50% opt-in rate, but it's not what you think

Do you offer the free product before they confirm?

Yes, maybe.

First option: switch to single opt-in (I also use Aweber but have many single opt-in lists there).

Second option: explain really clearly and in great detail, after they've opted in, exactly how they have to confirm their email address. Give them a picture of how to do it. Explain that they need to check their junk and spam folders, and that they have to add your email address to their safe list, and so on. The more information you give them, the easier you make it for them.

I didn't realize Aweber had single opt-in. I'll check that out tonight. Thanks.

Hi Shane,

I have the same problem and have tried both Double & Single Opt-ins with Aweber....Here are my thoughts on the matter...

With Double Optin you see a lot of people who initially subscribe that don't confirm their emails. I think this is because a lot of these folks are just "freebie seekers" and have no intention whatsoever of staying on your list once they get the free product.

So you could argue that it's a good thing that they haven't confirmed - it's like you've weeded out some of the time wasters...

Now with Single Options (which you can do with Aweber) everybody who enters an email will get the freebie. The thing with this is if you are hosting your download on a webpage then you'll more than likely have your AR set-up to redirect to that page after someone enters their email...

This is what I usually do and what I find is that out of the single opt-ins many of them are just fake email accounts so although my list grows faster than DO's it's a kinda false result because the list usually is full of freebie seekers with a low response rate.

John and Alexa pointed out some great things above. I will try and add my experiences on helping this issue. I may overlap with what they said though.

First off, what niche are you building this list in? Is it the IM niche... IM niche seems to typically have a lower confirm rate than any other I've been in. I would assume that's due to the larger amount of freebie seekers and the comfort they have when seeing a squeeze page and a free gift compared to other niches.

Switching to single opt in is one way to increase that confirm rate becuase they skip the confirm step altogether... but you will want to keep a close eye on your sales conversions from a single opt in traffic. You will pick up a lot more crap traffic using the single opt in. I usually keep the single opt in for lists that I will be leveraging for new leads rather than ones I'm trying to turn and promote too.

I also like to use single opt in if I'm selling a physical product and I am able to offer a coupon or discount.

The page they see after clicking submit on your opt in form is really going to be a helping factor too. Like Alexa mentioned, making this page have a simple diagram on how to receive their free gift is a big help.

If you're using an OTO for this page, you will have a lower confirm rate. The quick offer puts some people off and they won't follow through.

This is a simple example of one that I use:

Confirm Your Email Address To Receive Your Goodies

Sometimes I will have pictures of the steps too just to make it more clear. Adding links to the major email providers out there like Google, Yahoo, and Hotmail is another good way to help increase conversions. Makes it even easier for them to make it to your email.

Travis

shane, to be honest i would not worry about it 1 bit

heres why

if somebody opts in to your list because they want your free stuff but they then dont bother to confirm there email it means that he/she isnt really that bothered about getting your free information

if they are not that bothered in getting your free information then you dont want them on your list anyway

using double opt in basically weeds out all the time wasters that probably wont end up opening many of your emails or buy anything from you anyway so dont sweat it

i get the same problem when using double in too and so does everyone else

some people confirm some dont

most of my subs do confirm but the odd few dont but like i said it doesnt matter because your weeding out the time wasters and people that are not that interested in what you are giving away

it really only comes down to how valuable your free offer is, but even if your giving away mega value for free you will still get people that dont confirm

paul

alexa - there may be some folks that may be interested but are not sure how to confirm there email adress and that is fair enough

but when i make my squeeze pages i actually tell people verbally go and check and confirm your email

some people dont confirm and it could be for any number of reasons which is fine

but the way i look at it is if someone really wanted what i was giving away for free they would bend over backwards to go to there email address and confirm to get what i was sending them

if someone cant be bothered to do what i say in my video in order to get my free stuff then theres really not much more i can do lol, i mean i actually tell them "do this then do this right now" lol

i still use single opt in a fair bit too when i use solo ads and it works fine but there are certain times when i still use double opt in too :-)

PS: i think some people have misunderstood what im saying. I like using double opt in im all for it, all i mean is using double opt in means that people that dont confirm are not that bothered in getting my free offer, so they are probably not the best prospects to have on my list anyway

paul

I contacted AWEBER last night and opened a ticket. You see, I don't have the option on my end to switch from single opt-in to double or vice versa. So I opened a support ticket to ask for their help. Here's the response:

"It seems that since the list was created before you switched
to the new Analytics package, there is no option to turn the
double opt-in OFF. The option is available on a normal Anayltics
package. However, I may be able to to turn that off
for your from our end. I will respond to you tomorrow to see
if we can turn the double opt-in OFF from our end.
I just wanted to let you know we did receive your ticket and we
are working on it. In the meantime, If you have any other questions,
or need further assistance, please do not hesitate to ask. We're happy
to help!"

Very professional and polite. But not want I really wanted to hear. In the mean time...I'm swiping Travis Petelle's page and rewording it a little.

Thanks for all your help.

Can't you just create a new list?

I was just creating a new list on Aweber this morning and set it up for single opt-in. It brought up some kinda warning and for a moment I thought it wasn't let me choose 'single opt-in'.

While it did let me use single, they're definitely positioning double opt-in and trying to discourage users from single. That's obviously for THEIR business reasons and not ours.

What traffic source are you using, and what is the typical email address of the people who are not confirming?

I have found that some traffic sources are just bots which subscribe to make the stats look good at first glance. Typically these will also be really obscure e-mail accounts which are just a jumble of letters and numbers.

Personally I go for double opt-in and use the video page from aweber which makes it pretty clear that the visitor has to check their e-mail to proceed to the download page.

This small hurdle will weed out those who are not interested enough in your offer to give an email they can actually check. Ultimately I'm looking to form a relationship, so I would rather have a lower number of subscribers who like me than a large list who think I'm just out to sell stuff to them.

Single opt in is not really a good idea. If you do that and your stats stay the same, you'll get a load of bogus email address on your list. They will still boost your Aweber subscriber numbers though (Even though they're dead email address) and make you pay more for your monthly Aweber fee.

If you want to make sure people don't give you fake email address, simply let them know that they will be receiving your free gift directly to their email. That way they'll know to put the correct email in first time around or they won't get your gift. Hope that helps.