The Double Opt-In Procedure in Online Marketing
A Double Opt-In (DOI) is a security feature when a user requests marketing emails or newsletters. The user immediately receives an email after the request, allowing them to confirm or reject the request. Only by clicking the confirmation link will the interested party be added to the email distribution list and allowed to receive offers in the future.
Advantages of the Double Opt-In Procedure:
- LEGALLY SECURE: Only the traceable Double Opt-In procedure guarantees absolute legal certainty and helps protect against unjustified lawsuits and complaints.
- HIGH DELIVERY RATES: The potential customer realizes during the registration process if they, for example, entered an incorrect address and can save your sender address in their contact list to prevent it from ending up in the spam folder later.
- MAINTAINED DATA RECORD: It can be assumed that confirmed data is not so-called “fake addresses,” ensuring that your data record remains maintained.
Double Opt-In and Data Protection
There are a few rules to keep in mind when requesting a Double Opt-In for address generation: In your order form, you must grant the interested party the right to withdraw at any time, provide a valid imprint, and refer to your privacy policy. Please also note that bundled offers are prohibited. If you work with the “service for data” model in your address generation, please ensure that you only collect contact data in exchange for offering a free whitepaper if you inform the user that they are providing their data as consideration for the whitepaper. If all of this is taken into account and you apply the Double Opt-In procedure, you are legally on safe ground, as your potential customer confirms their agreement with this measure by clicking the link.
Important Notes for the Confirmation Email
When sending your confirmation email, ensure that it is free from advertising. Once the interested party clicks your confirmation link, you may capture them as a subscriber. However, you should not store the IP address. Additionally, you are required to immediately delete personal data of unconfirmed registrations. Since you also have an obligation to log under the new GDPR, please ensure to save all steps in the registration process (date, time, URL, browser, operating system). This way, you can always prove when the user registered with you.
The New E-Privacy Regulation
It can be assumed that the new E-Privacy regulation will only allow the Double Opt-In procedure for marketing emails. If you do not choose the Double Opt-In procedure, expensive injunction lawsuits may follow. With the Double Opt-In, you can prove in the long run that you informed your newsletter subscribers about storing their data to send them marketing emails. Furthermore, as a company, you can assume that users who register for your newsletter are genuinely interested in your products and will read your newsletter in the future. The Double Opt-In thus helps secure your position while generating high-quality addresses, as these are interested customers.
Distinguishing Double Opt-In and Single Opt-In
Double Opt-In is distinct from Confirmed Opt-In and Single Opt-In. Single Opt-In is the simple opt-in. The user who, for example, subscribes to a newsletter, does not receive further confirmation during the registration process. The registration is effective immediately upon entering the database. In Confirmed Opt-In, the subscriber to a newsletter, unlike Single Opt-In, receives an extra confirmation in the form of a thank you for registering (e.g., “Thank you for subscribing”). This “thank you email” does not contain an additional confirmation link, where a further click confirms that the registration is desired (= Double Opt-In).[ /vc_column_text]
Your Contact for the Double Opt-In Procedure
For further questions on the topic, it is best to contact Tanja Hensler, our online specialist (hensler@trebbau.com, Tel.: 0221/37646 – 330).