Your email list is the lifeblood of online fundraising. It's one of the most effective tools for converting and retaining donors, growing your volunteer base, and for staying top-of-mind with your supporters.
But to get the best result from your email newsletter, list quality is essential. And by list quality, I mean people who have given you permission to add them to your email list.
What the heck is verified opt-in?
A verified opt-in is when you require people to click on a link in an email to confirm that they want to join your email list.
Here's how it works:
A website visitor enters their name and email into a form on your website. Once they submit the form, they automatically receive an email containing a link that they have to click on to activate their subscription (like the example below).
Verified opt-in confirms that the person joining your email list is an actual human being who wants to receive information from you. They do this by clicking on a link in a confirmation email (like the example above).
Here are three reasons why you should use verified opt-in:
1. Ensure that you build a quality list
Asking people to take that second step ensures a certain level of interest in being on your list in the first place. If they join your email list and don't click on the link in the email they get not just two minutes later, how interested could they really be?
Verified opt-in also avoids adding undeliverable emails to your list.
Why would people enter invalid and non-consenting emails?
- Spambots attempting to gain access to protected content.
- Typos when entering an email.
- People entering valid emails that someone else owns.
2. Save money on your email marketing software
If your email marketing service charges by the number of emails in your account, you could be paying more than you have to if you're not using verified opt-in.
Why pay for people to be on your list if they aren't interested in your cause? Why pay for emails that are bogus?
3. Increase email deliverability
Without verifying permission, you risk negatively impacting your delivery rates. Spam complaints, bounces, combined with low open rates and clicks can negatively impacting your delivery rates. Particularly with Google and Yahoo who aggressively monitor spam complaints.
In the long run, verified opt-in increases email deliverability, which is a good thing!
If you're interested in learning more about getting more from your email newsletter, check out my class "Stellar Email Newsletters."