Comments on: Living In Email Sin And Loving It

By: Stephen Dean

Stephen Dean — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 07:47:50 +0000

Hey thanks for the tip Ryan. I’m sure to go through your tutorial soon, sounds great.

By: Ryan the Geek

Ryan the Geek — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 09:15:18 +0000

Interesting. I guess I was stuck in the mindset that single-opt-in was a cardinal sin. Reading your post made me realize that was MY self-imposed limitation.

As for Gmail… it certainly is the best email interface on the planet, but it doesn’t have to be at the expense of using your own domain.

In December ‘09 I switched my domain(s) over to Google Apps (and no, it’s doesn’t cost $50/year… FREE!) and consider it the smartest web decision I’ve made in a while.

I wrote up a (long) step by step tutorial on the topic, along with another free change that can make your web presence much more resilient to problems: http://www.rjp.ca/tutorials/websites/third-party-hosting/

-Ryan
.-= Ryan the Geek´s last blog ..Recycling Canadian .CA domain names (TBR) =-.

By: Stephen Dean

Stephen Dean — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 23:12:30 +0000

Thanks for your input Dean, do they enter their email address twice on the same page? Or is it a second page?

And yes, if the checkbox is checked it’s to notify people when I post again. Although I don’t think it’s working at the moment. But that is the idea. Does it seem unclear? Should I change it?

By: Dean Rieck

Dean Rieck — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 02:29:33 +0000

I help run a nonprofit in Ohio and I switched from double to single opt-in late last year. I saw no added spam complaints or problems, though it does open up the possibility for fake subscriptions. However, each subscriber must enter an mail twice and click to confirm, so it's close to double opt-in. Also, I'm currently linking the subscription to a high-dollar giveaway and I ask for FULL contact information. We're seeing anywhere from 200 to 1,400 new subscribers per day. It's a political nonprofit, so we have built up lots of trust over the years. Question: What's that checkbox below the comment form? Are you collecting email addresses from comments? .-= Dean Rieck´s last blog ..How to sell by not selling: the secret of the cedar plank =-.

By: John W. Furst

John W. Furst — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 22:50:33 +0000

Hi Stephen,

What a coincidence, I wrote a blog post a couple of days ago with the subject, “Single or Double Opt-In?”

I also have noticed that many of the bigger marketers (those who usually test more!) switched back to single opt-in.

Yours
John
.-= John W. Furst´s last blog ..Email Marketing Tips – Edition 19 =-.

By: Stephen Dean

Stephen Dean — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:00:25 +0000

I’ve been using single opt-in for several months without any rise in complaints. I monitor it just in case I need to switch back, but there hasn’t been a need yet.

And Jim, search around Aweber. They now allow you to use single opt-in, but it’s not set that way by default.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:19:26 +0000

Tom— I disagree… if you go look at an Agora site they just ask for a name and no double opt-in. Clearly this works very well for them.

Although I still do double opt-in because of Aweber, it’s something worth _testing_

-Jim

By: Tom Brownsword

Tom Brownsword — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 16:08:43 +0000

Two out of three isn’t bad…

I still recommend double opt-in. While single opt-in will increase conversions, a double opt-in system goes a lot farther when it comes to fighting spam complaints. Some may consider the risk to be worth the increased conversions — but that’s a decision every person needs to make.

Great video clip!

Best regards,
Tom
.-= Tom Brownsword´s last blog ..GoodSync – Backup And Synchronize Files And Drives =-.

By: Tony Finbarr-Smith

Tony Finbarr-Smith — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 11:00:46 +0000

Hey Stephen, great post, and good analogy
the less they have to fill in, the better, so email only is the future

cheers,
Tony.