Opt-in

Legally, you may only send newsletters to existing customers and/or subscribers who have given their explicit permission beforehand. Giving explicit permission beforehand is also called opting in.

When using a subscribe form, three types of opt-in are distinguished: single opt-in, confirmed opt-in and double opt-in.

• With single opt-in, someone subscribes via the subscribe form. They do not have to confirm his subscription first. The person is immediately added to your list of active subscribers. You can have a welcome email sent automatically to your new subscriber.
• With confirmed opt-in, a person who subscribes receives a welcome email which also contains an unsubscribe link. The new subscriber can unsubscribe directly if desired.
• With double opt-in, after subscribing, someone first receives a confirmation email with a link. Clicking on this link will confirm the subscription. The registration is only completed after confirmation, after which the subscriber is added to your list of active subscribers.

Single opt-in, confirmed opt-in and double opt-in are all permitted by the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM).

Which option to choose? 

In Laposta you can use any of the three options mentioned above for your subscribe form. You can indicate your preference for single opt-in or double opt-in (for each list) on the page Subscribers → Enrich → Subscribe. If you want to use confirmed opt-in, please tick single opt-in here; then you can add an unsubscribe link to your welcome mail.

The advantage of single opt-in is that people can subscribe easily - in one step. The disadvantage of single opt-in is that someone can be registered by someone else, leaving them with an unwanted subscription. We know from experience that this (fortunately) rarely happens. And should this happen, this person can always unsubscribe via the unsubscribe link in the newsletter (which is required by law).

The risk of misuse with single opt-in can be overcome by choosing confirmed or double opt-in. With confirmed opt-in, your subscriber can simply unsubscribe again immediately. With double opt-in, the subscriber must - as a second step - first confirm (validate) that they want to receive your newsletter.

With double opt-in, you are 100% sure that the person has given explicit permission to receive your newsletters. The disadvantage of double opt-in is that interested persons can forget to confirm their subscription. This happens quite regularly. From the perspective of double opt-in, it is not possible to send them a reminder later (read more explanation on this page).

Finally, the counterpart of opt-in is opt-out. In the case of opt-out, someone is sent a newsletter without their consent. In the case of opt-out, the subscriber can unsubscribe from a subsequent newsletter by using a link in the first newsletter. Opt-out is prohibited by law. The ACM considers opt-out to be spam (and so do we, of course). This type of mailing is not permitted through our programme.