InsightIQ Blog

Is Opt-In a Misnomer?

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May 7 2009

MarketingSherpa recently posted an online article that is related to a previous blog about recently gathered research on what drives people to unsubscribe from email communications.  The premise of that article was that the top reason was identified as 'Inbox clutter' and its effect on all email communications. 

The follow-up to that research is very interesting where 50% of respondents reported that of all the email they received from legitimate companies only 25% of it was "asked for".  Most email relationships being with what might be called a quasi opt-in event where a person is automatically opted in because the pre-checked box for email communications is selected for them.  The individual may not know what they are "signing themselves up for", and although perfectly legal, it doesn't fit the definition of opt-in. 

In reflecting upon this message, many marketers might be caught up in idea of email data capture versus why or under what conditions a person is giving out their email address.  As a result, the article questions how this affects the relationship with a customer - specifically with the first email communication. 

Here are a few tips pulled from the MarketingSherpa article to turn the subscriber into the kind of advocate who is happy enough to subscribe:

  1. Segment this group - someone who gets on the list via a pre-checked box or some other quasi opt-in mechanism isn't the same as a true subscriber. Think of them in the same way you would think of a co-registration name -- both need to be wooed. Separate them from other new subscribers and make sure that messaging explains why they're receiving the email, what they're going to get from it and why they should stick around.
  2. Identify value early and often - as you would with any subscriber. Take advantage of the beginning days of the relationship to emphasize the value exchange that they've entered into (however unwillingly). An email address is a value commodity and something that should command as much respect as a phone number from marketers, perhaps more. They should get something of real value - special pricing, great information, etc. - in exchange for that.  More than anything, they should be certain that their name won't be sold, rented or traded, and that they won't be hammered by your email servers.
  3. Monitor interaction, re-segment and say goodbye - people who aren't true opt-ins might be good candidates for a sub-segment of your inactive list. If they have never interacted, at a certain point (relative to industry and frequency) it's a best practice to ask them to re-subscribe (the traditional way) and to remove them from the list if they fail to do so.

 

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