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Would you choose a confirmed opt-in for a cheap price?

by seriousjake
10 replies
So I signed up for a great and cheap autoresponder service for just 25 bucks a year.

However, I didn't notice the part where they say it's a confirmed opt-in. (Not sure I even knew what it meant at the time lol.)

Now keep in mind, I'm on a very strict budget and services like Aweber / Getresponse can get really add up as a recurring cost which could blow out my budget if I take a long time to make my first sale (this is my first IM project). Also, the cost scales with your number of subscribers.

But I've heard that confirmed opt-ins can reduce your sign ups by 50%.

So, what do you think I should do? Switch to Aweber or go ahead with a confirmed opt-in?
#cheap #choose #confirmed #optin #price
  • Profile picture of the author CyberAlien
    Are you referring to double optins? If so, then every major autoresponder (including Aweber) requires that.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Chase Watts View Post

      Are you referring to double optins? If so, then every major autoresponder (including Aweber) requires that.
      Aweber, GetResponse and many other leading autoresponder companies allow single opt-in. I have many single opt-in lists at Aweber.

      Jake is correct to refer to it as "confirmed opt-in". It's mostly in forums that people mistakenly refer to it as "double" opt-in. The opt-in isn't "double" in any sense. Nobody has to "opt in twice": the issue relates to whether or not people have to confirm their email address before being added to the list.

      Originally Posted by seriousjake View Post

      Service level aside, would you choose a cheaper double-opt in over a more expensive single opt-in?
      Service level isn't "aside", though, realistically. It never is.

      For myself, I'd choose a more expensive single opt-in.

      The major factor affecting my decision would be that I know what Aweber's deliverability is like, and - rightly or wrongly - would truly worry about the deliverability of an $25-per-year autoresponder (their service may be as good as Aweber's/GetResponse's, for all I know, but my lists are the major assets of my business, and I'm not willing to take a chance on that).

      It's possible to get the proportion of subscribers confirming their email addresses up to 85% or even 90%, but it isn't always easy: you need to give them a lot of very clear information, both in words and with pictures, immediately after submitting their email addresses. I strongly prefer single opt-in, myself. For what it's worth, I also find that many (not all) of the arguments commonly adduced in favour of using confirmed opt-in are based on either mistaken premises or misattributed causation (in other words they don't really make sense).
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  • Profile picture of the author Sharpay
    Reducing your sign-ups by 50% in that case is actually a good thing, because it's somebody who really wants to be on your list, rather than someone who figures it would be just okay.
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    • Profile picture of the author seriousjake
      Originally Posted by Chase Watts View Post

      Are you referring to double optins? If so, then every major autoresponder (including Aweber) requires that.
      Do they really? I've seen on video tutorials that you can turn it off on Aweber. Unless they've changed their policy lately.


      Originally Posted by Sharpay View Post

      Reducing your sign-ups by 50% in that case is actually a good thing, because it's somebody who really wants to be on your list, rather than someone who figures it would be just okay.
      Thanks for the input. My concern is that I'm not doing a whole lot of preselling with regards to my freebie on the squeeze page. Can't put much content in with WP Lead Rocket so it's quite a simple page and so, I was hoping to get as many subscribers as possible by not having a double opt in.
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  • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
    Originally Posted by seriousjake View Post

    So I signed up for a great and cheap autoresponder service for just 25 bucks a year.
    In my experience, it's doubtful that you'll get a great
    autoresponder service for $25 a year.

    As with most things in life, you get what you pay for.

    Originally Posted by seriousjake View Post

    So, what do you think I should do? Switch to Aweber or go ahead with a confirmed opt-in?
    I would recommend that you go with a proven autoresponder
    service like AWeber.

    Your lists will become one of the most valuable assets
    in your Internet business so you want to build them on
    a solid foundation.

    For the record, AWeber will accept single opt-in as
    well as confirmed opt-in (double opt-in).

    Dedicated to mutual success,

    Shaun
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    • Profile picture of the author seriousjake
      Originally Posted by Shaun OReilly View Post

      In my experience, it's doubtful that you'll get a great
      autoresponder service for $25 a year.

      As with most things in life, you get what you pay for.


      I would recommend that you go with a proven autoresponder
      service like AWeber.

      Your lists will become one of the most valuable assets
      in your Internet business so you want to build them on
      a solid foundation.

      For the record, AWeber will accept single opt-in as
      well as confirmed opt-in (double opt-in).

      Dedicated to mutual success,

      Shaun
      Service level aside, would you choose a cheaper double-opt in over a more expensive single opt-in?
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  • Profile picture of the author JimDucharme
    If you're wondering about such things, don't be shy to contact the AR(s) you are thinking of using. For example, you can contact GetResponse via multple channels with such questions. You can generally tell how much a company wants your business by how much they want your questions .

    I'm always available (except for the 2 hours I sleep each night) via Skype, Twitter, Email etc to help.

    Regards,
    jim
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  • Profile picture of the author RogueOne
    Reducing your sign-ups by 50% in that case is actually a good thing,
    Not at all. How is losing half your traffic a good thing?

    You have to take all the factors into consideration. Most people have tiny, little attention spans. They are checking out many, many offers. You may think yours is special but they don't. You want as few barriers to a sale as possible.

    Requiring confirmation is like building a huge roadblock on the path to your bank account.
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    Get Off The Warrior Forum Now & Don't Come Back If You Want To Succeed!
    All The Real Marketers Are Gone. There's Nothing Left But Weak, Sniveling Wanna-Bees!
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  • Profile picture of the author brentb
    I would go with a better service. I can personally vouch for ConstantContact and VerticalResponse, two of my favorite email services. If you go self hosted software as another option, I recommend SendGrid. Self hosted is really cheap, you generally pay for what you use and its at very cheap prices. You literally could get by on like $10 a month for a long time with the amount of email I am guessing you would send out. It does take some setup and some programming knowledge is helpful.
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