E-Marketing Now: Demystifying Opt-In Email Marketing

Opt in email marketing means you’re sending email marketing messages only to people who have requested them. In that sense, Opt-In email marketing is radically different from spam: a large  group of email messages sent to people who never asked to receive them.

Opt-In emails are often targeted and custom-made and contain information on certain specific issues that customers largely have asked to know about. The usual Opt-In emails enclose information about a particular product, or include a newsletter or other type of advertising message. For instance, if a client often visited a Web site that sold designer wear clothes, then the client can “Opt In”  to get emails on when the latest fashions that are available. This kind of promotional email can present the receiver with an exceptional offer only available to Opt-In clients, which may include a big discount or other gifts.

Spam exploiting opts in marketing
Not surprisingly, spammers have created a new way to use Opt-In characteristics to fool customers into opening their emails.  These emails from spammers come with the usual features of Opt-In email, with small print somewhere in the message that tells the recipient that if they don’t answer the email, they’ll be subject to more offers they don’t want. The plan of replying to the email and requesting to unsubscribe from the upcoming mailings has some critics claiming that replying shows spammers that the email account is active, thus opening the door for other spam emails.

A few good Opt-In tactics
Many experienced Opt-In marketers use the following strategies and tactics to make sure their campaigns are successful:

  • They build their lists very carefully
    The top email marketers know that an Opt-In campaign is one that offers proof to ESPs and ISPs that the customers on that list have subscribed. This may mean using a ListBuilder, also known as a sign-up box, on each page of their sites.
  • They use Confirmed Opt-In
    Confirmed Opt-In, also known as Double Opt-In, means getting a person to sign up, then sending them an additional email asking them to reconfirm that sign up. Since Confirmed Opt-In is known as the gold standard of email marketing, many of the top email marketing firms use this method to build their lists.
  • They build the appropriate landing pages
    The best email marketers know that an email is not enough to make sales. So they build the very best landing pages that are linked from the email, sending people right to a page where they can put the item they want in a shopping cart.

Unfortunately, Opt-In email marketing is losing its efficiency as a feasible advertising tool .The read response rate is declining from about 10-20% to about 3-10%. This may have more to do with the influx of spam and the sheer load of emails people get every day. However, Forrester has forecasted that expenditure on marketing through emails will rise from about $1.3B (USD) in 2001 to definitely more than $6.8B in 2008, which will no doubt give Opt-In a much needed push to continue as email marketing’s gold standard of permission.

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