opt-in versus opt-out

When E-mails became the majority of communication tools, e-mail advertising created a new way for advertisers to send direct mail advertisements via E-mails. It is not surprising anymore that you always receive advertising E-mails from unknown parties, or you receive an option on choosing to receive or reject a company’s newsletter.

Opt-in E-mails allow the target audience to choose if they would like to be included in the mailing list and receive E-mails on certain categories. Advertisers then send out E-mail advertisements that the audience selected. It gives options to audiences to receive E-mails because they are willing to know about certain information. They are looking forward to news that they want. It reduces cost to advertisers that have to send out mass E-mails without any responses. Opt-in E-mails are more effective because advertisers know that the audience can be the target and they create outcomes instead of E-mails going into the junk box. 

Opt-out E-mails also called cold call E-mails, are mostly sent out to everyone. They are not potentially targeted or even fit the demographics. They are just E-mails received randomly to everyone in hope to get responses randomly as well. There are no strategies in opt-out E-mails. Advertisers would hardly identify their target with these E-mails. They are only receiving random requests. However, a larger group of people can be reached because advertisers get to send out E-mails to them. Another problem of opt-out E-mails is privacy problems; target audiences consider these E-mails spam E-mails. Some readers do not want their E-mail addresses to be published to different companies for commercial use. This is a concern on opt-in and opt-out E-mails.

Opt-in and opt-out are new trends that are beneficial to both audiences and advertisers. Advertisers can send out mass E-mails to its target audience, while audiences have a choice to reject E-mails from opt-out option if they do not want to receive these E-mails. From the perspective of an advertising planner, opt-in and opt-out E-mails would make online advertising more effective and result in less abandoned advertisements because audiences have their own choices.

Do you think opt-in E-mail advertising would be beneficial to advertisers? Is opt-in more cost effective? If you are an advertiser, do you prefer opt-in or opt-out Emails? If you were the target audience, would you prefer opt-in or opt-out E-mails?

Links about opt-in versus opt-out
http://www.euro.cauce.org/en/optinvsoptout.html

http://www.ezineuniversity.com/courses/ez101/101-06sk.html

Posted by guest author, Godina Lai.

Comments

[V. Stephens]

I don’t think opt-in E-mail advertising would be beneficial to advertisers. It may be more cost effective, but they are highly annoying to the recipients.

[Nick Naber]

I think the previous poster might be talking about opt-out e-mail advertising being annoying rather than opt-in. People choose to receive opt-in advertising, often as part of signing up on a website or during the check out process when buying something. That said, I find spam annoying. I expect it in my general accounts, but I have no idea how they get into my school account. My friends and I have received three messages in the last two weeks from the business school advertising Viagra. That's ridiculous. There's no stop to random spam anytime soon. Filters continue to improve, but morally questionable advertisers continue to find ways around them.

I don't know anybody that would click on an ad in a completely random e-mail. It seems like a waste of time for advertisers, but its distribution price (free) can't be beat. Just as mailing lists have been bought and sold for decades, lists of e-mail addresses will be sought after by spammers for years to come.

[Andrea Schneider]

I think opt-in emails are a great way to communicate with your consumer. The very fact that your audience has told you hey, I'd like to know more, is extremely useful strategically. For example I receive opt-in newsletters from many online retailers like jcrew.com, Borders, West Elm, and Good Magazine to name a few. Something that's so strategic about these "direct email" pieces is that it's essentially a point of purchase ad. All your interested consumer needs to do is follow a link, and then they are a click away from purchasing something they were interested in in the first place.

That said, advertisers can exploit this valuable tool. For example, I often eventually opt-out of these emails because my inbox is constantly bombarded. I must get an email or two every day from Pottery Barn even though I never buy anything there.

Advertisers should also ask consumers how often they'd like to be contacted and exactly what they want to know. Is it sale items? Is it a certain type of product or service? Because the technology is so easy to change and filter, advertisers should make opt-in emails more customizable to ensure that it's really serving the consumer rather than becoming a nuisance that's instantly redirected into the junk mail without so much as a glance. In this way they can also know how effective their messages are and add this into the evaluation of their strategy. If you're meeting the informational needs of a customer through opt-in emails, they're more likely to return the favor, and say, fill out a survey.

On another note. I think that opt-out emails are rarely successful. Yes, they have a greater reach, but they are invasive. Even those interested in the product or service would rather choose to receive something than have it pop up in their inbox. Opt-out emails are adding to clutter and spam, and are also turning consumers off to opt-in emails that may actually serve their needs. Opt-in emails are the strategic equivalent of being blindfolded, spun and throwing a handful of darts against the wall.

[brittany gonzalez]

I think that the majority of people find advertising email as junk mail and don’t spend that much time looking at them. Even if people mark the box that says they are interested they probably still really do not care about the advertisements they are bombarded with. Opt-in email can easily be confused with other spam advertising so from a strategic standpoint I do not think it is very effective since people might not even waste their time reading them.

Email advertising seems almost cheapening of a brand or product. It would be effective in reaching a large mass audience quickly, but actually producing more consumer awareness would most likely not change drastically.

As a consumer I would definitely prefer opt-in, because I’d be receiving product information on things I was at least semi-interested in. With opt-out emails advertisers have the ability to target and attract new potential consumers and it could be very effective in that aspect, but it just seems like people would delete these emails before they ever actually took time to invest in reading them and finding out something new.

Overall, email advertisements are not as effective in my opinion as other forms. With such a high volume of ads being sent out via email it is hard to distinguish which ones actually pertain to you or have some sort of value.