You already know double opt-in email subscribers are like money in the bank. You also know how frustrating it is when you go through all the trouble to get someone to give you their email only to have them not confirm their email.
Having a killer confirmation email will make you money.
Let’s face it: The “Generic” email at Aweber.com is not going to seduce people into confirming their email. Because it has to be identical for every account and every list, it is by nature pretty uninspiring.
But the powers that be at Aweber have been kind enough to allow us to customize the message so you can make it more compelling.
Here’s the “generic” message Aweber automatically sends out:
Subject: RESPONSE REQUIRED: Confirm your request for information from {!listname}@aweber.com
Intro:
We received your request for information from the listname group before we begin sending you the information you requested, we want to be certain we have your permission.
Body Text:
———————————————————–
CONFIRM BY VISITING THE LINK BELOW:
http://www.aweber.com/z/c/?xxxxxxxx
Click the link above to give us permission to send you
information. It’s fast and easy! If you cannot click the
full URL above, please copy and paste it into your web
browser.
———————————————————–
If you do not want to subscribe, simply ignore this message.
Closing:
Thank You,
FullTiltBlogging.com
Not too appealing, huh?
Let’s see if we can dress it up a bit…
First, let’s look at that subject line.
You have two basic choices: You can use a pre-approved subject or you can create a custom subject. If you choose to create a custom subject line it has to be approved by Aweber before it will go out.
Instead of trying to come up with an acceptable subject line I always choose this pre-approved subject:
Confirm Your Request for Information
The next section is a brief (no more than 500 characters) reminder of the information they requested.
In this section I want to accomplish four things:
- I want to remind them of what they are subscribing to
- I want to remind them of a benefit they will gain by subscribing
- I want to remind them of the valuable bonus they get by subscribing
- I want to tell them why they are receiving this confirmation message
So here is an example from my Full Tilt Blogging newsletter:
Thank you for joining Full Tilt Bloggers. In order to activate your membership you need to follow the instructions below to verify your email address. We want to make sure we have the correct email address for you.
As soon as you do you will receive the Complete Guide to Blogging—a $50 value—as well as be subscribed to our weekly Full Tilt Blogging Newsletter with tips and tricks to get you more readers and make you more money.
That’s 426 characters. Feel free to use a similar introduction in your autoresponder—just change the autoresponder name, sign up bonus, etc. to fit your list.
The next section is “set in stone”—you can’t change this section as it is automatically inserted by Aweber.
The final section is the “salutation.” Here you only get 100 characters.
What I try to do in the salutation is to emotionally connect with the recipient as well as make a forward looking statement. Most of the time I use the exact same salutation, just changing the website mentioned:
I’m looking forward to working with you.
Happy Blogging,
Aaron
Aaron@FullTiltBlogging.com
The forward looking statement helps grab more confirms because it makes them think about what will be coming as soon as they subscribe: They will be working with me.
It’s subtle but powerful.
So do you customize your confirm message? If not, try using the tips here to do it. It’ll make you money, I promise.
If you are looking for other ways to get more subscribers to confirm, download my Subscriber Magic. It’s free. Go now to get it here:
http://www.FullTiltBlogging.com/submagic
If you aren’t yet building your own list, sign up for Aweber’s risk free trial and see how I use Aweber to make me over $23 for each person who subscribes to my list:
http://www.FullTiltBlogging.com/list
Popularity: 39% [?]
14 Comments
Thanks for the tip Aaron. Getting people to confirm their e-mail subscriptions is definitely one of the keys to building a strong, income supporting list. Modifying the script in the way you suggest looks like the way to go (it’s way better than the original). Thanks again!
- Dave
I am going to put an autoresponder on my blog this weekend, this is so helpful for me.
I have unsubscribed from so many lists as I get bombarded with emails I delete, I have wondered about the value of have a subscribe box.
The 4 things you want to accomplish is a great list
Thank you for a great article and use o Aweber
Suzie
Providing a personal touch is a sure fire way to stand out from the crowd. Even if it’s a canned message, it’s nice to see that some one has put some thought into their communication system instead of just blindly installing something and using the default.
I agree with the view points,put forth by Mark,Dave and Suzie. Subscription confirmation is vital in the list-building process. As Aaron suggested,having a good subject line and salutation with personal touch, is a key to online success. Bringing in changes over the generic,stereo type subject line will definitely drive traffic to your blog. Thanks to Aaron for today’s tips.
You are quite right Aaron. I kept hearing the money is in the list but i thought to myself that I wasn’t ready to start sending emails to clients.
Now I have seen that subscribing to eweber is a priority if i have to grow my business to the next level.
So that is the route that i am taking now.
So the only thing I wonder about is having an article or something of value to provide to induce folks to get on your list. That’s something I need to work on.
This was excellent advice. I enjoy using AWeber for my newsletters and autoresponders, but I needed help with customizing the confirmation email.
My challenge is coming up with a list name that the subscriber will recognize since the number of characters is limited, but you can bet that I’m going to change the final salutation to the “the looking forward…” right away.
Aaron — this is great. There is nothing worse than looking at the “unverified” subs in Aweber. Very depressing. Thanks for the excellent advice.
I am attempting to receive the material from Daegan Smith. This is very confusing, and if I am not to receive it, Please let me know. I can not take all evening retrieving it. It should be explained for those of us who are not fully informed of the wonders of the computer.
Thank you,
M. Loretta Gray
mlgthg@aol.com
Um, Loretta, thanks for your input?
The “money is in the list?” Do you agreed? I’m not 100% agreed! Why?
Actually the “money is in the Relationship you build with your list”. Statistic showing that the subscribe list will buy their first product from you after 5-7 follow up emails.
It’s because you already build up the relationship and trust with your list. They trust you that you are reliable and you’re are the best person to provide solution to their problem.
In order to build the relationship with your list, you need “personalize” your messages even is “autopilot”. You need personalize it like you talk with your friends and provide the “valuable” advices to them.
Your “Subscriber Magic” is too “technical” for Non-techie newbies to understand:)
To your Success
Bryan Hee
Good point Bryan. I have seen many people with LARGE lists who can’t make a dime because they don’t develop a relationship.
Hello,My name is Bistra.I’m 38 and Im a Sunday school teacher.
Hey Bistra, welcome to the party.
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