Why I Prefer Confirmed Opt-In

Call me crazy, but I prefer using confirmed opt-in for my mailing lists. Here is why:

Deliverability

If they receive the confirmation eMail and reply to it to confirm their subscription, I know that were at least able to receive the first message from the list. That hopefully bodes well for future messages getting through. Without a confirmation, I really don't know if they are actually receiving my messages or if they will just be accumulating in a junk folder or getting deleted before they reach the recipient.

Actionability

If a user goes through the steps of confirming their subscription, I know that they are willing to take action on things. That increases the likelihood that they will become (or remain) paying customers.

Accountability

By confirming their subscription, I have documentation that they really did request to be on the list. From a web form, all I know is someone filled out a web form using an eMail address. Can't be sure that it was the submitter's real eMail address! But, when someone gets an eMail confirmation and confirm their subscription, I know that the owner of the eMail address did, in fact, want to be on the list.

Some people refer to confirmed opt-in as "double opt-in" but that can be a misnomer. As mentioned, you really have no idea who is entering an eMail address into a web form. Most of the time it probably is the person whose eMail address it is. Sometimes, it may not be. It may be someone using it as a fake address; it may be someone playing pranks on their friends, or enemies. You just don't know.

With a confirmation, you know.

Lessened Chance of Spam Reports

You're never going to be able to complete eliminate spam reports, regardless of how clean and legitimately you run your list. Some people will hit the "Report as Spam" button just because they didn't like the content of a particular message. But, confirmed opt-in can reduce some incidents of spam reports.

As previously mentioned, you really don't know who is filling out a web form. Without confirmed opt-in, anyone submitting an eMail address gets added to your list, and begins receiving messages from you.

But, you may say, they can just unsubscribe at any time! However, if people start receiving messages they didn't request to receive, will they unsubscribe or simply report it as spam? I don't know about you, but if I get messages from a list I know I did not subscribe to, I do not unsubscribe. Hitting the unsubscribe link just lets the spammers know they've gotten a live one! So, instead it just gets marked, reported and junked as spam.

So, that unsubscribe link is not going to save you if, for example, one of your competitors subscribed a number of people through your web form and you start getting reported as a spammer because none of those recipients actually opted-in to your list.

Maybe I'm going against the grain here, but I don't see any problem with using confirmed opt-in and, in my opinion, the benefits outweigh any downsides.