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Single Optin or Double?

by mhobbs25
20 replies
What are your thoughts on Single Optin vs. Double?

.....

I have personally used single optin for years and when I switched over, I noticed that my open rates went way up! The email addresses you have received are 100% real because an actual human has clicked the confirm link in the email.

So now I'm sold on double optins vs single optin.

The one question to ask to sell yourself on a double optin is this: If you had a choice to broadcast an email to 1,000 double optin leads or 1,000 single optin leads, which one would you choose?

The answer is easy - of course you would pick the ones that took the time to confirm their email...
#double #optin #single
  • Profile picture of the author ivatel42
    I definitely go with double Mike if nothing other than peace of mind.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nigel Greaves
    No question about it for me Mike, it has to be double optin everytime.

    Nigel
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      I have, at the moment, eight lists of which are five single opt-in and three confirmed opt-in.

      It's unquestionable that you build a bigger list with single opt-in. (That's far from the only relevant factor here, of course!).

      For me, it depends on the niche. For anything to do with internet marketing advice or making money online, I'd always use confirmed opt-in, myself. Nobody has yet convinced me that I'd need a confirmed opt-in list for a cauliflower soup recipes website, opt-in and email marketing business; and I don't think they're likely to, because for me the advantages of single opt-in far outweigh the disadvantages, in such niches.

      I suspect that it depends on "what you're sending out" as well as on the niche, though. (I almost never get a "spam report".)
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      • Profile picture of the author Bill_Z
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        For me, it depends on the niche. For anything to do with internet marketing advice or making money online, I'd always use confirmed opt-in, myself. Nobody has yet convinced me that I'd need a confirmed opt-in list for a cauliflower soup recipes website, opt-in and email marketing business; and I don't think they're likely to, because for me the advantages of single opt-in far outweigh the disadvantages, in such niches.
        100% true. Try doing double optin in anything outside of IM, and see how many confirmations you get. At least in my experience, specifically health/fitness/beauty, single is the way to go.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bill_Z
    Originally Posted by mhobbs25 View Post

    The one question to ask to sell yourself on a double optin is this: If you had a choice to broadcast an email to 1,000 double optin leads or 1,000 single optin leads, which one would you choose?

    The answer is easy - of course you would pick the ones that took the time to confirm their email...
    I would rather broadcast to 5000 single optin as opposed to 1000 double optin.
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    • Profile picture of the author mhobbs25
      Originally Posted by Bill_Z View Post

      I would rather broadcast to 5000 single optin as opposed to 1000 double optin.
      But if you do double optin correctly I get 90% of my optins to confirm...

      So 5000 leads would equal 4500 double optin leads for me...

      Most people do it wrong. They send people to the gift they are giving away before they make them confirm. That will only get you 20-50% to confirm or less...

      Put a personal video on the thankyou page giving them the incentive to confirm as the only option. Then your confirm rate goes through the roof. Also if they put the wrong info in on purpose to hijack what you are offering now they don't get it. So they have to go back and put their real info in.

      Single optin you would just get a bounce email when they do that, now its a real email.

      Now the argument would be most people wouldn't go back and put the correct email in at that point. Well would you really want to give that person your gift?

      The agreement was you give me your email and I give you the gift. Not you give me a fake email and I give you the gift.

      That's like going into a store, grabbing a candy bar and walking out with the owner watching you the entire time and does nothing about it!

      That's my take on double or single optin.
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  • Profile picture of the author JasonParker
    Age old debate...

    My conclusion is this:

    With single opt-in, you get more subscribers.

    With double opt-in, you get more qualified subscribers and maybe have to pay less on your AR bill.
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    • Profile picture of the author myob
      With rare exceptions, all of my lists are just single because they optin just before or shortly after making a purchase. No one gets on my lists unless they buy something!
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by myob View Post

        No one gets on my lists unless they buy something!
        This, of course, makes complete sense of your observations not only on this subject, but also provides a context for some related discussions we have from time to time about sending autoresponder email and similar issues. Must learn to remind myself, on such occasions, that "Paul is dealing only with buyers' lists"!
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        • Profile picture of the author myob
          Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

          Originally Posted by myob View Post

          No one gets on my lists unless they buy something!
          This, of course, makes complete sense of your observations not only on this subject, but also provides a context for some related discussions we have from time to time about sending autoresponder email and similar issues. Must learn to remind myself, on such occasions, that "Paul is dealing only with buyers' lists"!
          There are exceptions noted, that you left out from my post, LOL! But assuming you are building a list to market your products, it is reasonable to be upfront that you are a business and the expected outcome is making sale(s). Whether it is a $7 report, a $40 Clickbank product or a $10,000 Amazon product, incentivizing subscribers with only warm fuzzies to double-optin to a list makes for a very long drawn out sales cycle.

          Sell them something upfront, even its nothing more than a $1.00 report or trial offer. You'll get a lot less subscribers of course, but the ones that do take you up on it will be highly targeted for your other offers, provided of course you have given value. As I have mentioned in other posts, my subscribers get hammered everyday until they buy my other products, or die. With 500,000+ active subscribers now over 9 years, I can say this method indeed has some merit.
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  • Profile picture of the author BudgetSEO
    I'd start as a single option, and once the receiver receives x no. of emails, i'd send the next email requesting him to opt-in another form (aka double opt-in)
    Filters good from the not so good
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  • Profile picture of the author JustinBrooke
    Originally Posted by mhobbs25 View Post

    What are your thoughts on Single Optin vs. Double?

    .....

    The one question to ask to sell yourself on a double optin is this: If you had a choice to broadcast an email to 1,000 double optin leads or 1,000 single optin leads, which one would you choose?

    The answer is easy - of course you would pick the ones that took the time to confirm their email...
    I agree, but I've found almost 50% of my double opt-in
    people never click the confirm link. Which means I have
    to send twice as much money and get twice as many
    conversions to compensate.

    I get about 20% - 28% open rate with my single opt-ins
    and I'm ok with that number.

    How high is it for double opt-in lists?

    If it was like 50% plus then maybe I'd consider switching
    back to double opt-in
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    FREE: spreadsheet of 182 traffic sources (no opt-in)

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    • Profile picture of the author mhobbs25
      Originally Posted by JustinBrooke View Post

      I agree, but I've found almost 50% of my double opt-in
      people never click the confirm link. Which means I have
      to send twice as much money and get twice as many
      conversions to compensate.

      I get about 20% - 28% open rate with my single opt-ins
      and I'm ok with that number.

      How high is it for double opt-in lists?

      If it was like 50% plus then maybe I'd consider switching
      back to double opt-in

      28% open rate is great for sure.

      I get around 10-15% with my single & 25-30% with my open rate with double. I do believe if you are getting a 28% open rate with a single optin list then your open rate will be even higher with your double.

      I think your content and your bond with your list also determines your open rate more then single or double optin. So a couple factors to think about there...
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  • Profile picture of the author Sarah Russell
    Agree on double opt-in for anything related to IM/make money online or in any niche that has a certain amount of internet savvy (some niches are wayyyyy more aware than others).

    If you decide to use double opt-in in other niches (which isn't a bad idea, as far as spam laws are concerned), you've got to give a compelling reason to confirm, beyond just receiving a free gift. Not that you'll necessarily run into problems if you single opt-in in a non-IM niche (realistically, you probably won't) - just that your hind end will be covered if you do.

    The number of subscribers you get will only really suffer if you a) aren't clear on what prospects need to do to confirm, and b) don't offer a good enough reason for them to confirm in the first place.
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  • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
    As usual, Alexa has this right, I think. There are times when single opt-in makes more sense, but overall confirmed opt-in is generally better all around.

    I use single when someone has already bought something and on the download page I ask them to sign up for updates, etc. They've already bought from me, which is how they ended up on the download page. No sense making that person jump through 2 hoops.

    In every case where I'm giving something away to build the list, I make them confirm.

    John
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    • Profile picture of the author mhobbs25
      Originally Posted by Zeus66 View Post

      As usual, Alexa has this right, I think. There are times when single opt-in makes more sense, but overall confirmed opt-in is generally better all around.

      I use single when someone has already bought something and on the download page I ask them to sign up for updates, etc. They've already bought from me, which is how they ended up on the download page. No sense making that person jump through 2 hoops.

      In every case where I'm giving something away to build the list, I make them confirm.

      John
      Yes! If you really think about it the only time you ever really need double optin is if you are worried about someone putting bogus info in. (that's why I initially started doing it) The IM niche is notorious for this. So IM niche should be double optin or you are giving away your stuff without getting the right email.

      So if you have a buyer then of course you don't need double optin. You know you have their correct info already. That's even better then a double optin. Buyer optin is the best you can get...
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      There are so many people that think success
      is all about just being persistent... I want to
      share with you today WHY that is NOT enough!
      Listen to the full story here!

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  • Profile picture of the author OpticalOut
    I've always used double. Probably just because it is set by default by aweber.
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  • Profile picture of the author Christophe Young
    I've been using single opt in for a while and have not encountered any spam complaints. This is outside the IM niche. It will also help you build up a bigger list of subscribers faster. And having a bigger list is good for Ad Swaps.
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  • Profile picture of the author inplainview
    Double pass opt-in is the way to go, unless you want to broadcast your emails to a bunch of bots.
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