Email Subscriber issue?

Yes it is probably just your odds, although I don't think it should be that bad.
You know I have said for a few years now. to go single optin only.

Let me explain. I have did numberous tests.
Yes I have a few more buyers on a double optin but overall I sell more with single optin.

If your list would of been single you would have signed up 60 compared to 9, with a 1 percent buy rate per email you send you can see the difference.

Yes I agree a SOI would have done that But what about people complaining about spam? Wouldn't a DOI protect you more against this?

I have maybe a .0003 percent complaint rate. And I never do double optin any longer and havent for years. The self hosted autoresponder I had made, can not even do double optin, I left it out on purpose.

If your an honest marketer don't bash your list, don't let your list sit for months without contacting them you will be fine.

I don't think that you should have a double opt in option for your subscribers. You should work with single opt ins.

Many very successful internet marketers use single opt in.

Even if most people provide fake emails, who cares? The more people you get on your list and consistently, the better.

Single opt in is the way to go. As noted by another poster, I have a next to zero complaint rate. If they don't want to open your follow-ups, they won't. But at least they're on the list.

Double opt-in reduces your subscriber rate but you build a more quality list. Single opt-in has a higher opt-in rate but far less quality list. Personally, I would use double opt-in. Think of the long term not short term...

I have used both and he is right you do have a higher quality list but overall you will make more with single opt in because of the numbers game.

I think you should run a test with single optins to see the open rate. If it's also abysmal you'll know there's something with your traffic source

Single opt in quality definetly goes down just look at your list and see how many people have never opened an email from you. It's scary. With double opt in I have found people either never get the messages or just never get round to confirming. In that case you have no Chance to build a relationship with them or make any sales.

You have to understand that there are all kinds of things that can get in the way of a confirmation email message from being read. There are all kinds of filters that can send the confirmation email into the trash or not even reach their email inbox.

The timing could just be wrong and they have to do something else like feed or pet the dog, answer the door or anything that could get your confirmation email ingnored.

It could get tangled up in several dozen of other email messages that come in and get mass deleted.

I would dare to say that any time you add extra steps that people have to do can cause your conversion rate to go down.

That is why I always use single optin. People say that double optin increases your conversion rate on sales. When you look at the fact that fewer people are added to your list because of a double optin confirm email was missed would naturally increase the rate because the pool would be smaller.

Example...

Double optin results in a list of 100 subscribers and 2 buyers equals a 2% conversion rate.

Single optin results in a list of 200 subscribers because half did not have to confirm has 2 buyers. That equals a 1% conversion rate.

the problem is that your are not comparing apples to apples. Who is to say that none of the extra 100 subscribers would not purchase. These extra 100 people could also produce 2 sales, which would result in a 2% conversion rate but more profit for the vendor because he would have 4 sales with single optin as compared to 2 double optin sales.

The conversion rate when comparing single to double optins in meaningless.

The bottom line is that the smaller you make the pool of possible buyers will probably plroduce fewer sales and double optin does not really filter your list to more probable buyers. You would get those people anyway plus more opportunities to sell when using single optin.

I've been online since 1996 and I don't believe I have had ore that a dozen spam complaints. This is way before the Can Spam Act of 2003. You can get the same number of complaints when using double optin.

Double optin does not protect you from anything but getting more subscribers. Autoresponder companies are not thinking of your business when they want you to use double optin, they are thinking of their own business.

I hope this has been helpful,
Steve Yakim

I agree, single optin is the way to go, double optin does make less money in my tests.