To double opt-in or not to double opt-in?
Hi Newsletter Crew!
I launched Ariyh.Substack.com a little more than a month ago where I share evidence-based marketing tips (currently at 410 subscribers).
I keep wondering whether I should keep the double opt-in function on or not. I've probably had it on for half of my subscribers.
For context, I use Substack, which means the confirmation email asking for the double opt-in almost certainly goes to the "Promotions" tab in Gmail (but then, so does the newsletter, for most people).
I'm leaning towards keeping it on because I want to make sure I have high quality and engaged subscribers. But I'm wondering if there are other downsides I may be missing - beyond people potentially missing the confirmation email.
Would love to hear what's been your experience with this and what you do with your newsletter and why!
I’m currently using double opt-in, because it ensures a higher-quality subscriber list. But I’m certain some people are not noticing the confirmation email. I think the Substack pop-up alert—telling new subscribers to look out for that email—is too subtle.
Hey, I noticed the same with my new subs. I use Webflow for my landing/thankyou page so went in and made the "confirm your email" line a lot more prominent. Sure enough, confirmations seem to have picked up!
Interesting, and makes sense! Wish I could do that with Substack :D
For now I'll stick with it despite this though, I'm finding it very helpful to not have to spend time on building/maintaining my own setup and focusing only on the marketing + growth.
Exactly! I have a strong feeling that dropoff is significantly higher than on other platforms. Even friends that sign up usually forget to confirm unless I remind them to look for the confirmation email. I can't imagine how it is for a busy marketing manager that signs up on the go (my target market)
We had a similar debate in another thread with @Smol — I read more about it and couldn't come to a conclusive opinion.
I have recently launched 🌀Refactoring on Substack, and for now I am keeping the single opt-in (which is the default option)
Will see over time how deliverability and open rate are affected!
Hey! Would love to know what you've found since this was about a month ago. Also how do you track deliverability on Substack??
Sadly, I couldn't form a good opinion because I don't have many metrics. I don't know how to track deliverability on Substack :(
However, I am regularly cleaning email addresses who are clearly fake, and those who have never opened an email from me. Open rate is still high (>50%) so for now I am keeping the single opt-in
Hey Luca - I would be careful with deleting people who Substack tells you have had 0 opens. I was looking at my list today, and I was about to remove a few people who never opened an email, when I noticed someone who has personally told me that she opens my emails showed up on the list.
I am not sure what is involved, but I think Substack makes some mistakes in its open reporting. Maybe this person has images blocked. Either way, she opens my emails.
Oh, that's bad! Thank you for the advice, I will be careful
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Interesting, I was looking for an existing post/thread about this but couldn't find this, thanks!
Curious to hear how single opt-in affects you down the line! I think I'll stick to double opt-in for the foreseeable future
P.S.: Refactoring looks great!
Thank you! 🙏 will let you know how it goes!
opt in is not known by yahoo, gmail nor outlook, when sending to theses servers.
I would definitely stick to double opt-in. It's sometimes frustrating to see hard-earned subs not confirm, but on the other hand my open rate is 48%. Quality over quantity! 😀
Very true, I think I'll stick to the same!
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Oh that's a great in-depth analysis, I think I'll also keep double opt-in on!