Guide for Setting up a Double Opt-in Strategy

4 minute read

Upland Admin

Double opt-in strategies for collecting data has been industry best practice for some time now.

I mean, we have done plenty of posts, and have plenty of customer success stories that talk about using a double or confirmed opt-in process.

You may have seen quite a few blog posts about double opt-in recently due to the imminent arrival of the GDPR. Interestingly though, it does not actually mandate a double opt-in strategy; the ICO bullet point this as:

“Consent requires a positive opt-in. Don’t use pre-ticked boxes or any other method of default consent.”

A positive opt-in can be achieved with a single opt-in strategy. However, we know many of you will want to continue verifying your subscribers and their email address, so…

How can you use Adestra to perform your double opt-in strategy?

Our platform enables users to form a double opt-in strategy in several ways. This blog will talk about using two of our awesome features, the Form Builder and Automation Program Builder (APB). I’ll cover some other ways at the end though!

Thinking beyond the first step

Subscriber journeys almost always start with a form. But for your double opt-in strategy you will want to look at the big picture.

A double opt-in strategy asks subscribers to verify their email address. This is done by sending them a campaign, with a call to action. You will then want to filter those who did and didn’t verify their email. Not only that, but you want to talk to them after that and build a relationship too!

Our APB lets you do this easily, visually and in one place.

First, you’ll want to pull in your verification campaign. The one that thanks users for subscribing and asks them to verify their email with a stylish and obvious call to action.

Then add a wait stage and filter on the link label you applied to your call to action. The wait stage gives your new subscribers some time to find that email amidst the inbox noise!

Once your contacts progress through the filter you can add them to a list (or unsub list if they didn’t verify), and then you’re ready to build that subscriber relationship.

And, as you’re in the APB, you can do that by immediately adding those verified subscribers to your welcome program using the ‘Add to program’ stage. So, you can go from passer-by to engaged subscriber without moving a finger after setup.

 

Tackling the sign-up form

You’ve got the journey planned out. Now you need the form to get them there.

Use our Form Builder to create it. Just add some text (letting people know what they’re signing up to), an email element and a button to submit it – if you’re sending emails to contacts in the EU, make sure your text is compliant with GDPR. Next, add an action to add it to your “Double Opt-In” automation program that you created above. It might be worth making sure you remove contacts from the unsub list used above – just in case they come back to your form later and go through the program again!

At its most basic, it would look something like this.

Then all you need to do is host it on your website. Done. Easy!

You said there were other options…?

Using our Form Builder and APB is just one way you could create a double opt-in strategy.

Build forms with third party software? Get your data into Adestra with our Zapier integration.

Want to find out their preferences straight away? Trigger a campaign when the sign-up form is submitted, and link to a preference centre you built with the Form Builder too.

And there’s more. If you’re interested, we’d love to chat to you about how we can make your strategy succeed, and we’ve got previous with forms – check out this case study if you don’t believe me.

 

DISCLAIMER: The content and opinions within this blog are for information purposes only. They are not intended to constitute legal or other professional advice, and should not be relied on or treated as a substitute for specific advice relevant to particular circumstances, the Data Protection Act, or any other current or future legislation. Adestra shall accept no responsibility for any errors, omissions or misleading statements, or for any loss which may arise from reliance on materials contained within this blog.

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