the importance of double opt-in for successful marketing
Companies run into real problems if they contain non-existent emails in their mailing lists. At best, it is a waste of time, money and effort. The addressee at the other end will not see the information, will not react to it in any way, and the company will not receive potential profit. In the worst case, for violating the rules of mass mailings, you will be blocked by providers and fined by regulatory authorities.
Most often, negative events overtake those who use the Single Opt-in (SOI) method to collect the database. Then the user simply writes down his email address in the required line without any checks, and the brand believes what is written “on the word” and includes the email in the mailing list.
Double Opt-in (DOI) is a two-factor subscription that excludes the presence of unverified addresses in the database. Our today’s material is devoted to the analysis of the positive and negative sides of Double Opt-in, the features of creation and customization using the CDP Altcraft Platform as an example.
Two-factor subscription: in simple terms
Double opt-in – a technology for adding new subscribers, which involves two steps. At the first stage, by analogy with Single Opt-in, a person simply enters his email in a form specially created for this.
At the second step, he needs to confirm the subscription: to do this, he receives an email from the company containing an activation link. Only after the user clicks on the link, his contact information will be included in the mailing list.
Why is it needed
The fines and blocking that we mentioned at the very beginning arise mainly due to the fact that at the state level, users are protected from unwanted correspondence. On the one side Federal Law “On Advertising” obliges companies to obtain the prior consent of customers for mailing.
On the other hand, the providers themselves carefully check the mailings, trying not to miss spam. Anyone who looks suspicious gets banned. If there are a lot of inactive emails in the mailing list, this is suspicious.
Not always the user deliberately deceives the company and leaves non-existent contact information. Sometimes a banal mistake creeps in, perhaps a typo – such an address may even exist, but belong to a completely different person who did not allow himself to be sent correspondence. If he complains, the FAS will issue a fine.
Fines “arrive” even for those who gave permission for the mailing, and then forgot, and sent a complaint. With Single Opt-in, it is almost impossible to defend the rightness of the company. This problem is eliminated by DOI.
Advantages and disadvantages of Double Opt-in
DOI has both advantages and disadvantages. Let’s list the main points.
Benefits of using Double Opt in:
Quality subscriber base. With mandatory confirmation, non-existent and erroneous addresses will not be included in the mailing list. Clients deliberately pass the second stage of verification, so it is less likely that they will send your correspondence to spam in the future.
No spam traps. A spam trap is an inactive email from which no one opens emails. Using this method, Internet providers often track unscrupulous addressers. When there is no response from the recipient, and letters continue to be sent to him, the provider blocks the company’s IP.
High customer loyalty and high open rate. Most likely, uninterested users will not go through two stages of verification. Thus, the database will be filled only with motivated customers.
Reduced time to clean up the mailing list. Periodically, the database needs to be cleaned: remove outdated addresses and inactive subscribers. With Double Opt-in, it’s fast.
By and large, there is only one drawback of Double Opt-in technology: database fills up slowly. Some inattentive users may forget to follow the link. Of course, subscribing to the newsletter without confirmation is more convenient and faster. A large number of letters from the company annoys people, and the two-factor verification method has at least two of them, and at the very beginning of the acquaintance.
Algorithm for creating a mailing list using Double Opt-in technology
The client fixes his e-mail address in a special form on the official resource of the company.
Contacts from this form are “flocked” to a temporary list of mailing list participants.
Welcome emails with a confirmation link will be sent to the specified email addresses.
After clicking on the link (a button may be provided instead of a link in the letter), the recipient automatically signs the consent to the mailing list.
Newsletter is made only to confirmed email addresses.
Since the Double Opt-in mechanism itself is more complicated and longer than the Single Opt-in mechanism, subscription for users should be as simple as possible. The initial form of collecting contact information should be concise, the letter should be concise, the link should be noticeable, and the instructions should be clear. Remove ads and also thank the user for subscribing.
How to set up Double Opt-in in two steps
Consider the process using the Altcraft Platform marketing automation platform as an example.
The two-factor verification tool functions when subscribing to the “Resource”. A resource is a way to organize subscriptions to brand materials in different communication channels. These include: the official website, landing page, registration form from the partner’s website, application, news and other mailing lists. It is noteworthy that subscriptions are independent of each other: if one resource retires, others remain. For example, when a client unsubscribes from an advertising mailing list, he receives news.
Step 1. Subscribe
In the subscriber’s profile, set the status to “Not verified”. You can edit the data of a specific client manually or work with several profiles at the same time.
If we are talking about a specific person, then open their profile, select “Subscriptions” and click “Add Subscription”. Then set the required resource, and set the communication channel to email. Edit the “Status” field, find the “Not verified” parameter there and apply the settings.
When working with several persons, designate the base (specific segment), go to the context menu and click “Update customer profiles”.
Double-check the audience that you decided to add to the subscription, and go to the “What to do with a selection of subscribers?” menu.
Find “Add subscription”, set the resource and email channel. Set the status to “Unverified” and apply the settings.
Step 2. Confirmation
Users who did not give their permission to the mailing list will receive a single confirmation email in the mail. Make sure that the link in this email contains the confirm-link attribute.
It can be written manually, or you can use the editor: to do this, select “Insert link” in the toolbar, specify the URL and check the “This is a confirmation link” checkbox.
After that, feel free to launch a campaign with a template with a confirmation link. In the campaign settings, do not forget to specify the resource you are confirming your subscription to.
When the client clicks on the link from the email, his profile status will automatically change to “Subscribed”.
Conclusion
Double Opt-in is a technology that protects businesses not only from financial and time losses due to invalid mailings, but also from fines and blocking. The two-factor verification method involves two stages: first, the user leaves an email in a special form, to which an email with a confirmation link is sent to him. At the second stage, the client follows the received link, which confirms the relevance of the email address and agrees to the mailing list.
The DOI function is present in almost all modern data management platforms, including CDP Altcraft Platform. The service has a convenient user interface and an intuitive approach to settings. You can set up Double Opt-in in Altcraft Platform and run ads in just a couple of minutes.
