Direct email marketing is all about getting your list; the larger your list the more successful you become. There are many unsuccessful ways for building email marketing lists. You don’t want to be including “harvesting” lists. This can be either manually or automated from anywhere people are surfing the internet, such as forums or chatrooms. Unfortunately, there are multiple companies that do solely that. The harvest your information and then sell that information for a profit. Then people receive emails from places They’ve never heard of. To try and stop or contain all of this, Congress passed the CAN-SPAM Act. This act required marketers to include unsubscribe links, physical addresses, clear subject headings and legitimate “To” and “From” addresses. This also allows people to be prosecuted for harvesting lists or sending messages through false IP addresses. To avoid getting in trouble, the email marketing genre had to rethink and redo much of how they did business to keep them from being banned by popular email services like Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL and more. Currently, there are two ways for your subscribers to “opt-in” to marketing solicitations. These are known as Single Opt-in and Double Opt-in options. You will read that the most recognized and recommended method is the double opt-in method, however, single opt-ins are legal as well, and can be cheaper and easier to obtain.

Online mailing list options: Single opt-in
The Single Opt-in is simply when a person provides their email address just one time to a company or person. This allows someone to sign up for a newsletter or updates but never receive a confirmation. Also, let’s say if you buy a product from an ecommerce website, that business can legally send you business related emails about site updates, new information and products and more, even if you don’t request any additional information. How do they get away with this? This is legally considered a previous relationship with a client. This isn’t only for online stores. If you walk into a retail store, fill out a survey, leave your email on the survey, you have just opted into the single opt in. This is why single opt ins are more common, thus the lists are easier and cheaper to obtain.

The famous Double Opt-in
Most companies and even their clients prefer the double opt in. Maybe you have seen it, maybe not. You sign up for something, register for something, somehow make your presence known online. This is the first opt in of the process. Then, you open your email and get a message to confirm your email address. You must click or cut and paste the provided link to activate yourself or your account. This is the second part of the double opt in. The benefit is the second, conscious effort of the consumer to opt in. They showed their interest in what was offered, even through something as private and personal as their email. This validates double opt ins and makes them much harder to obtain versus single opt in. They may cost more, but the double opt in lists are from sources that are genuinely interested in the services offered, and not possibly harvested by email stalkers. They may cost more, but are recommended.

When looking through the best mailing list options, look wisely. When it comes to online mailing lists BDirect Marketing can help you achieve your goals.

http://www.bdirectlists.com