Permission Based eMail
Defining Opt-In - Opt-Out and Double Opt-In
1. Opt-in means that a person must take an explicit action to receive your email, perhaps by responding to a statement on a web sign up page or during a "check out" such as: "to receive periodic email with special offers and information, please check this box." Unless people deliberately check the box they are not signed up and will not receive any email.
Please note: having the box checked for them is not an Opt-In.
2. Double opt-in is as the name implies a stronger version of opt-in. People who check the box receive an email follow-up asking them to confirm. They must then either respond to the email or click through to a web page and restate their participation by clicking an "I accept" button on the site. Many privacy organizations are advocating double opt-in as the recommend way to assure that people are fully aware that they have just signed up for email. Another method is to combine opt-in with a welcome email that clearly states what the recipient has signed up for and make it simple to unsubscribe in case there is an error or change of heart.
3. Opt-Out is the opposite of opt-in. The box on the web page would already be checked and the statement might read: "We occasionally send email with special offers and information. Please uncheck this box if you do not wish to receive these emails." The obvious disadvantage of opt-out is that the customer must actively disengage, They might easily overlook the opt-out check box and end up participating in a program and receiving emails that they have no interest in.
Opt-In
Opt-in, opt-out, double opt-in = permission based marketing. These are all brand new terms in the marketing profession. You can't opt-in to a billboard or magazine advertisement. You cant opt-out of a television commercial, or radio ad. You don't give permission to direct mailers to send you flyers.
But in e-mail marketing, permission is essential. Unusual for most marketers who are used to sending or broadcasting their messages to the maximum number of prospects. Imagine, now we are asking our prospects for "permission" to sell them our product or service. And most of them will expect something in return for that "permission".
An e-mail marketing program should have a benefit to the recipient. It should contain information of interest to those who receive it. In fact, if you want to harness the real potential of e-mail marketing you will take it way beyond the simple promoting of your products. You will offer your customers and prospects information, tips, and special discounts they can use.
E-mail gives you the opportunity to reach prospects on an entirely personal level. It can help you not only convert prospects to customers, but keep the customers you have. When you use e-mail just to sell things, you are missing the point entirely.
Birthday cards, special reminders, breaking industry news, articles of interest, surveys, newsletters, eZines are just some of the things you can send your customers and prospective customers.
But again be careful, sending e-mail with provocative subject lines like "gee I haven't heard from you for a while", is annoying when it is not from a person we know. Direct mailers use this technique all the time with handwritten envelopes ad nauseaum, but it does not convert well to e-mail.
Later in the course we will cover methods of acquiring opt-in lists, and creating methods for website visitors to leave you with their e-mail addresses and permission. For now, it is important that we understand the radical difference in "permission based marketing", over other methods.
