Email Myth #4 – “Double Opt-Ins Are Bad For Business.”

Hey there. This is the second post in a five post series titled ‘Top Five Email Marketing Myths’. We’re counting down and today’s myth is…
“Double Opt-Ins Are Bad For Business”

I got the following question from a client:

Do you use a double opt-in with aweber? I have a very young computer whiz friend who says that most “internet marketers’ who want to grow big lists don’t use the double optin feature on aweber.

For those of you who many be new to email marketing, the difference is this:

Single Opt-In- A form on your website that people enter their name and email and are immediately added to your email list.

Double Opt-In – A form on your website where people enter their name and are automatically sent an email to confirm that they’ve opted-in. Then, they must click the link in the email or they don’t get on the list.

A double opt-in is highly recommended due to Can-Spam laws as it provides you protection against anyone calling you a spammer because you have record of every opt-in. A double opt-in also prevents spamming bots from filling out your forms and adding people to your list who didn’t intend to subscribe. A double opt-in also qualifies people on your list, almost always making it more targeted and responsive because they had to take action to join it.

Now I’m not saying there aren’t benefits to single opt-ins. Obviously you can build a bigger list, faster.

There are two ways to look at this:

1. I want the biggest list possible and I want to remove ALL stop-blocks that will prevent me from getting maximum subscribers.

2. I want to build an email list of people who are extremely targeted, interested and responsive to what I have to offer.

Your first instinct might be to want option #1 and in some cases that’s fine, but I personally don’t want to ‘do what the gurus do’. Why? Because many of the top internet marketers love to build massive lists, spam them to death, scam as much money as they can from their subscribers and then repeat. To me that’s an extremely unfulfilling way to run a business (and to live a life).

I personally prefer option #2. It’s the option where you offer a double opt-in on your email list.

Let the internet marketers have their ‘huge’ lists of people. I personally prefer my small list of people who really appreciate my messages and who have stuck around for years to hear what I have to say.

Tiny lists can outperform big lists.

For example, I tiny list of, say, 100 people can make you thousands of dollars if treated right. You can built a relationship with those people, you can respond to their questions, you can make them feel respected and appreciate and you can provide them with products they need.

Or a huge list of, say, 100,000, could be totally worthless if they are sick of the garbage that’s getting sent to them day after day. If they’ve gotten trick emails that say “Notification of Payment Received” or “URGENT – Open NOW!!!!” or some other such tricky nonsense. You’ll get a tiny percentage conversion on a list you treat like fools, and you’ll also get a bad reputation.

Let me share with you a really important tip:
The people who will open, read and pay attention to your emails the most are those who already know, like and trust you. Now you might wonder how you get people to do that, how do you make them trust you? The answer is simply to provide them with value. If you already have customers and you have already delivered a highly valuable product or service to them consider them your LIST. If they are not already in a customer database then it’s time to start one and invite them to it. Your customers know how awesome you are already, they trust you and they certainly know you do good stuff. Making them another offer or even a good recommendation at this point is pretty much a no-brainer to them.

Think about it – how many times have you gotten an offer from a company or an entrepreneur that you’ve already bought from and you simply click straight to the order button? I do it all the time. I’ve bought plenty of products online that I never even read the salespages. I just know if ‘so-and-so’ delivered it then it must be good.

There you have it, that’s my take on the double opt-in, single opt-in debate. I know not everyone will agree with me on the topic but most of you will surely see my point here – that it’s more important to build an email list of people ready and willing to hear from you.

THAT’s the kind of email list you want to build if you want a rewarding online business!

Further Learning: Email List Workshop

If you are brand spanking new to building an email list (or if you need a boost to a current stale list) then I would like to invite you to join my upcoming workshop that teaches you, step-by-step, how to get set up in Aweber with an email and list and connect it up to WordPress.

You’ll learn the basics of email marketing and you’ll know exactly what you need to do to start getting those subscribers who are ready and waiting to hear from YOU.

Check out the Workshop and Sign up, Space is Limited:
www.EmailListMojo.com

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