Honestly I think it comes down to what you want more, or your end goal. If you want a list, you need them to confirm before they get their freebie. If you want the info to get out there to push your site/product, you might be better off giving them the freebie whether they confirm or not.

Course much can be said for having a list and the ability to market to them over and over. You could also be testing and tweaking to improve confirms.

I say confirm first. Most do not buy on first impression anyway, so you have to have the ability to make additional pitches.

Just mho...

Rich,

For that small percentage that won't confirm their email are not very likely to buy anyways so don;t worry about it and keep on going. However one thing to keep in mind, if their is a large number of unconfirms then you should take a look at your confirm email message. In aWeber you can customize certain areas of the message. The first area you should customize is the Subject line.

Mike Hill

I didn't really want to stir this up again but ...

Use single opt in . The thank you page explains the product link is in their email. A recommended product link on the thank you page ( I don't use oto, just a recommend )

If they didn't give a real email they don't get the product . If you are giving a digital product deliver it with the ar and put another suggestion in the email. If the product is not easily delivered by ar put the link to the download in the first email along with the suggestion .

Can tell you from experience. If they put a bogus email in they will go back and do it right if they want the product .

Track your emails and delete all bounces. Make sure the unsub link is visible and put the ip and date of sign up that the opt in came from in the email.

To get the best of both worlds why not try this:

Create a confirm page explaining the double opt-in policy, and put a banner for your product underneath the text. This means that those with a genuine interest will click through to the product, but still realise to open the opt-in when they next check their email.

Here's an example of a page that I use
Internet Marketing Success Formula

1. Is the best - just make sure that the freebie is so good they will confirm the opt-in willingly.

Usually if someone has taken the time to enter their details, they will complete the process.

If they will not take an action to get a freebie, it is unlikely they are a serious prospect to buy something.

As always, great information here. Andrew, that is a fantastic thank-you-for-subscribing page... I'm off to redo all of mine now.

Send the link to the freebie in the first email after confirmation.

It really depend's how you setup your autoresponder and who your service is with...

Definitely confirm. Weeds out people who aren't serious.

We have done some tests of NOT holding the freebie hostage and the result has been very positive. Of course, this was in the case where the freebie directly led to a hard to resist offer that we converted very well on.

My thought was we ultimately wanted more conversions on that offer, so we want to give them what they requested WITHOUT making them jump through hoops. Our end goal was really to put people on a CUSTOMER list, so why slow down the process?

On a personal note, even as a marketer, it still bothers me when I' told I can instantly download something and I can't. making me confirm and then get it, is not instant.

If you're stuff is good, show it to your prospect and they'll confirm if they agree.

Alice

People must confirm if want free stuff: it is the only "price" they have to pay

I like to have two free bonuses, one before signup and one after. That way, your prospect at least comes away with a good opinion of you. And besides, your first free bonus does come with links... right?

or why dont you redirect them to the sales page, right after they click on submit after they fill up their email id.

You can do that by keeping the sales page as the success URL after submitting.

PS: But personally i woudnt want to go to any sales page by feeding in my email id, unless there is a worthwile freebee for me. Im sure many others would feel the same way.

The confirmation page is a great place to collect additional information. It's also a good place for an affiliate offer or Leadpile form. The right offer on the other end of your opt-in page can offset your advertising costs very nicely. The confirmation page should never be terminal, there should always be more action to take. In one case I found "Confirm your account and enter your email address and password" kept people watching their inbox.