We've required confirmed-opt-in for years. But a few months ago, I noticed that our servers were sending out hundreds of 'confirmation required' messages every day. They were going to obviously-bogus addresses, likely submitted to our submission forms by bots. Without opt-in, all those bogus addresses would be on our lists, inflating subscriber count, increasing bounces, lowering server reputation, etc. As it was, even just the hundreds of confirmation messages were beginning to impact server reputation, to the point that I added simple 'captcha' tests which require a human response, just to eliminate the bogus confirmation messages. Even after THAT, I find that maybe 25-50% of the folks who ask to subscribe never respond to the confirmation email.
A list of 100 validated and interested folks is worth far more than a list of 1000 "average users". On Mon, Nov 27, 2023 at 11:46 AM Randolf Richardson, Postmaster via mailop < mailop@mailop.org> wrote: > What have you found to be some of the best approaches to convince > clients that the confirmed opt-in process is necessary for operating > eMail lists? (The ethical aspects are pretty straight-forward.) > > Many marketing people seem to be terrified of the idea of users > having to confirm their consent when subscribing to a mailing list > (e.g., by following a unique link in an eMail message to complete the > process). The marketers almost always say "it will be too > complicated for the average user," and want to eliminate the > confirmation step altogether (which is not an ethical approach from > my perspective). > > Presenting legal aspects is quite convenient here in Canada > (because > of our anti-spam laws), and preventing inclusion in blacklists is > another helpful motivator, but I'd prefer to find a ways that get > mailing list operators to want to ensure that "every eMail recipient > consented" without the begrudging "we do this because we have to" > perspective. > > Thank you for your thoughts and ideas. > > Postmaster - postmas...@inter-corporate.com > Randolf Richardson - rand...@inter-corporate.com > Inter-Corporate Computer & Network Services, Inc. > Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada > https://www.inter-corporate.com/ > > > _______________________________________________ > mailop mailing list > mailop@mailop.org > https://list.mailop.org/listinfo/mailop >
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