MV Braverman

The vast majority of marketers hate double opt-in. That's understandable: it adds friction to the process and can make your list growth slower. A well-designed subscriber journey can make the double opt in process work for you, not against you. Build a journey where every step, from sign-up to confirmation to a welcome is clear, congruent, concise, and compelling. Having a new subscriber open a click on that initial email is a great signal of their interest to their mailbox provider, and makes it more likely that they will remember you.

Don't assume that anything in email marketing, including automation and authentication, is "set it and forget it". Regularly review your metrics and pay attention to those that you don't see in your platform's dashboard. Google Postmaster Tools, blocklist monitoring, DMARC reports, and others are key parts of your deliverability toolbox.

A great engagement metric is how many people reply to your emails. Replies are a positive signal to their mailbox provider and a great way for you to see what content resonates with your subscribers.

The easiest way to share an email is to forward it. Cater to this by encouraging your current subscribers to forward and give recipients an easy way to subscribe. Consider adding a CTA at the top of your emails (this is a great A/B test opportunity), something like: Did someone forward this to you? Click here to subscribe (make an effort to tailor it to your brand voice). This approach signals to subscribers that they could forward and gives subtle social proof ("other people find these worth forwarding").

Use deliverability tools for the entirety of your customer journey. When someone subscribes, use an email address verification service and seriously consider double opt in. Continue to verify email addresses as part of your list cleaning - about 20% of an average list decays every year. Use blocklist checkers to set up alerts, inbox placement tests to get additional insights, and don't forget those DMARC reports.

Projecting empathy and calm, demonstrating that you appreciate the importance of the problem to them and your commitment to solving it, asking clear and concise questions, and reflecting back to them your understanding of what they'd said will get you to a resolution even if you can't fix the underlying issue.