If you are seeking information about email marketing and sending email newsletters to your subscribers, you probably have noticed this term several times: Opt In Email Marketing or Email Marketing with Opt in, and wondered what that means.

In this post, we’ll explain what is opt in email marketing, and how it is important for email marketing.

Opt in is Permission

Simply put, opt in means involving permission. This may apply to different types of marketing, but ‘opt-in email marketing’ is used when the contacts in a given email marketing campaign have given permission to receive those messages.

In digital marketing, the idea of ​​holding a permission-based marketing assumed an importance that didn’t previously exist. You didn’t need anyone’s permission to display an ad on TV, or in a newspaper. People who watch it will be exposed. However, when it comes to such an intimate place as one’s inbox, you should not appear out of the blue.

Opt in Email Marketing

The important thing to consider when sending email campaigns is to only send to those contacts that allowed you to send messages to them. Using contacts who do not know you or who did not opt for your messages ​is characterized as SPAM.

We’ve talked before about the dangers of SPAM. But it’s worth remembering. When you send something that people did not ask and have no interest in, the joke’s on you. You waste money and time by sending messages that do not have a very high return since people were not interested from the start.

Contacts are always the starting point of any email marketing strategy. So, if you’re starting yours, or thinking of giving new directions to an existing one, do not invest in any mailing list. Look for members from your target audience.

Campaigns with permission have much better results. In the end, even if you send lesser, but more focused emails you have more people opening, clicking, and enjoying whatever you are displaying in your posts. Seems more interesting, huh?

Let’s check out some types of opt in.

Active Permission

Active permission is one in which the contact says they want to be actively included in messages of a particular company. In such cases, the registration is driven by them.

A good example of this is a form to register on a website. A website visitor is interested in what you have to send via email, sees the form there and fills in their email. This may or may not be motivated by some special offer such as 10% discount when subscribing, depending on your strategy.

These are the best contacts because they were generated from their own initiative. This contact is, in principle, more interested in your brand and in keeping track of what you have to say.

Implicit Permission

Implied or implicit permission to email marketing is when a contact starts to receive messages from a particular company, but they did not actively opt to receive them. For example, an online store in which, let’s say, Mariana has created an account starts sending her periodic emails with offers. This is not necessarily spam, but it is not a very recommended tactic.

This is because many times the involvement of a contact with a particular company is not as deep as the sender presumes. For example, Mariana may have just made a purchase, a gift for her dad. She has no interest whatsoever in receiving messages afterwards. Or maybe she was interested in the subject, but the membership is quite old, was made three years ago. Will she still be interested in it? Moreover, will Mariana remember that she’s got an account in your store? Remember that the SPAM button is right there.

Thus, it may seem interesting to send an email to your customer base without asking directly, but be VERY careful.

A good way to work with in situations such as these is to ask whether your customer ever wants to receive periodic messages on a particular subject when they register. Be honest: inform the correct frequency of your sendings, and stick to the type of subject you promised (tips and tricks on sailing, for example). You can even leave the checkbox to be included in the e-mail submissions checked by default, and if the contact does not want to receive, they will uncheck it. This clearly conveys the fact that they will receive promotional messages from you.

But, if they don’t check the checkbox to receive your emails, respect their choice!

Double Opt-In: What Is It?

Double opt-in is another practice mentioned quite a lot when talking about email marketing. Basically, it is a way of ensuring the preference of contacts to receive messages. As the name implies, it involves a two-step process. First, a contact let’s say, Mariana, signs up to receive emails by filling in a form. By submitting this form, she receives an email confirmation with a link. To complete the process, she must click the link, and she will be included in the list only after doing so.

This is important for two reasons.

On the one hand, it helps ensure that contacts that did want to receive messages and submitted their email address by mistake. Or maybe someone else submitted their email address.

On the other hand, it helps to make sure that addresses included in lists are valid, and not just random characters filled by robots. Since it’s necessary for the contacts to perform an action, these robots don’t generate valid registrations.

*All forms generated by Mailee are automatically double opt-in, to ensure that you achieve the best results.

Opt-out

When talking about opt-in, we cannot forget the opt-out, i.e., the ability to stop receiving messages. Keeping a visible and effective unsubscribe link in your messages is not just a good practice, it is mandatory :).

Trust me when a contact no longer wants to receive your messages, the best thing to do is simply remove them from your list as painlessly as possible. This way, you don’t harm your image and it still leaves the door open for future contacts

Bonus Tip: Be Careful with Lists from Events

For you who read until the end, here’s a bonus tip! When gathering contacts with permission: beware of email lists obtained from events.

It’s not that it’s forbidden to use them, or that events are not good marketing resources (they are excellent platforms for marketing and networking!). BUT, you should be extremely careful with these contacts.

Why? Because they might create bad results as far as opens and clicks are concerned. This can lead to several complaints and / or bounces. To avoid this, take these precautions:

• Engage your contacts acquired from events soon after they were added to your list. If you wait too long, they might not remember you. It is best to take advantage of the fact that they were already dealing with your brand.
• Make it clear, at least in the first two messages, how you got their contact, and why you’re sending your messages to them. We call this a disclaimer. It will help remind them of their relationship with you.
• Review the emails. OK, this is hard to do in large lists, but try to at least eliminate the most egregious cases. @hotmial, @gmail.com.br, @ yaoo.com, are all cases that do not exist. Sending to these emails can cause problems for your reputation.

Email marketing opt in = Email marketing with a positive ROI

Now that you know everything about email marketing opt in, apply what you have learned. Send campaigns focused on what interests your contacts, and they will be increasingly engaged in your content, generating clicks and great results.