Stop Following the Herd: Double Opt-In is Crazy

My common sense B.S. meter has always sounded the alarm when hearing people say, “You really should build an email list that is double opt-in.”

But not until I started working with some pretty big email lists (and being responsible for the bottom line results) did I ever realize just how crazy the whole idea is.

If you’re new to the online world, single opt-in lists require subscribers to ask you one time to begin sending them information.

Double opt-in lists require your subscribers to actually “subscribe” to your lists twice before any information will flow to their inbox. The first time, they fill out a subscription form. The second request is made when they confirm their email address by clicking on a link that is sent to them.

Here are a few of the reasons you hear explaining why you should be using double opt-in:

1. You’ll have a cleaner list.
2. You’ll minimize the risk of SPAM complaints.
3. It’s the standard. It’s part of email best practices.
4. If they don’t confirm their subscription, did they really want to hear from you?

Sounds reasonable doesn’t it? (All except for reason #4, which I’ve never believed in the first place.)

So let’s say you’re doing a lead generation campaign and you manage to get 80% of those new leads to confirm and become double opt-in subscribers.

That means you lose about 20% of the leads (they don’t “confirm” their subscription). They disappear forever, even though you paid for them.

Now some people might say, “20% is great. That means you got a confirmation rate of over 80%!! I’d go crazy if I ever got a confirmation rate that high.”

To me, that’s like saying, “Yeah, there’s a million dollars right there on the table that was yours. It was rightfully yours. All you had to do was put it in your pocket… Sorry you couldn’t get it all, but at least you got most of it.”

In my opinion, as a business owner, running a double opt-in email list is crazy. From my perspective, the drawbacks far outweigh any benefits.

Here are 5 reasons why:

1. No email provider I’ve encountered can guarantee that my confirmation email will ever be received by the person who requested it. They can’t even give me a percentage.

The best “solution” I’ve received is to tell my subscriber to check their “BULK Mail” folder and see if it’s in there.” Or to record a video that shows them how to do it. Or to give them some sort of bribe so they’re willing to waste enough time to go and look for the confirmation email.

2. From a psychology of selling and treating my customer right perspective, I think it’s kind of insulting to ask them to jump through so many hoops for me. This is probably their first impression of my company after all.

“Hi Mr. Prospect… Thank you for trusting me enough to request information from my company.

Before I send you what you already asked for, I’m just going to have to ask you to go away from this page, start up your email program, download your new email and then find the one from me.

It might be there or it might not. Or it might be there in 10 minutes or it might not. Well, I don’t really know when or if it’s coming, but if it does, I’m going to have to ask you to click on the link you’ll find in that email.

Now please keep your attention focused on this task and try not to get distracted. So if the phone rings or the doorbell rings or your wife needs help with something in the backyard, I’d ask that you please delay leaving your computer until we get this little task taken care of.

I’d really hate to not be able to send you what you already asked for. Plus, you already gave me your email address and all of the information I need to immediately deliver what you want.

So sorry I can’t do that yet.

I look forward to having you as a customer in the near future. As you can see, we really go above and beyond to serve our customers needs.”

3. Double Opt-In is a Profit Killer

I don’t want a “cleaner” list, I want a more profitable list. And for that to happen, I need to actually get the folks who want to hear from me on the list in the first place.

If you’re paying for lead generation through banner ads, pay-per-click or some other media buying, then you can actually calculate how much money you’re flushing down the toilet by asking every subscriber to confirm their subscription.

I’ve done it… and it’s depressing.

If you’ve never delved into your numbers, just try this little exercise:

Over a 30 day period, track your sales revenue from the new leads added to your list.

Now check your email provider’s stats and find out how many unconfirmed leads you’ve had during that time.

Now figure out how many sales and new customers you would have had if ALL of those folks had received the offer and converted to sales at the same percentage as your confirmed leads.

Of course this isn’t scientific and some of those unconfirmed email addresses are surely junk.

But that’s not the point.

The point is that you’re intentionally throwing money away unnecessarily… simply because that’s what everyone told you to do.

4. But what about SPAM complaints? Isn’t that what double opt-in is supposed to prevent?

I run a bunch of double opt-in lists. And they all get SPAM complaints. Go figure.

But here’s the bigger picture. Double opt-in seems to be trumpeted as the common sense way to prevent being accused of SPAMMING.

But here’s the deal:

SPAM isn’t illegal.

It may be a dumb way to run a business, but that’s not the point. The Can-SPAM Act didn’t OUTLAW SPAM, it gave clear guidelines for how to do it legally.

Businesses can send commercial email to folks who didn’t ask to receive it.

When I found that out, I was pretty surprised. It’s kind of like when the politicians name something the “Clean Air Act” which really allows companies to spew out toxins into the nearest river… provided they fill out form A, B and C first.

Now I’m not a lawyer, so if you think this is legal advice, read someone else’s blog…

The point is, unsolicited commercial bulk email (meaning sending commercial email to people who didn’t request it) is LEGAL, provided you follow certain rules. All of those rules are spelled out in the CAN SPAM Act way back in 2003/04. An update just came out last year, but nothing really changed.

So if you’re a legitimate business and you’re mailing people who asked you to mail them… you’re a LONG way from doing anything “wrong.”

If your messages follow the CAN SPAM rules anyway, (which means you could send the same message to a RENTED email list and still be within the law), then SPAM should not be a threat.

5. How many products and services would YOU buy if the salesman asked you to reconfirm that you really, really wanted them? I think it would get pretty annoying.

In the end, I think that double opt-in is a real profit killer for business.

And it’s a perfect example of technology controlling business.

Just because it’s an industry standard doesn’t mean you should do it. If everyone just stopped doing it, it would quickly no longer be the “standard.”

And plus, did you get where you are today by being “standard?” Is that really a recipe for success?

Related posts:

1. More Double Opt-In Nonsense
2. SPAM Free Since 2011 and Luuuvin’ It!
3. I’ve Never Eaten SPAM (But Does That Make It Evil?)
4. How to Be a Smart Marketer and Still Use AWeber
5. My 5 Top Email List Building Blunders