Posted by: Daniel Levis
September 9, 2009
Issue #755

Is Confirmed Opt-in Crucifying
Your E-mail Marketing Profits?

Dear Web Business-Builder,

It’s human nature to cling to our beliefs as if they are part of our very identity.

Our beliefs are sacred to us. We are irresistibly drawn to people who validate them …

We are ready to defend them against anyone who challenges them …

And distance ourselves from anyone who criticizes them.

Therefore – as a persuader – prevailing beliefs give you three virtually unguarded pathways to the inner sanctum of the human mind …

1. If you validate the existing beliefs of your target audience … you gain precious rapport and liking from the people you wish to sell to.
2. If you challenge the existing beliefs of your target audience … (As I have with the above headline) you rally them in defense of their accepted dogma — thus drawing vital attention to your sales message …
3. And if you condemn the beliefs of your target market’s enemies … you instantly bond with your target audience like super glue.

Few people examine
their beliefs objectively …

If you’ve ever done so, then you know that many of your beliefs are the result of your simply accepting someone else’s truth at face value — without ever testing that truth for yourself.

We all do this …

Instead of rationally coming to our own conclusions, we tend to shortcut our decision process by looking around us. If we see enough other people believing something, we tend to believe it too.

Just one problem with this: pluralistic ignorance.

When everybody is looking to the next guy to do the thinking and the testing for them, the blind can begin leading the blind. And an erroneous conclusion can easily morph into accepted fact.

Dr. Robert Cialdini, in his bestselling book, Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion, gives a shocking example of pluralistic ignorance in action when he relates the tragic tale of Catherine Genovese — a young woman senselessly butchered outside of her apartment while 38 of her neighbors looked on through their living room windows.

Instead of reacting objectively at the evidence before them — the terrible cries of a young woman being savagely beaten, stabbed, and murdered in cold blood before their very eyes — they looked at what their neighbors were doing.

Since each eye-witness to the killing saw lights going on and off in their neighbor’s living rooms across the courtyard, they all assumed that somebody else had already called the police. And no one did.

In a recent mastermind, a good friend of mine asked:

"Are any of you guys doing single opt-in? This was something I never put much thought into before (I just assumed double opt in was better for no other reason than I never thought about it).

But this post by Jason Leister makes a helluva case against confirmed opt in. And I’m really inclined to stop using it now."

So I read Jason’s post, and I realized that my friend was right. I too had drunk the double opt-in Kool-Aid without ever testing it.

As a matter of fact, NOBODY in the group had tested it. And these were all serious marketers, selling marketing how-to stuff.

Jason’s blog post basically says that double opt-in is costing you a fortune in lost sales because it puts an unnecessary roadblock in front of perfectly good leads, preventing them from ever seeing your sales message.

Could it be true? Is double opt-in
murdering your profits?

Is requiring your prospects to confirm their subscription after opting in to your mailing list at your website flushing perfectly good profits down the drain?

After all, a healthy percentage of those prospects will NEVER confirm, and you will NEVER e-mail them again — despite your having invested considerable time, money and energy convincing them to opt-in.

E-mail marketing gurus and e-mail service providers have very successfully convinced most of us that double opt-in is the best way to have a clean list … to avoid SPAM complaints … and to ensure we are marketing only to people who are really interested in what we’re selling.

And by implication … that if you do single opt-in you are a spam-splashing, marketing moron, who deserves to be shunned by decent, self-respecting online marketers. Do they have a vested interest in having us believe this? Certainly the service providers do.

I needed to test …

As it happened, I realized I had been running a small lead gen campaign for the past year or so that I’d nearly forgotten about. I had set up a special AdWords group using Google Website Optimizer … in order to test two identical looking squeeze pages.

One was hooked up to a single opt-in autoresponder. The other was hooked up to a double opt-in autoresponder.

Over the past twelve months or so, 26,262 visitors have come to my website via this campaign.

Google’s Website Optimizer automatically split this traffic evenly between the two pages in real time. Every even visitor saw the single opt-in page. And every odd visitor saw the double opt-in page.

And here are the results of that test:

	Double Opt-in	Single Opt-in	Difference
Visitors	13112	13150
Conversions	3164	5006	-37%
Conversion Percentage	24%	38%	-37%

As you can see, double opt-in reduced the number of leads collected by 37%. That’s 1842 leads lost over the duration of the test.

Would some of those leads have gone on to make a purchase, as Jason suggests? Doubtless they would have. (Unfortunately, I don’t have definitive stats measuring exactly how much each list bought.)

But here’s another interesting statistic. Look how many of these leads are left on my database about a year after initially subscribing:

	Double Opt-in	Single Opt-in	Difference
Visitors	13112	13150
Still Subscribed	1921	2624	-27%
Net Percentage	15%	20%	-27%

The differential between single and double opt-in fell from 37% to 27%. More of the single opt-in leads have either unsubscribed or been scrubbed from the database as undeliverable. Still, the number of additional leads collected with single opt-in is appreciably higher.

Is this PROOF that
single opt-in is better?

No. As Jason rightly points out, sales and profits are what matter.

So I decided to mail the same e-mail to the 1921 remaining double opt-in leads and the 2624 remaining single opt-in leads to see which list was more responsive.

I felt that by measuring the actual click-through and sales results recorded from each list, I could draw a much better conclusion as to which method was better for me — single opt-in, or double.

Before I reveal the results, let’s take a poll. Why did you read this article?

1. Because you saw it as a challenge to your existing belief?
2. Because you felt it might confirm a suspicion you’ve held for a long time?

Type your comments below. And come back here for the test results next week.

Until next time, Good Selling!

Daniel Levis
Editor, The Web Marketing Advisor
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74 Comments »

1. Comment by Dr. Dana Myatt — September 9, 2009 @ 9:47 am

   I read this because it sounded like it might confirm a suspicion of mine. Yup, the “service providers” have done a good job of selling us on the idea that we’ll be black-listed as spammers if we don’t double opt-in and I fell for it. Looking forward to the results of the “sell to these two lists” next week.

   Thanks Daniel!

2. Comment by Evy Schwartz — September 9, 2009 @ 9:56 am

   I’ve never liked double opt-ins either. That’s why I read today’s post.

   I believe they’re especially harmful if you’re in a non-IM niche, like dog training, where your leads are not used to opting in a second time. It confuses them and also feeds in to their natural skepticism.

3. Comment by Sue — September 9, 2009 @ 9:59 am

   Personally, I hate double opt-in.
   it’s an extra step, or you have to wait and do it later when you check email, and sometimes it gets ‘lost’ under a flood of new incomings… so isn’t ever completed.

   Opportunity lost forever.

   Why would customers feel differently?

   Sue

4. Comment by Antone Roundy — September 9, 2009 @ 10:02 am

   I read because, while part of me wants to play it safe by continuing to use double opt-in, another part of me says “listen to the people who are telling you you’re throwing money away”. I came for more insight into the question. Looking forward to the results!

5. Comment by Nathan Anderson — September 9, 2009 @ 10:09 am

   You need an option #3:

   I tested both and came to this conclusion long ago.

   When 1sc first tried to get everyone to double-opt, I tested both single and double opt-in. Your numbers for reduction of leads mirror mine. There was an equivalent reduction in sales. And it wasn’t just because a lot of people refuse to confirm their opt-in, it’s because the confirmation message goes into the spam filter. The opt-in confirmation message is exactly the same for thousands of messages, so it is easily flagged as spam.

6. Comment by Silas Lieberman — September 9, 2009 @ 10:15 am

   The reason I read this email is because I read ALL your posts.

   Thanks

   Silas

7. Comment by Caleb Osborne — September 9, 2009 @ 10:22 am

   Was interested in seeing your results … cause I had been running single vs optin too … though not properly split testing it

   Later,
   Caleb

8. Comment by Luke M. — September 9, 2009 @ 10:32 am

   I read it to see if it confirmed my suspicions that a lot of customers aren’t getting the confirmation message.

   One of my lists offers free videos to be delivered via email so subscribers seem to check their email looking for the promised content. However, many subscribers do the confirmation several weeks after their original opt-in telling me that a lot of them went back looking for the content they never received.

9. Comment by Ian — September 9, 2009 @ 10:34 am

   I read the post because I wanted to know when to use each method, and I suspected that you were the most likely to have actually tested it.

   Appears I was right there.

10. Comment by SaRita Hartin — September 9, 2009 @ 10:49 am

    Thanks for the excellent information, Daniel

    I read this post because the headline made me curious to know if your results matched mine. Single opt-in has consistently given me better results when I’ve split tested. In one of my niches, double-opt in increased my cost per customer by nearly 40% because I lost so many prospects in the confirmation process.

    I look forward to seeing if your sales results match mine, too.

11. Comment by Maria — September 9, 2009 @ 11:05 am

    I read the article because we are just setting up our database and newsletter, and was interested to know which option is better…looking forward to the results! Thanks

12. Comment by Rachel Goji Thorogood — September 9, 2009 @ 11:06 am

    I read your post because I have been using single opt-in for my main list the last 2.5 years.

    This is because I actually TALK to my customers on the phone. It quickly became obvious that many of them hardly knew how to scroll down a page. From this it stands to reason that asking them to double opt-in was just asking to much.

13. Comment by Lena — September 9, 2009 @ 11:14 am

    I’m not keen on double opt-in but I’m forced to use it since I use AWeber and they require it. There’s no way to get around it if I want to use AWeber.

14. Comment by dpage — September 9, 2009 @ 11:17 am

    Hi Daniel,

    Thanks so much for your thoughtful post. And great job at delayed gratification…getting us all to come back next week

    I read your post because as a direct marketing geek, I’m addicted to compelling headlines and subject lines.

    Your subject line got me immediately. I didn’t think through the “why” and didn’t need to. I just clicked on it because I wanted to know the answer. And beyond that, we’re just launching a new website and I (mistakenly) assumed I should use double opt-in, and had instructed my designers to set it up that way. Now you have me questioning that directive.

    Can’t wait to read your results next week, even though I wish I had it now…

15. Comment by Warren Little — September 9, 2009 @ 11:18 am

    Great post.

    I have NEVER liked or used double-opt ins.

    I never bought into the hype or fear factor.

    It just made sense to me that when someone subscribed to one of my lists they wanted to be there or would unsubscribe when they were challenged above their comfort level.

    I look forward to reading your results.

    Warren Little

16. Comment by Tony Seymour — September 9, 2009 @ 11:24 am

    @ Lena :
    you can turn double optin off ! They just don’t advertise it. Just go to the “confirmation” settings page, and click on the green “ON” square button.
    It will turn it off (that’s VERY poor usability done on purpose)

    Tony

    PS : I read this article because the title made me bang my head on the wall : I never tested this, and there’s no way that the “additional deliverability” of double optin would make up for the 35 % of people I’m loosing myself in the confirmation process.

17. Comment by Merrill Clark — September 9, 2009 @ 11:26 am

    Hmmm… Never really thought much about it till now. I think I’ve been using double opt-in for my newsletter out of habit.

    And maybe because I’m familiar with how it works, not wanting to learn yet another autoreposnder process.

    But, I have seen trouble getting people who have signed up but never did confirm, and wondered why.

    I’ll have to think some more about this one.

    Thanks for the great information! (as usual)

    Merrill Clark

18. Comment by Mike Bresee — September 9, 2009 @ 11:26 am

    Daniel,

    Another awesome post. I feel that I chose to read the article not because of either reason 1 or 2, but because I am always looking for wisdom, not knowledge. By that I mean, anything that will give me an edge and can increase my conversion rate, as long as it is moral and ethical.

    There are tons of articles professing the benefits to double opt-ins. But like you said, how many are just acting as a relay for someone else’s thoughts? Most, I would suspect.

    It would seem too, that we are all aware how pissing off customers can hurt our businesses. So maybe we do this as a form of insurance where the lower opt-in rate is ultimately more favorable than alienating our precious customers who may perceive us as spamming them.

    And has the Email/Autoresponder industry been complicit in this regard? Have they perpetrated the double opt-in myth, if it exists?

    If I had to chose #1 or #2, as per your request, then I would chose #1 as I am too new to see it as a challenge to my long-standing beliefs.

    Looking forward to your next post.

    Thx… Mike Bresee

    http://www.CommonSenseDebtSecrets.com
    http://www.MikeBresee.com

19. Comment by Sean — September 9, 2009 @ 11:26 am

    I read because I feel like double opt-in is a pain personally and I usually get side tracked before I make it back to my email…or I get side tracked by my email when checking for the opt-in link.

    Just wanted someone to tell me I’m no all alone.

    And though you didn’t ask, I think the sales will be almost identical on a percentage basis…because the list that remains has followed you over time…and many of the freeloaders have removed themselves from the list.

    But total sales will be higher with the single opt-ins.

20. Comment by Tony Seymour — September 9, 2009 @ 11:27 am

    P.S : I don’t understand why you use javascript for outbound links, it’s a pain for some of your readers (I’m one of them).
    You could implement solutions that degrade gracefully, like real href links with a onClick attribute

21. Comment by Nick — September 9, 2009 @ 11:31 am

    I was using single opt-in for years but my mailing list size outgrew the “local” service I was using. Never had any problems with spam complaints and fielded a lot more leads.

    Had to switch to GetResponse later, which is double-opt-in and that definitely cut into the numbers.

    Nice thing is, though, I think I have found a way to get around that requirement by combining it with another piece of software.

    The single opt-in study rationale actually confirms my belief!

22. Comment by Joel Peterson — September 9, 2009 @ 11:32 am

    I started reading this post half-way down the page and totally agree.

    Then I saw it was Daniel Levis writing and I can now say I totally totally agree.

    I also have done some testing on this with two different lists and the only thing I’ve concluded is…

    Double Opt-in = Less revenue

    Great post.

    Joel Peterson

    (Hey Daniel….I think we talked on the phone in April before I launched my product. Hope you are doing well! I need to get back to Ontario soon! )

23. Comment by David Johnson — September 9, 2009 @ 11:37 am

    Clayton’s website has such valuable content one woould be silly not to review a contributor’s information.

24. Comment by Swans Paul — September 9, 2009 @ 11:43 am

    Dear Daniel:

    I read because I had lost a few hundreds leads, due to the double opt-in process.

    I was doing lead generation in the Brazilian market. I had over one thousand total opt-ins.

    But a few months passed and more than 800 brazilian prospects didn’t confirm. So the CRM system “erased” them and I lost all those names.

    So I vowed that I wouldn’t use this “double opt-in” thing anymore.

    And I think that once a person opts in, that person can opt out any time they want to. So if they want to hear from me anymore, they can cancel their subscription at any time.

    Sincerely,

25. Comment by Lord Vader — September 9, 2009 @ 11:48 am

    Because I saw it as a challenge to my existing belief…

    and because I read nearly every article.

26. Comment by SEO Vault Boss — September 9, 2009 @ 11:54 am

    I have recently experienced a huge surge of traffic and multiple hits on my AR service on the same time due to Ad swap deals I’ve made with other marketers.

    During those, I have remarked that approx 30+% of initial subscribers, remain pending because either they are shy to click the double optin confirmation link (but that would be highly unlikely, as my niche is IM related and they already know what to do) OR rather due to technical issues with my AR system.
    Probably, this is hit too hard at swap times and doesn’t manage to send so many emails simultaneously, leaving those for later.

    The fact that a subscriber doesn’t get the email and link to click FAST may be the reason, as they most probably will loose your email in their crowded Inboxes.

    At a later moment, i can drive the single optin list subscribers into a double optin list with a second freebie, or even into a customers list, at my own pace, reclaiming this way a huge portion of the traffic I would have been losing otherwise.

    Just my 2 cents here

27. Comment by Mike — September 9, 2009 @ 12:03 pm

    I’m a number 2.
    I look forward to the conversion numbers next week.

28. Comment by Alan Petersen — September 9, 2009 @ 12:11 pm

    I read this because someone tweeted about it on Twitter and I like the info available on Clayton Makepeace site.

    For now this is a moot point for me. Aweber requires double opt-in and I have no plans in moving my list or leaving Aweber.

    But I also believe in the power of the double opt-in because a few months ago one of my double opt-in subscribers filed a spam complaint against with Spam Cop.

    Since I used the domain name of my site on the to/from line of my emails my web host provider received the complaint.

    The first thing they required was proof that this person had confirmed his subscription via double opt-in and that the email offered an unsubscribe link. Since I was compliant on both fronts all was well.

    So for people like me (and I believe this includes the majority of folks) who use a third-party email marketing management service like Aweber and use a shared hosting account we have no other choice. So regardless of the tests it’s double opt-in for me until my business grows beyond Aweber and shared hosting.

    But I am looking forward to the conclusion of your testing. Thanks!

29. Comment by Tony Suvie — September 9, 2009 @ 12:21 pm

    I’m brand new at this and not sure what double or single opt-in is . Will somebody explain?

    I read the article because I have a gift. Yeah so do many others. My mission in life I want to convey is that/Life is Good, no matter what. Wife says I should write a book and when I mentioned becoming a copywriter and sell the idea she still thought a book would be better. Amyway i just keep reading things of this nature knowingnthat if I continue I’ll find what I am looking for.

30. Comment by Gail — September 9, 2009 @ 12:29 pm

    I read this post because I have seen my confirmed optins GREATLY reduced in the last 2 years. In fact, I have a client right now asking that I remove the confirmation on their list to increase sales.

    I look forward to your test results!

31. Comment by Zack Fogarty — September 9, 2009 @ 12:34 pm

    Hi Daniel,

    Yes on both, to answer your questions.

    This issue is complicated by the “passive opt-in” which is more and more common now.

    How it works is that you opt-in for some newsletter. In the fine print it says you’r opting-in for their “partners” emails too. More often than not from companies unrelated to your interests. And who reads the fine print?

    Now this doesn’t sound like how Daniel gets his lists, so a double opt-in certainly seems like overkill in his case.

    But the point is that “double opt-in” has its place… and explains why single opt-in can come off as spammy… IF the first opt-in was passive.

    This is also complicated by brand issues. As amazing as “Daniel Levis” is to us, he’s not a national brand-name. So there’s little harm done if he’s perceived as a spammer by much of his list. It won’t stick. But what if you have a product you want in 50% of American homes by 2012?

    Or what if your brand name is already a household word?

    Beeing viewed as a spammer is bad and getting worse. Most marketers would agree on that. But for 99% of spammers no brand harm is done because they have little or no brand with which people can associate the irritation.

    But once your brand becomes a household-word (”yeah I’ve heard of them”), the game changes.

    Furthermore, if you’re blasting millions of emails per week, and people start blacklisting your emails, spam filters will “catch on” to your brand name.

    That said, I don’t think double opt-in is the solution. Single, active opt-in makes the most sense, both ethically and branding-wise. If I ask for information, send it along immediately, without extra hassles involved.

    And most importantly, send something GOOD. You know a good email when you see it. Or a bad one. And so your email department can have a positive brand image of its own. People love Bud Light’s TV ads. Why not your emails?

    Big picture: email is still an amazing innovation, and an incredibly efficient medium. Let’s not ruin it, as the telemarketers did.

32. Comment by Larry — September 9, 2009 @ 12:35 pm

    Very interesting and the thought process seems sound. I’m just getting started and I need as much knowledge from Pros as I can get. I recently stopped the double opt in because I felt it made me seem desperate. I’d rather a visitor become a lead based on their perception of value offered.

    Larry

33. Comment by Deanna — September 9, 2009 @ 12:40 pm

    Tony,

    To answer your question about single vs. double opt-ins, a single opt-in is when you give your email address to receive an online newsletter, special report, etc. You would give it once, and that’s it.

    With a double opt-in, you’ll enter your email address AND also receive an email asking you to click on a link confirming that you wanted the newsletter, special report, etc.

    Deanna

34. Comment by Matthew — September 9, 2009 @ 1:01 pm

    As it is, there’s way too many hoops to jump through online when making a sale - (least complicated I know of is if the purchaser can use paypal and already has a paypal account)

    - so anything that means less bull and less roadblocks, I’m all FOR

    - but how do you protect yourself from people hitting the “spam” button when you are doing single optin?

    Matthew

35. Comment by Ricky — September 9, 2009 @ 1:04 pm

    I read this because it sounded like it might confirm a suspicion of mine.

36. Comment by Richard — September 9, 2009 @ 1:06 pm

    Hi,

    Good article, makes one think about assumptions.

    I remember the start of double opt-in, and it was a pain back then as well as now. Back then spam was getting to be a real nuisance and the spam filters were very primitive.

    People would make stupid complaints to AOL or MSN about spam, and bam your account was completely banned from AOL or Hotmail. You then had to find out for yourself that your email wasn’t getting through, and go and beg and plead with the company to please pretty please with ice cream can I email my list which is on your servers? If you went double opt-in, they might let you start emailing their clients again. Might, they didn’t always. Sometimes you had to use a different email account to serve your old AOL list. If you had single opt-in, you were screwed. You were simply black-listed with no chance, and if they caught you using a different email account, they would block that one too. AOL even cancelled my internet account.

    I think the dark ages over the internet are past us now. When people complain about spam its usually looked into as opposed to there being a knee-jerk reaction. Most of the spam is just that, spam. But they can tell the difference of a newsletter or subscription service from the typical junk.

    Generally speaking, if you capture the persons name and use it as a salutation on your email, along with the date of their single opt-in at the bottom by the opt-out option, you should be safe enough.

    Richard

37. Comment by Drew @ Cook Like Your Grandmother — September 9, 2009 @ 1:10 pm

    First, I’d like to agree with Tony’s observation about the javascript links. They don’t work for email subscribers. And in the spirit of testing, have you tested how many clicks you get on outbound links with and without the javascript? That box that pops up has a *ton* of scary-sounding copy, all but warning you, “You know, you probably don’t want to follow that link, because we can’t vouch for what’s there.”

    Now, as to the opt-in question … I read the article because I’m currently using double, and wanted to see what you had to say about it. I’m not surprised that you get better retention with single, but double is supposed to protect you from getting blacklisted. It’s a preventative measure, so you can’t measure its effectiveness until that happens.

    Worst case, a competitor or malicious script-kiddie can mail bomb a large, litigious company’s employee list using your sign-up page. Am I protecting against something that doesn’t happen often in the real world? That’s the question I really want an answer to.

    The problem is that I know the impact of single-opt-in abuse, and it’s unacceptable. What I don’t know is the risk of it happening.

38. Comment by Tracy — September 9, 2009 @ 1:28 pm

    Like the others who posted, I had my doubts about whether double opt-in was the way to go. For years, I have used single opt-in for my newsletter.

    My newsletter is on a faily sensitive subject and unfortantely people would sign up using someone else’s email address without their permission. I finally relented in going with the double opt-in to prevent this from happening (and having to explain that I couldn’t find out who had signed them up).

    Since going with the double opt-in, my list numbers have definitely gone down. It’s a shame because my subscribers could really use the information in the newsletter.

    Tracy

39. Comment by Tom — September 9, 2009 @ 2:20 pm

    Ola,
    I look forward to the results next week!
    Thanks for your great work.
    Tom

40. Comment by Ron — September 9, 2009 @ 3:05 pm

    If they really want the information, what’s the big deal about confirming that they do. On the other hand, losing 30% of your conversions IS a big deal and it relates directly to doing business in a way where you shouldn’t have to jump through so many different hoops just to do business.

41. Comment by Ryan Ireland — September 9, 2009 @ 3:29 pm

    Just a quick heads-up for everyone, something I didn’t see listed.

    Yahoo (and soon other ISP’s) has begun using engagement metrics to determine whether you get to the inbox or spam filter. If you double-opt you’re going to ensure that you have people on your list that respond to your emails, by default.

    That being said, I use single opt-in because the bottom line just isn’t as big with double. But everyone should keep in mind that ISP’s are constantly updating their filtering, and when no one sees your message due to filtering, it doesn’t matter that you have a bigger list.

    Above, Tracy’s example is a perfect reason to use double, but I don’t think that type of problem is widespread, unless you’re very aggressive with your email acquisition efforts.

    -Ryan

42. Pingback by Is Double-Opt In Crazy? — September 9, 2009 @ 4:17 pm

    [...] Re: Is Double-Opt In Crazy? Also this one, which does give some REAL stats from testing: Is Confirmed Opt-in Crucifying Your E-mail Marketing Profits? | The Total Package [...]

43. Comment by Drew @ Cook Like Your Grandmother — September 9, 2009 @ 4:21 pm

    Ryan, that’s my fear. If I *am* aggressive, will the whole thing suddenly fail? Any system that only works if you keep the volume low isn’t worth using.

    You mention Yahoo. I’ve already had issues with my email going into the bulk folder. All it takes is a couple of users hitting the spam link instead of the unsub link.

44. Comment by Steve Gill — September 9, 2009 @ 4:54 pm

    I’ve had my suspicions about double opt-in, which is why I read the article. I get a bunch of signups each day, but more than half of them never confirm. And then I get emails from a few of them complaining that they never got the information I was supposed to send them (because they never confirmed).

    I think I’m going to turn off double opt-in for a month or so and see what happens.

45. Comment by Sam — September 9, 2009 @ 5:06 pm

    As a prospective customer - never cared to double opt in.
    Most of the time I’d leave that site and not opt in
    at all. The site had to have something very appealing for me to furnish info.
    About your questions: other than the above comment - never
    gave the problem much thought, before.

46. Comment by paul — September 9, 2009 @ 5:17 pm

    Read it because I’ve always wondered. Double opt-in has always seemed like another barrier put in front of people, and in the game of marketing where a few percentage points mean a lot of money, I think information like this is crucial.

47. Comment by Don Winfield — September 9, 2009 @ 5:26 pm

    Hi Daniel,

    I read the article; because, I hadn’t done any testing and wanted information from someone who had current numbers.

    Your results still don’t resolve the question, because, MAYBE - if you had supplied something which people could download or only access if they did a confirmed optin, you might have gotten more double optins who were better prospects and would have created a more profitable list.

    I would love for the better path to be single optin. It would make my life easier.

    Now that I have reason to question the voices insisting on double optin, I will definitely get around to testing double optin the way some of its proponents say it needs to be done against a good single optin.

    Sloppy against good is not a valid test. Yours wasn’t sloppy. I just don’t think it meets all of the qualifications of the double optin champions.

    Live Long, Free & Blessed
    Don Winfield

48. Pingback by MLM-with-Ease.com » Blog Archive » Do Confirmed Opt-in’s Kill Your Profits? - Training for network marketers and other home business owners. — September 9, 2009 @ 5:34 pm

    [...] double opt-in) gives you “better qualified” prospects than a single opt-in.  An article by Daniel Levis explores whether this is indeed [...]

49. Comment by Scott — September 9, 2009 @ 6:08 pm

    Also that javascript link doesn’t allow you to right-click and open in a new tab to read the rec’d article and by now I don’t want to scroll up and look for it and click on it. I don’t see that in use anywhere else - it’s needless and annoying.

50. Comment by Bill Murray — September 9, 2009 @ 8:44 pm

    I use a Shopping Cart with Auto-responder and affiliate system (IHSCart.com which is really 1shoppingcart) and it lets you select Single OR Double. I always select Single so far, based on advice of my “guru.”

51. Comment by Janis — September 9, 2009 @ 10:06 pm

    I have been using ConstantContact and other bulk-mail programs for over 10 years to promote my restaurant and other clients’ businesses.

    Double opt-in is crap.

    The more hoops the prospect must jump through, the less likely he is to do it at all.

    If the prospect dislikes the message, he can simply delete it or unsubscribe.

    I will never, EVER use double opt-in unless required to by law.

    And, yes…I have tried both systems. Double opt-in is just a tool to allow the bulk program to declare themselves to be ’spam free’.

    Janis

52. Comment by Adam Ayer — September 9, 2009 @ 10:35 pm

    Very interesting. I actually read this post because I have not formed a belief about either single or double opt-in….and I wanted to find out the results of a year long test.
    I must say that I will be testing this as well with my own campaigns.
    Thank you for showing me what’s in the coolaid!

53. Comment by Adam Phillips — September 10, 2009 @ 2:17 am

    Hi Daniel,
    My brand new site is just beginning to see the difference between double opt-in and single opt in.

    On every page I have a double opt-in mechanism with the hook of a free eBook if they sign up. On every page I also have a single opt-in mechanism which is a simple response form. I’ll give you one guess which one is pulling better. …

    Time’s up!

    Free eBook (double opt-in) - 0 leads.
    Response form(s) (single opt-in) - 12 leads!

    … ‘Nuff said.

    I wouldn’t say this is a ’scientific’ result. It could just be the nature of my site, or other factors, like page position, colors, fonts, or just that the hook for the eBook sucks. Whatever it is, on MY site the anecdotal evidence favors the single opt-in mechanism.

    Now to answer your question. I read all your posts, but I have had a suspicion for a while now that double opt-ins have been a promise unfulfilled.

54. Comment by sergi — September 10, 2009 @ 3:22 am

    Curious to see how all this ends up.
    Thanks for igniting my curiosity

55. Comment by Tom Lindstrom — September 10, 2009 @ 6:52 am

    Double optin is just an extra step people have to take in order to join a list.Personally, I think it is unnecessary because every email you send from the autoresponder (at least Aweber) have an unsubscribe link in the end of every email.

    The easier you can make it for people to optin, the better.

56. Comment by Loren Woirhaye — September 10, 2009 @ 7:53 am

    I’ve been using single opt-in for years with most lists and I’ve never had problems with emailing this way. I try to put out good stuff and not be a pest.

    Single opt-in, all the way.

57. Comment by Roger Boswarva — September 10, 2009 @ 10:52 am

    I read it for neither of the reasons you cited. I read it because it proposed there was something I might not or did not know that I needed to know. Very good article though, and I’m glad I read it, and thank you for writing it.
    Roger

58. Comment by Andrew L. Foss — September 10, 2009 @ 11:40 am

    Looking for Legal ways around double-opt.

    Specifically if there are ways to reconnect with people who neglected to opt in when the message was sent.

59. Comment by Vonalda — September 10, 2009 @ 2:44 pm

    Questions about single opt-in vs. double:

    1) Most auto-responder services require double opt-in, correct?

    2) For those of you using single opt-in, what ar system do you use?

    3) For anyone using single opt-in, what about the problem of “junk/bad emails” ? How much of a problem is that, really, and would you say that the additional people you add to your list (volume) because of single opt-in, makes up for the percentage you lose due to fake or secondary emails used just to get your freebie?

    4) As someone mentioned, could one refute a SPAM complaint if one is using single opt-in? Do you have a leg to stand on? I’ve heard GoDaddy, for example, shuts you down first and asks questions later (if they receive a SPAM complaint).

    Would love input from anyone using single opt-in!!
    Thank you.

60. Comment by Corinne — September 10, 2009 @ 2:55 pm

    Thank you for this post - very interesting information and well thought out and presented.

    I read this post for a little of both those reasons. Most Internet Marketing “experts” tell you to use the double opt-in. While it is not a belief set in stone for me, it is the advice I hear from my mentors.

    I have wondered about the necessity of it though and so wanted to see what you had to say.

    I look forward to next week’s follow up.

61. Comment by Bogdan Irimia — September 10, 2009 @ 11:52 pm

    And this is supposed to be new? My God……

62. Comment by John McCabe — September 11, 2009 @ 10:11 am

    “And by implication … that if you do single opt-in you are a spam-splashing, marketing moron, who deserves to be shunned by decent, self-respecting online marketers. Do they have a vested interest in having us believe this? Certainly the service providers do.”

    Most of those who preach the confirmed opt-in gospel also have a vested interest in promoting this practice. That interest is called “affiliate commissions.” How many publishers of marketing how-to info recommend one or two services above all others — and do it with a link that might provide a recurring commission?

    I’ve been on the fence over the practice for some time. Your data presented here has me leaning away from double opt-in, and I’m really curious about the results of your mailing.

63. Comment by Scott Birkhead — September 11, 2009 @ 12:54 pm

    I read this because (as you so painfully pointed out) I’ve been living out beliefs that I’ve never checked out for myself.

    I’m kind of hacked off right now…checked my provider (1automationwiz) and I CAN turn off opt-ins. In the last 8 months I’ve had 15% (56 real live human beings) who hit the first button, but not the second.

    By my stats, that means I lost 8 sales (at an average of $750) on the table. AND I paid $99 per month for that lovely piece of advice…total loss, $6792 to my fledgling business.

    Thank you, Mr. Levis (and by extension all the folks at Total Package) for the constant stream of pattern-interrupting advice that’s ALWAYS about how to make money.

    I turned OFF the require verification “feature” of my AR system.

    S

64. Comment by Paul — September 11, 2009 @ 1:23 pm

    I’ve always hated double opt-in because if you’re specific enough and relevant enough, how could anyone “accidentally” request information from you?

    I look at it as

    First opt-in: “would you like more information from me? If so, jump through this hoop.”

    Second opt-in: “Are you really, really sure you want information from me? If so, jump through this second hoop.”

    Stupid!

65. Comment by Peter Roebuck — September 11, 2009 @ 2:45 pm

    I read this because I felt it might confirm my suspicion and my own test results.

    Thank you

66. Comment by Markus Trauernicht — September 12, 2009 @ 11:20 am

    What I found ist that a considerable number of people will buy an information product, but will not opt in to the free newsletter on the same webpage, even if they also get free downloads when they sign up. The product was at 197 Euro.

    Markus Trauernicht

67. Comment by Markus Trauernicht — September 12, 2009 @ 11:31 am

    I believe the Double Opt-In list will be more responsive. The mindset of someone who will willingly sign up without the perceived security of a Double Opt-In is too much of an information junkie attitude. Too non committed.

    On the other hand there shouldn’t be much of a difference if trust has been built over the available time. Deeper down in a salesfunnel the Double Opt-In List will probably deliver better results / more value per contact.

    Markus Trauernicht / Berlin

68. Comment by Isobel - Raw Diet Detox — September 12, 2009 @ 1:33 pm

    I read it because I have no idea which one will give the best results but I’d really like to know - and I don’t have enough of a sample yet to run the test myself.

    I also suspect that double opt-in is a convenience for the service providers, who let’s face it do a pretty bad job of filtering spam any other way.

69. Comment by Mary — September 12, 2009 @ 10:05 pm

    I was interested in the topic and I was really curious to see if anyone had actually done some research. Great job! I really look forward to finding out what was the ultimate difference.

    I think all our SPAM filters are one of the most serious offenders as you often never got to have a conversation with a prospect as your email goes directly to SPAM whether it is just to ask them to confirm their email or otherwise.

    Great subject.

    Mary

70. Comment by Fernando Veloso — September 13, 2009 @ 8:45 am

    Average Joe does not care about single or double opt-in: he just want to get there FAST.

    If we keep putting doors on his way, he’ll go buy somewhere else.

71. Comment by Franck — September 13, 2009 @ 3:00 pm

    Interesting post.

    I am checking this because I feel that I am leaving a lot of money on the table.

    Waiting for next week’s results.

    Franck

72. Comment by John W. Furst — September 13, 2009 @ 9:19 pm

    Hi,

    I actually read this article, because I have read the original post by Jason. … wanted to blog about it, but never got to it.

    Thanks for verifying his assertion backging this up with some additional stats.

73. Pingback by Using Double Optin Leads | Marketing Home Business Tips — November 13, 2009 @ 4:46 am

    [...] Is Confirmed Opt-in Crucifying Your E-mail Marketing Profits … E-mail marketing gurus and e-mail service providers have very successfully convinced most of us that double opt-in is the best way to have a clean list … to avoid SPAM complaints … and to ensure we are marketing only to people who are … [...]

74. Trackback by E-Biz Booster Blog — March 23, 2010 @ 1:13 pm

    Single Opt-in Or Double Opt-in Email List - Are You Wasting Money?…

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