By now, email marketers who utilize email newsletters and content opt-in options are well aware of its successes. However, another less-known option is Confirmed Opt-In Lite. For email marketers, it might be the best of both worlds, explains Alexandre Zibrick, compliance and deliverability engineer, Pathwire.
Email newsletter and content opt-in options are a vital part of any successful, well-run strategy and come in various shapes and sizes. One very useful but less well-known option is ‘Confirmed Opt-In Lite’, or COIL for short. Despite flying under the radar, COIL is well worth a look. It offers a great way to combine the benefits of rapid list growth associated with the single opt-in process and the email address validity check of the double-opt-in approach.
By way of comparison, the more familiar Single Opt-In (SOI) process is where recipients go to a website subscription form, input their email address and automatically become a part of the newsletter list. From that point on, they will receive all future marketing campaigns or other communications that are shared with that list. The process is both quick and simple, requiring no additional validation link for users to click.
Similarly, Confirmed Opt-In (COI) is another popular option that sends a confirmation email to the recipient’s email address, and it’s only after they click on the validation link that they will be added to the newsletter list and start receiving further communication.
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How COIL Works
Confirmed Opt-In Lite, however, aims to bring both of these methods together and works like this: A recipient arrives at an online subscription form and submits their email address. At this point, they may or may not receive an email informing them that they just subscribed to the newsletter. Or, instead, they might get a ‘welcome’ email or just receive their first piece of communication when the usual weekly/monthly/quarterly campaign is scheduled to go out.
To the recipient, COIL feels like a traditional Single Opt-In process. For the sender, however, COIL is a little different. With COIL, when a new recipient subscribes to an email list, they are added to a ‘quarantine’ list created for this process.
The quarantine list registers each new subscriber, but until they engage positively with emails by opening or clicking them, they won’t be passed down to the regular newsletter lists. Depending on email frequency, the sender needs to decide how many emails each new recipient should receive without any positive engagement. This needs to be decided before their email address gets entirely removed from further communication and also deleted from the quarantine list.
The content that new subscribers might be receiving could be the same as other usual recipients, or it could be completely customized for this niche. The point is, Confirmed Opt-In Lite is not related to content but is focused on the recipient’s activity, and it helps keep recipient lists up-to-date and valid.
Similarities and Differences With Sunset Policy
The Confirmed Opt-In Lite process also shares some elements with the sunset policyOpens a new window that many email marketers follow to keep their contact lists free of unengaged users. However, using a new quarantine list will automatically trim those unengaged recipients earlier in the process, whereas a sunset policy seeks to do so over a period of time. Some organizations also take the process a step further by protecting their subscription form with a Captcha and implementing real-time validationOpens a new window of new recipients’ addresses.
Decisions, Decisions . . .
Email marketers rely on COI for a number of reasons. The main one is because it validates each email address, ensuring that the recipient’s mailbox exists and is able to receive emails.Right off the bat, this reduces bounce rate, confirms that the recipient actually agreed very clearly to receive the newsletter, and as a result, helps get the online relationship off to a positive start. On the other hand, single opt-in collectors don’t have to validate their recipients’ email addresses, and as a consequence, they drive higher growth list rates overall.
On the other hand, COI can sometimes be difficult for email marketers as they try to justify a strategy where they collect their recipients through confirmed or double opt-in compared to single opt-in. Some people incorrectly believe that a bigger list is obviously better.
By comparison, COIL is a good option for mitigating the reputation backlash that can result from not validating recipient addresses and consent. By using COIL, recipients that would have missed the click on the validation link inside of their confirmation email are now still added to distribution lists, at least in the short term.
On the flip side, anti-spam filters can sometimes open or click on emails to detect spam or fraud. As a result, it might seem safe to move the recipient’s email address out of the quarantine list and into the regular list when it actually isn’t.
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This might result in higher unsubscribe or spam complaints rates and thus negatively affect sender reputation. One option to avoid this unfortunate situation is to register at least two or three unique open events per new recipient before adding them to the usual lists. Or even better, this can be coupled with email validation to verify which domain an address is connected to (like Gmail or Outlook) and whether or not the address’s inbox can receive mail.
Ultimately, getting the most from Confirmed Opt-In Lite depends on designing campaigns that are creative, relevant and timely. Testing is also important to understand which strategy corresponds to each email program. A thorough approach can help iron out potential problems and optimize the experience for those on the receiving end.