To opt-in or not to opt-in?

A typical day in the life of an email inbox reveals personal email, business email, subscription based newsletters and the dreaded spam. If you’re the one sending out that newsletter, how do you make sure it’s not being sent to the virtual round file, otherwise known as the spam or bulk mail folder?

One way to improve the chances that your newsletter is actually seen by human eyeballs is to ask your customers to opt-in or even double opt-in to receive your messages. Single opt-in policies ask subscribers for permission to send email communication to a particular email address.

In the double opt-in scenario, you are not only asking for permission, but also confirmation that the email address in question does wish to receive email from a certain company. For example, you visit a company’s website and give them permission by subscribing to a newsletter. Shortly thereafter, the given email address receives a brief message asking the subscriber to again confirm their desire to receive emails. After permission has been confirmed this second time, the company will begin sending emails.

Yes, asking customers to opt-in will take more time. However, your chances of escaping the spam filter and arriving shiny and new in the inbox will improve greatly.

For more information on email marketing policies from two companies who should know, ExactTarget and Constant Contact, visit the following pages.

ExactTarget: Email Marketing CAN-SPAM Compliance
http://email.exacttarget.com/Resources/Whitepapers/CANSPAMComplianceforEmailMarketing.html

Constant Contact: Confirmed Opt-In Guide
http://www.constantcontact.com/aka/docs/pdf/confirmed_optin_user_guide.pdf

Virtually Yourz,
Dana Blozis

How to Get More Opens & Clicks

I never seem to have time to read the many e-newsletters I subscribe to, so I file them in a Newsletters To Read folder in my Inbox. When I have a few minutes (on hold, doing a back-up, etc.), I peruse the folder to see what looks interesting.

Today I stumbled on this gem from Constant Contact: How To Get More Opens & Clicks by Gina Watkins. She gives some great advice on how to get your e-mail marketing messages opened and clicked on. Read her tips on how to write a killer subject line to be sure your e-mails are read!


Virtually Yourz,
Dana Blozis