Day 10: The Cost of Using Double Opt In

New Sign-ups Today: 12
New Confirmed Subscribers*: 4

Total New Sign-ups Overall: 60
Total New Confirmed Subscribers*: 34
*confirmed their subscription via double opt-in

I want to point out the cost of using double opt-in with your list. In 10 days, I've added 60 new sign-ups to this list but only 34, so far, have confirmed their subscriptions.

In some cases, this might be people surfing that don't check their email regularly. Given the amount of hotmail, yahoo and gmail addresses I see, that's not surprising.

I give very clear instructions on my post-sign up page on what to expect when you sign up. I tell them the subject line on the email they'll get and who it will be from. Yet, I realize that some people won't read this. I could also assume that they might not read the ezine either so they're not a big loss.

Also, inevitably, some of those opt-in confirm emails will end up in their junk folder and they'll never see them.

Unfortunately, this is the nature of email marketing these days. The risks of not using confirmed opt-in are too high. Plus, as Craig points out in List Profit Secrets, "double opt in subscribers are, as a rule, a lot more profitable and a lot less trouble."

As you can see from my results above, I'm getting just over 50% of signups to confirm their subscription. For this list, I'm not offering any type of free report or ebook for signing up. If I did, my confirm rates would be higher.

If you offer a freebie to get subscribers, don't setup your sign up page so they're automatically redirected to a download page. If you do, you'll see people putting in bogus names and addresses.

Instead of a download page, set up your autoresponder to send them the download link in an email as soon as they confirm their subscription. On the signup page, explain that you'll be emailing the freebie to them. That way, they'll enter a legitimate email address.

All the best,

Bill Hibbler