Single or Double Opt-In That Is The Question?

We’ve always been told by the ESPs that Double Opt-In is the gold standard and must be used for optimal results.

I’ve always asked myself, “Is Double Opt-In really worth it?”

The skinny… NO… IT’S NOT!

Let me explain.

If you’re sending a newsletter there is absolutely no reason you should require a double opt-in.

For starters, the idea of a double opt-in was initiated prior to today’s available technology to ensure an email address was real.

Proving It Today

With the proliferation of email validation services available (which I’ve shared in previous newsletters), we can easily verify that a new subscriber is a deliverable email address, in addition to other things like, if it is a bot or temporary email address.

Verifying each subscriber that comes in via an email validation service will eliminate deliverability issues that could arise from sending to bad email addresses.

Real email? Problem Solved ✅

You may say… what about people who could be using other people’s valid email addresses to sign up to access your information?

Did the email entered at signup, really come from the actual individual?

Let Them Decide

Subscribers, especially today with single click opt-out (one of the new sender requirements which I also spoke about in a previous newsletter), can easily unsubscribe if they don’t want to receive your newsletter.

They even have the option of marking your email as SPAM. “Oh No,” you might say.

Simply monitor your SPAM rates to make sure you’re not getting a bunch of bad apples in the bunch.

The major ISPs (Google, Yahoo/AOL, and Microsoft) are actually quite flexible with their spam rates.

You know why? Because they know people clicking the spam button is inevitable.

Real Person? Problem Solved ✅

And finally… what do the numbers say? How effective is single vs double opt-in? Let’s break it down.

The Metrics

Reviewing internal stats on single opt-in vs double opt-in, the numbers clearly show that single opt-in is the winner.

Not only do my internal stats show that (example here), but Get Response put together a great statistical study on it as well (click here for the study) which I have summarized below.

FYI… They Analyzed a 💩 ton of data!

Validity of Claims:

• People are more likely to subscribe to your email list with a single opt-in – ✅ True

• People subscribed with double opt-in are more likely to open your emails – ✅ True

• People subscribed with double opt-in are more likely to click on links in your emails – ✅ True

• People subscribed with double opt-in are less likely to unsubscribe – ❌ False

• People subscribed with double opt-in are less likely to report your emails as spam – ❌ False

• Using double opt-in will reduce your bounce rate –❔Inconclusive

By The Numbers:

The Net Outcome:

Looks like you are getting a much higher number of engaged subscribers with single opt-in. Since there doesn’t seem to be an issue with bounce rates or deliverability.

Winner… Winner… Chicken Dinner!

Single Opt-In vs Double Opt-in? Single Opt-In Wins ✅

Below you can see an actual comparison of a campaign we ran for our Financial Newsletter.

Actual Results From a Financial Newsletter

Here’s a basic example from one of our Financial Publications. Our double opt-in welcome email as you can see below would have resulted in a net subscriber gain of 57 subscribers.

So out of the 357 new subscribers, I’d only be sending relateable useful content to an additional 57 people.

The rest? Lost to the abyss.

(This number may go up a smidge, if you send multiple follow-ups for the subs to confirm their signup, but most likely not much).

Now below you will see by just sending our regular newsletter content how the numbers change.

Our opt-in rate went up to 24.7% (84 people who clicked on an email) and our overall percentage of openers increased to 54.6% (an increase of 14.5%).

By simply sending our normal newsletter content to the subscribers over time, we were able to increase our activation rate by 52% which is a huge number as the list grows.

At 100,000 new sign-ups it’s the difference of an active list of 25K vs 15K.

So based on your newsletter strategies and how you segment your list, these numbers could increase drastically.

For the example shared above, our activation timeline was just 10 days. Sending 1 newsletter every morning, that gives a new subscriber 10 opportunities to simply open an email.

If they open an email they have another 30 days to try and get them to become a clicker. Every time they open that pushes out another 30 days to try and get them to click.

You can see how this can over time compound your activation metrics for a new subscriber.

Our standard sending segment for this financial list is 60/30/10.

So we are actively sending to:

• Subscribers who have Clicked in the Last 60 Days

• Subscribers who have Opened in the Last 30 Days

• Subscribers who were Added in the Last 10 Days

This shouldn’t be the base segment you implement necessarily. It should follow the engagement of your list and the frequency that you send emails.

For example we have lists where our sending segments are 30/15/3.

• Subscribers who have Clicked in the Last 30 Days

• Subscribers who have Opened in the Last 15 Days

• Subscribers who were Added in the Last 3 Days

These lists engage more often and we send out more frequently (ie. 2 to 3 emails per day).

If you really want to skyrocket your newsletter subscribers, stick with single opt-in and focus on the most engaging content you can create to activate your subscribers.

Let’s continue to win,
Chris Miquel

Follow me on Twitter: @miqchris