Direct Marketing via email, or Email Marketing, can be a powerful and profitable channel for any business. According to the Direct Marketing Association, every single dollar spent on Email Marketing can return more than $43. The foundation of any successful Email Marketing campaign is a viable contact list. A viable list continues to grow and, equally as important, is composed of contacts that are interested in your brand, business or service. There is little benefit to be gained from filling your contact list with recipients who have shown no interest in your business. Tactics such as buying lists of email addresses from third parties a practice prohibited by most email senders, including Talk Fusion do far more harm than good. They increase spam complaints, reduce deliverability and can even cause you to be blacklisted. The bottom line regarding email lists is this: A list of recipients that have confirmed their desire to receive your email is better, safer and more productive for Internet Service Providers (ISPs), for reputable senders like Talk Fusion, for your customers, and for you. Verification protocols like Double Opt-In are designed to help keep your lists clean and deliverability high. WHAT IS DOUBLE OPT-IN EMAIL VERIFICATION? It may sound complicated, but Double Opt-In is really just a way for your recipients to confirm that they wish to receive your email. By verifying a contact s desire to receive your correspondence, Double Opt-In (also called Confirmed Opt-In ) not only reduces spam complaints and the number of dead email addresses in your contact lists, but also enhances your reputation and credibility by letting your recipients know you care about their privacy, security and preferences. Double Opt-In is considered an industry-standard Best Practice for building clean contact lists. It is used by retailers, financial institutions, email senders and marketers, and many others, and is the best way to keep your lists clean and enjoy optimum deliverability. 2
HOW DOES IT WORK? The way Double Opt-In Email Verification works is very straightforward: Whenever someone joins your mailing list, they are sent an email asking them to confirm, by clicking a link, that they wish to receive your correspondence. Here is an example of the kind of verification email automatically generated by a Double Opt-In system: When they click the link, they are taken to a pop-up website thanking them for their confirmation, and added to your list as a verified recipient. If they do not confirm their desire to receive your email, a Double Opt- In system will not allow you to send them email. They will either be purged from your list, or remain in your contacts, but designated as pending or unverified. It s that simple! Double Opt-In does all the verification work, automatically protecting you and your email sender while giving your contacts confidence. 3
DOUBLE OPT-IN & TALK FUSION Talk Fusion uses Double Opt-In Email Verification for a number of reasons: It helps keep Customer and Associate Spam Complaint Rates low It helps Talk Fusion maintain maximum deliverability of Video Email and Video Newsletters It helps maintain Talk Fusion s worldwide reputation as a trusted whitelisted safe sender It is favorably viewed by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) worldwide It lets your own customers and contacts know that you are anti-spam It reduces dead email addresses taking up space in your contact lists What s more, Talk Fusion s own Double Opt-In system has been designed to integrate seamlessly with the Talk Fusion Video Communication Products, and to offer a more personalized connection between you and your contacts. For instance, Talk Fusion s E-Subscription 2.0 web sign-up forms can be attached to a Video Email Auto Responder campaign that engages new contacts using Talk Fusion Video Email anytime, around the clock; when a website visitor fills out your form and confirms their subscription by clicking the link in the automatically generated confirmation email, the Video Email Auto Responder campaign immediately begins, following up with the new contact at a frequency and interval you decide. Talk Fusion Double Opt-In also allows you to customize the message in your confirmation email. You can even send a uniquely tailored confirmation request in any language! Each time you add a single contact or import a new list into your Address Book, or send a Video Email or Video Newsletter to a recipient not already in your Address Book, Talk Fusion Double Opt-In automatically sends your confirmation email, and adds the contact to your Address Book. Until the recipient verifies their desire to be added to your list, the contact s status is displayed as Confirmation Pending in your Contact Manager; this will change to Confirmed once the recipient clicks the link. If your contact has already been verified, and clicks the confirmation link again, he or she will be directed to a pop-up window letting them know that they are already confirmed. All the elements of Talk Fusion Double Opt-In work together to automatically provide you with the most viable, secure and deliverable contact list possible. 4
BEST PRACTICES Help keep your mailing lists clean by regularly discarding dead and unconfirmed email addresses. Never import purchased or third-party lists of contacts. This practice is prohibited by most reputable email senders including Talk Fusion and could have serious consequences. Be on the lookout for any spam complaints and undeliverable mail. Go through your lists and delete the relevant addresses any time spam complaints or notices of undeliverable mail appear. When customizing a confirmation email, be sure to politely remind recipients that Double Opt-In is good for them, too. If recipients in your contact lists remain unconfirmed for an extended period of time, contact them via another means (alternate email address, phone, etc.) and remind them to confirm or ask them to sign up again. Alternatively, you can delete them from your list and re-enter their information manually, and they will be re-sent a confirmation email. Talk Fusion s Double Opt-In Email Verification focuses your communications on the people who want to hear from you, while providing effortless list management and maintaining Talk Fusion s unbeatable deliverability and service. Learn more about the Talk Fusion Video Communication Products and Join Us at www.talkfusion.com. 5