The Single vs Double Opt-In Controversy by John Barbour

I get a lot of questions from people about whether they should use single or double opt-in on their own websites.

I also have quite a few customers who are afraid *not* to use double opt-in, especially with co-registration leads.

As you probably know, my customers now have the option of making their use of double opt-in an optional choice by using an autoresponder package like Aweber.

For quite some time, I've been telling people who ask me that they will end up with much better response both from co-registration leads and from list-building in general if they use single opt-in list building methods wherever possible.

Now don't get me wrong. You are on more solid ground with most hosting companies if you use double opt-in, but it's really for *their* convenience, not yours.

I have tried both, and generally find that single opt-in gives me much better results. I only use double opt-in in self-defense on websites where my forms have been prone to large amounts of "spamming" by those nefarious characters who like to engage in such things.

I hate using it, though, because I know it costs me sales, and as many as 50% of the people who subscribe to my lists never get my newsletter, since they don't confirm their subscription.

In fact, one of my mini-courses has a 70% non-confirmation rate, and that is for people who SUBSCRIBED to the newsletter ON MY WEBSITE and get the confirmation e-mail from a hosted autoresponder service which guarantees top-notch delivery.

Among my customers who buy co-registration leads, the ones who do best with their lists tend to be those who simply mail their newsletter to the entire single opt-in list, and keep mailing until people unsubscribe.

They know that it takes several months to "warm up" a list, especially a co-registration list, before you get the best click-through rates and sales.

They also know what many marketers do not—single opt-in lists generate far higher sales numbers than do double opt-in lists by a *huge* amount.

Don't believe me? Have a look at what one Super Affiliate had to say about his own results from a recent test that he ran. The results are compelling, but hardly surprising.

Click for the article.

It also links you to a related article that goes more into depth on the same subject.

John Barbour runs the very popular co-registration leads program Nitro List Builder and is the author of The Email Profit Formula.