Email marketing is by no means dead. In fact, it is alive and well as a marketing tool that goes above and beyond standard SEO strategies. The biggest advantage of email marketing is being able to add subscribers to your mailing list with their full participation. Using the double opt-in method accomplishes that.
Many marketers prefer the single opt-in approach. Others go completely opposite, collecting information and forcing potential subscribers to opt-out. If you are looking for the best way to accumulate new subscribers that actually want to receive your information, the double opt-in strategy is the way to go.
Single vs. Double Opt-In
In a single opt-in scenario, a subscriber would willingly submit their email address to be included in your subscriber list. There might even be a checkbox on the subscription form requiring a subscriber to verify that they are willing to allow information to be collected and stored. But if it is a single form, it is still considered single opt-in.
The double opt-in scenario requires an extra step. After completing and submitting the initial subscription form, the user receives an email asking them to confirm the correct email address and, in so doing, once again confirm the desire to be added to the organization’s email list. Requiring this second step virtually guarantees that people who sign up actually want your information.
First-Person and Qualified
As for why double opt-in is a better choice, iMedical Data says it boils down to first-person data that is qualified by the subscriber themself. iMedical Data collects and analyzes healthcare databases on behalf of healthcare recruiters, employers, and providers.
The data the company deals with is all qualifying, first-party data. This is to say that it does not come from third-party websites that may have gathered the information from cookies or other online resources. The data comes not only from users, but it also comes from them directly – by them manually entering it into an online form.
This practice is what makes the information qualified. Unless users are purposely and consistently providing false information (which unduly happens from time to time) potential subscribers are almost always guaranteed to give you accurate and up to date information. Why would anybody in the marketing or recruiting industries want anything else?
Cookies are Old School
It is worth noting that cookies are old school technology. They are tools that facilitate an invasion of privacy. Thank goodness they are going away. Within a year or so, the third-party cookies that so many marketers rely on for gleaning detailed information on internet users will be a thing of the past. Marketers will need to get their data using other strategies.
It turns out that marketers are taking a lesson from employment recruiters. They are beginning to readjust their data gathering efforts to focus more on first-party data. Some of that data can be purchased from marketing companies whose entire business model is founded on gathering and distributing user data. But as time goes on, more of the first-party data will come directly from users as they interact with websites.
By relying on a subscription form to build your email list, you are already taking advantage of first-party data. Switch from single to double opt-in and you can automatically count on the data you get being better. It will be accurate and qualified. But most of all, making a second choice to opt-in guarantees that a subscriber is really interested in what you have to offer.
