Double Opt-in Email: All You Need To Know

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Using a double opt-in subscription method can increase your email deliverability and contact list quality, resulting in better overall email marketing.

In the world of email marketing, there is an ongoing argument about which is better: single or double opt-in. While both sides offer advantages and disadvantages, it is ultimately up to you, the marketer, to determine which is best for your company.

When it comes to building your list, I always recommend trying a double opt-in strategy. This post will define, show benefits, and provide examples of double opt-ins to demonstrate why we believe this method is superior. Then you may decide whether or not this form of subscription system is appropriate for you.

Let’s start by defining double opt-in email for those who are unfamiliar with the term.

What is double opt-in email

A double opt-in occurs when a user joins up for an email marketing list and then receives an email with a link or a button to click to confirm the subscription. Only after completing the confirmation click will the user be officially added to the email marketing list. Double opt-in is also known as confirmation opt-in.

The use of a double opt-in confirmation procedure considerably reduces the possibility of spam addresses being included in the email list. This implies that any bots who sign up for your newsletter will be rejected, allowing you to avoid spam traps and safeguard your sender reputation.

Furthermore, because this is an additional step for the user, it demonstrates a higher level of interest in the company or issue, leading to greater engagement and, ultimately, better outcomes for your email marketing campaign.

Pros and cons of using double opt-in email

Unlike a single opt-in email, in which subscribers enter their email address into a signup form and are then added to an email list, double opt-in systems offer an extra degree of security to prevent false email addresses or contacts who aren’t genuinely interested in your emails from signing up. Some email marketers believe this is bad since it adds too much difficulty to the signup process, yet the end result can be a better quality list. But that also proves it can have some downsides.

To show you a clearer picture of using double opt-in email, let’s look at the pros and cons of this tool:

Pros:

• You will receive a more engaged list as a result. It’s a safe bet that people will go the extra mile to confirm their decision. This results in a cleaner and more interesting email list.

• You can see an improvement in your deliverability. Sending emails to people who are legitimately interested will actually improve your sender reputation. The higher your reputation, the higher your rate of deliverability.

• You have a lower chance of being flagged as spam. If they took the effort to confirm, they are unlikely to be startled when they receive your emails. There will be no spam status for you!

Cons:

• Forgetful persons may result in unclicked links and unfinished subscriptions. With so many emails arriving every day, it’s easy to forget some in the shuffle (including your confirmation link email). If they miss your email, the sign-up process will be meaningless to them and to you.

• It adds to the customer’s workload. Everyone wants the simplest process possible, and the additional step of a double opt-in equals more effort for them. To us marketers, it’s simply another email to click, but to customers, it’s the summit of Everest.

• List expansion may be slower. More steps to subscribe would imply that it would take longer to compile the list. Single opt-ins with only one step typically develop more quickly.

When should you use double opt-in email

Despite various studies claiming greater success for single opt-in or double opt-in, there is no clear winner. With so many other elements influencing the results — email content, subject lines, brand, and the rest of the drip campaign — the only way to find out what works for your company is to test them both while keeping as many variables constant as feasible.

Consider your short-term objectives as well:

• A single opt-in may be best for businesses who cannot afford to lose any short-term leads.

• If you’ve been seeing a high percentage of hard bounces, double opt-ins can help.

Now that we’ve defined double opt-in and, let’s see how you can use it for your eCommerce business. The best thing to get is a tool that lets you customize and automate your subscription process so a double opt-in won’t bother subscribers much. I will show you the tool to use in the next section.

How to use double opt-in email

With AVADA Marketing Automation, you can set up a double opt-in email system within minutes in just a few clicks. Note that setting up a double opt-in requires you to send transactional emails. Inside our app, you will be able to activate the automated email and opt-in form all in one dashboard.

Let’s go through steps by steps of setting up a double opt-in email system with AVADA Marketing Automation:

To set up a double opt-in in AVADA Marketing Automation, start by navigating to the “Forms” tab on the left menu. From there, you can select which form you want to use as a double opt-in. You can either select a form template, choose one that you’ve created, or start a new one from scratch.

Once you’ve chosen the form you like, head over to the Settings and select the option for Double confirmation email.

After you’ve chosen this, you’ll need to configure a few more options:

• Select a confirmation email template.

• Configure the URL to which your users will be forwarded after clicking the confirmation link.

• Send a final email confirmation

Right inside the opt-in setting like the image above, you can click on ‘Let me configure’ to edit the email template that your subscribers receive.

Here, you can edit all the essential elements of your email template, such as from name, the subject line, email logo, copy, button text, and even button’s color.

You can also customize two other things, which are:

• Toast: This is a popup to inform your subscribers about the double opt-in process. Its message will be in default as “An confirmation email has just been sent to your inbox. Please check to confirm your email address.”

• Confirmation Page: This is a page that shows up when the subscriber clicks on the verify button. This page will show a message that congratulates subscribers on successful subscriptions and also a gif which guides them to receive your emails in the inbox by moving your mail to the Primary inbox.

If you don’t want to spend time creating an email for your confirmation message, you can utilize the default template above provided by AVADA Marketing Automation.

You are not required to use the default template. We usually advocate making something distinctive and in line with your identity so that your contacts get a better sense of who you are.

You can change the copy, the logo, and the color button to make your brand stand out more with the double opt-in email. And just like that, now you have a double opt-in process for your subscribers to go through and become more devoted to your emails.

Double opt-in email examples

If a template is not enough for you to imagine a double opt-in of your eCommerce website, then see some inspiring examples definitely will. Here are some double opt-in that major brands use to validate their subscribers and provide a better opting-in experience.

Tedium

Maybe you don’t want to include any marketing CTAs in your confirmation email. That’s fine, but it’s always a good idea to show your subscribers what you’re all about.

Put your brand’s personality on full show if it has one. This will help you to customize your business to your subscribers and develop long-term relationships with them.

This is a very simple yet effective example of a double opt-in confirmation email from Tedium. There are no bells and whistles, but it still has a lot of personality thanks to the addition of a lovely cat photo at the top.

Although it may appear insignificant, providing this type of content ‘humanizes; your brand, prompting additional confirmations from your new subscribers.

Search Engine Land

When sending a confirmation email to new subscribers, it’s usually a good idea to reiterate your value proposition. It reminds them of why they signed up and provides an extra push if they are hesitant to confirm their contact information.

This Search Engine Land opt-in email example is relatively basic, but the one sentence above the CTA button is a perfect example of a simple restatement of the value proposition that reminds users what the benefit of the subscription truly is. That value, in this example, is the “best news in search marketing each day.”

Republic

Your subscriber confirmation email may be the first email received by your subscribers.

As the first point of contact with your company, you can help your subscribers gain a better knowledge of what you have to offer. Whether it’s the product’s special features or your company’s unique services, you can show them what you got in the double opt-in email.

The Republic subscription confirmation message above is an excellent example of detailing the key items and their benefits. With three small icons, subscribers can learn that The Republic lets users find exciting companies, become an investor, and support companies as crowdfunding.

Demand Curve

To be honest, out of all the instances, this one struck out to me the most. Because it is one-of-a-kind. Julian invites his subscribers to react to his email with the word “yes” to confirm their subscription in the email copy.

Julian from Demand Curve, he explains, requests a response because he wants to ensure that his subscribers are genuine people, not spammers or bots.

From a different angle, this method is being used to boost email deliverability rates and avoid emails ending up in spam folders. Because the email response rate on your emails is one of the positive markers for email deliverability.

If subscribers contact you (through reply email, they send a response), it improves your general reputation with email clients.

Chipotle

Chipotle’s confirmation opt-in email explains why subscribers are receiving the message and exactly what they should do next. Besides, Chipotle adds a bit of their own branding personality with the word “Burrito Love”.

You can totally create a double opt-in email just like this in AVADA Marketing Automation. No need for fancy images or long words, just a bit of personality can already make your confirmation message sound better and more human.

Best practices for double opt-in email

In double opt-in email marketing, there are a surprising number of blunders that can be made.

In the following part, you’ll learn recommended practices for optimizing your double opt-in email funnel, as well as actual double opt-in email examples from clients I’ve assisted with optimization.

The first and most important thing to remember from this section is to think of your double opt-in as a sales funnel. If you conceive of each stage in the user journey as a phase in a sales funnel, you can identify and optimize the highest drop offs. The key to this is tracking; set up a Google Analytics goal and funnel visualization to understand the numbers.

For the opt-in popup and email optimization, here are some other best practices to optimize them and minimize the number of people who don’t go through with the subscription process:

• Your signup confirmation page or popup should make it crystal apparent that more action is necessary.

• Your opt-in confirmation email’s subject line and preview text should make it obvious that action is required in the email.

• The design of your opt-in confirmation email should draw recipients’ attention to the one action you expect them to take: clicking the link to confirm the subscription.

• When recipients click on the opt-in confirmation link, your opt-in confirmation page should clearly acknowledge that they have now subscribed and then move the relationship ahead. Make the new subscriber feel welcome by informing them that they should complete their user profile, offering them a welcome offer or discount, providing instruction or instructional content, or doing something else.

By putting these double opt-in best practices into work, you will see more signups being confirmed by designing an experience that is focused on getting that opt-in confirmation click.

Conclusion

Are you looking for strategies to improve your email marketing strategy? Double opt-in should be one of the most important areas you look at. It enables you to grow a more targeted and engaged audience for your company. Furthermore, it is much simpler to optimize your ads for conversions.

If you haven’t created a double opt-in process for your business yet, you should consider trying it out today with AVADA Marketing Automation. It is free to sign up and start using with 15,000 emails and 1,000 contacts per month.