One of the questions I get routinely from clients big and small is, “Should I auto-confirm new subscribers.”
I’ve gone back and forth with the Kit deliverability team on this. Kit recommends that you do NOT auto-confirm and instead use their double-opt-in feature to confirm new subscribers really want to be on your email list.
Though this is good advice for people new to the email marketing space and is good for helping Kit keep a good sending reputation, but this is terrible advice if you actually want to grow your list by giving people multiple chances to confirm.
By default, Kit only lets you send ONE confirmation email. And if that goes to your subscriber’s junk folder or they never click to confirm, there’s no way to send a second confirmation or serve them unless they subscribe again.
Typically for my clients I recommend that they auto-confirm new subscribers AND send the incentive email.
However, there’s a caveat…
The incentive email should be completely customized and incentivize new subscribers to actually take action and click to download whatever it is they just opted-in for.
This does a few things.
- Teaches new subscribers to click
- Sends good signals to their email client that you are a safe sender
- Delivers the goods that they wanted to join your list for.
Then, these new subscribers should enter a screening automation where you’re either tracking opens, clicks, or both in the first 7-14 days. You just want signs that they want to be there.
If they don’t take the action you want, they get booted off your list with an automatic unsubscribe.
Once these new subscribers complete their onboarding series, you can automatically send a bridge email separately to transition them to your regular broadcasts so they get “indoctrinated” and know what to expect going forward.
More on that bridge email and automation loop soon, so stay tuned.
I’m considering building out a Kit automation database where each month you’ll get a plug-and-play automation template for a key business function that makes your email marketing effortless and monthly office hours. If that sounds helpful 👉 Click Here To Join The Waitlist.
