hestitate to even call them prospects. If they're too lazy to confirm, they might be just as lazy to buy anything. Don't waste your time, and as Tom Kulzer from Aweber stated, it is against their TOS. I believe most if not all other commercial services have similar restrictions.

[Floyd Bogart]

Just not a good idea.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by kindsvater

If they didn't confirm their email address they did not "opt-in."

How about people on a single opt-in list that doesn't require a confirmation of their email address (also available at Aweber): did they "opt in"? (I'm not asking in order to argue with you, but because I don't know! But some people do use single opt-ins, and clearly it's a legitimate question).

[Wax]

It's called a single opt in, and if they are too lazy to confirm their address, I wouldn't even bother.

[myob]

Originally Posted by alexa_s

How about people on a single opt-in list that doesn't require a confirmation of their email address (also available at Aweber): did they "opt in"? (I'm not asking in order to argue with you, but because I don't know! But some people do use single opt-ins, and clearly it's a legitimate question).

Yes they did optin. The danger of using single optin only, however is that even if ONE person screams scam and you can't prove the optin with an ISP and time stamp, you could get shut down. Double optin provides the proof for your protection. From what I understand, experienced marketers may import their list or leads from other sources without confirmation as long as there is an ISP and time stamp for proof that they did request to be subscribed.

I have my own autoresponders on my domains, and even though I don't have to, I still use double optin for all my subscribers. If they don't confirm, I'm not going to hunt them down, because obviously they were never really prospects to begin with. And if they don't buy anything for six months, they get automatically nuked anyway. Simple rules; you must double optin and you must buy at least every six months or it's "bye". And being one who likes to keep things simple, this works extremely well for me.

[Kay King]

I have to add that this mlm had a rather extensive form people filled out before being sent a confirmation and added to the list. That is likely the reason for the followups for non-optins.

The target market is very new to online work, so the two followups sent were simple short reminders that they wouldn't be getting the information they requested until the click the confirmation email and instructions about it.

kay

[Ruth Hendrickson]

Originally Posted by winebuddy

I have, over the last 6 months, amassed about 1500 that did not ever confirm their email and also never got my freebie download.

Winebuddy, you seem to have a lot of unconfirmed signups. Maybe you should try to reduce the number of people who don't confirm. I don't think it's because they're lazy and think it's often due to Aweber's slowness in sending the confirmation email. There have been days when my unconfirms were very high, so I checked it out by subscribing myself and found it sometimes takes up to 15 minutes for the confirmation email to show up. By that time many people have moved on to something else!

Also, many IMers are using One Time Offers after subscribing, but I've found my unconfirms double when making the thank you page a OTO. So I took it down and just use the OTO after they have confirmed.

[oneplusone]

I have over 95% of people click the confimation link when they opt into my lists.

The key is to make it crystal clear what they should do after they have pressed the submit button and are on the next page.

"Please check your e-mail and click the confirmation link to confirm your subscription" won't do.

You have to show them EXACTLY what to do and cover all the possibilities (such as the confirmation message ending up in their junk folder etc), tell them who the message will come from, the subject line and show them a screenshot of how the confirmation message looks, opened and unopened. And have a pointed arrow to the confirmation link of where they should click when they read the e-mail.

[myob]

Originally Posted by Kay King

I have to add that this mlm had a rather extensive form people filled out before being sent a confirmation and added to the list. That is likely the reason for the followups for non-optins.

The target market is very new to online work, so the two followups sent were simple short reminders that they wouldn't be getting the information they requested until the click the confirmation email and instructions about it.

kay

Make the offer compelling, and the subscription form should be short and simple - just ask for first name and email address at first. Present your MLM signup link or form later in the followup messages. Very few people will take the time to even fill out a long form on first contact let alone respond to a confirmation. Like a first date, just get the name and phone number; the details will come later if there is any interest. If the phone doesn't answer or hangs up, she was never a prospect.