Double opt-in is a process which requires email recipients confirm that they want to receive further email communication. When a double opt-in process is enabled or setup, it will send out a follow-up email after a user subscribes to a service or a subscription. In the follow-up email, it is required that the recipient confirms his subscription again (by clicking on a link in the email) to receive regular email communication. The double opt-in process ensures that the recipients are sure they want to receive communication via email and hence, this makes the email list more qualified and engaging.

A double opt-in process comes with it’s advantages and disadvantages.

Some of it’s advantages are –

• It provides a cleaner and a more qualified list.
• Lower bounce rates as user confirms his subscription twice.
• Reduces spam complaints.
• In case of spam complaints, there is proof that the user had given his consent.
• It ensures increased user engagement. Since, the users have given their consent twice, they are more interested in the content and hence, it is more likely that the email open rate and click rate will be higher.

On the other hand, double opt-in process has some disadvantages too.

• The user list or email list grows slowly as the marketer needs to wait for the user to give his consent by clicking on the confirmation email.
• Sometimes, the email lands up in the spam or junk folder. Some users might not go through the pain of looking for the desired email which is sitting in the spam folder. Hence, it might be missed and user will not get on the list of qualified users.
• Sometimes, users might just forget or skip or miss to click on the confirmation email. This will again lead to users not qualifying for receiving emails.