Building Connections through Your Opt-in Email Marketing Strategy

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Picture this: You’ve just created an amazing freebie or newsletter, and you’re excited to share it with your audience.

But as you start setting up your email opt-ins, you feel a bit lost in a maze of technical details and best practices. Don’t worry, you’re not alone! As an email marketing automation strategist, I’ve seen countless passionate business owners (including myself, once upon a time) stumble at this crucial first step.

That’s why I’m here to guide you through creating an opt-in email marketing strategy that not only works but also makes your subscribers feel instantly welcomed and valued from the moment they sign up for your freebie or newsletter. No confusion, no second-guessing. Just a smooth journey into your world that gets them excited about what you have to offer.

What is opt-in marketing?

Opt-in marketing is a consent-based approach where individuals voluntarily agree to receive marketing communications from a business. In the context of email marketing, it means people explicitly consent to join your email list, usually by filling out a form on your website or landing page.

It can also include someone checking off a box when they book a call that they consent to be added to your email list, asking someone if they’d like to be added to your email list, or someone asking you to add them to your newsletter.

The two words to pay attention to when it comes to opt-in email marketing are “explicit consent”. Tarzan Kay wrote a very clear and straightforward about what consent in email marketing does and doesn’t look like.

This approach is not just about legal compliance; it’s about building trust and establishing a relationship with your audience from the very beginning. When someone opts in, they’re signaling their interest in your content or offerings, making them more likely to engage with your emails.

How do I get people to opt-in to email?

Growing an email list takes effort, experimentation, time…and a whole lotta patience. Essentially, you have to put your opt-in out there – or conversely, if you’ve mostly opted out of opt-ins like have, then your newsletter sign-up page – in as many places as possible:

• In your social media bios
• All over your website (including footers and within blog posts)
• When you guest post on blogs
• Through newsletter swaps

And even though straight-up inviting your contacts to sign up. (Shout-out to fellow email marketing Katie Skelton for teaching me that one!)

Unfortunately, there are no short cuts – and there’s no better way to get me all fired up than adding people to your email list without their consent.

Do I need a double opt-in?

Whether or not your freebie or newsletter needs a double opt-in depends on a few things:

• Your business model
• Who you’re marketing to
• Where the people you’re marketing to are geographically located
• If you have a lot of spam or bot signups
• How people are coming onto your email list

Deciding which route works for your business is a piece of your overall opt-in email marketing strategy and how you design an opt-in flow so that you’re warmly welcoming in new subscribers.

The Challenge: Creating a Seamless Subscriber Opt-In Experience

The challenge is setting them up so that you’re creating a flow that’s doing just that. I’ve been on the receiving end of some pretty confusing journeys Setting up an opt-in flow that achieves a smooth onboarding experience isn’t always easy. I’ve been on the receiving end of some confusing journeys after signing up for other people’s email lists:

• Landing on ConvertKit’s default page instead of a personalized thank-you page
• Receiving ActiveCampaign’s default double opt-in email with no hint of what I’d signed up for
• Being taken to Mailerlite’s default confirmation page without clear next steps

These experiences left me scratching my head, wondering if I’d ever receive the promised content or when that free guide would arrive in my inbox.

This isn’t about judging anyone. It’s about recognizing the challenge of growing an email list and the time we invest in creating the perfect opt-in, only to potentially lose people along the way because we forgot about what happens between sign-up and delivery.

That’s why I created the ALIGN Framework – to guide you through creating a smooth, welcoming flow that’ll make your new subscribers feel right at home.

The ALIGN Framework: Email Opt-in Best Practices:

ALIGN isn’t just another acronym – it’s a powerful tool to ensure you’re building trust and connection from the moment someone joins your list. Like my overall approach to email marketing automation strategy,, ALIGN incorporates three key elements:

📨 Email deliverability = your emails arriving in your subscribers’ inboxes (and yes, that includes the promotions folder), as opposed to the spam folder or not arriving at all
🫂 Human connection = connecting with your community and creating pathways for a two-way dialogue via email marketing
✅ Consent = sending people the emails they gave you the ok to send them (and conversely, not sending the emails they said they don’t want)

Let’s break it down the framework.

A – Affirm Consent

First impressions matter, especially in email marketing. When someone lands on your opt-in page, they should immediately see:

• A clear link to your privacy statement
• Language assuring them they can unsubscribe at any time
• If you’re offering a freebie, a checkbox for explicit consent to join your newsletter

Why is this important? Many privacy laws, including GDPR and California Consumer Privacy Act, require these elements. Plus, it sets the tone for a transparent relationship with your subscribers.

Pro Tip: Consider using a tool like Iubenda to scan your website and create a dynamic privacy policy based on the information you’re collecting. This ensures you’re always up-to-date with legal requirements.

L – Learn from Questions

While we can’t read minds, we can ask smart questions at sign-up. ​(Similar to what I do on my newsletter signup page.) This helps you:

1. Send targeted, personalized, and relevant emails
2. Increase conversions and deliverability
3. Gain insights about your audience’s challenges and preferences

Five sample questions add to your newsletter signup or opt-in form:

Consider adding a field to your sign-up form that aligns with your email segmentation strategy. (No matter how simple you make it for folks, you’ll still always get a small proportion of subscribers who actually click on an option in an email.)

Not sure where to start? Choose one of the following:

1. How did you hear about me/us? (e.g. Podcast, Instagram, LinkedIn, Referral. This allows you to track your marketing efforts, and depending on the answer you can send an automated follow-up email.)
2. What is your biggest challenge right now when it comes to [your topic]? (Give them 3-4 short responses, including “something else”. If that’s the latter, you can send an automated follow-up email. If you notice a pattern, you can update the responses. Also a great market research tool!)
3. What topics are you most interested in learning about? (Set up answers as checkboxes. You can use this also to guide you in what to write about)
4. What’s your preferred learning style? (e.g., reading, video, audio)
5. What stage of business/life are you currently in? (e.g. When I helped one of my clients, a coach for teachers, to set this up we asked what grade do they teach so that they could receive the lessons targeted to their grade)

I – Implement Tagging / Segmentation / Grouping

Put the information you’ve gathered to work:

• Set up your email marketing software to automatically identify subscribers based on their responses to your intake question
• Identify where subscribers are in the process (e.g. “Currently Enrolled: Welcome sequence”)
• If offering a freebie or lead magnet, tag subscribers as either giving consent or not giving consent. And if they don’t give consent, you can either automatically unsubscribe them or exclude them from receiving additional emails from you.

This helps you organize your subscribers effectively and avoid overwhelming them with too many emails.

G – Guide with Gratitude

Your thank you page is more than just a formality – it’s an opportunity to:

• Confirm that the subscription went through
• Set expectations for what’s coming next
• Build trust by showing you deliver on your promises

Consider including a personal touch, like an image or video of yourself, to start building that human connection.

Engagement Booster: On your thank you page, tell subscribers to check their inbox for a specific subject line. This gets them ready to look for open your first email, boosting engagement from the start.

N – Nurture with Welcome Series

The final piece of the puzzle is your welcome series. This is where you:

• Introduce your content and set expectations
• Show appreciation for your new subscribers
• Reinforce your values and foster a connection

Remember, new subscribers are most excited to hear from you right when they sign up. Don’t leave them hanging!

Best practices include:

1. Thanking subscribers again
2. Reminding them who you are and what they signed up for
3. Setting clear expectations about email frequency
4. Asking questions to encourage replies (great for deliverability!)
5. Offering an option to opt out of the welcome sequence

Don’t yet have a welcome sequence? Liz Wilcox has an excellent training.

Why ALIGN Matters

I created this framework because I kept seeing businesses miss really important when setting up their opt-ins. By following ALIGN, you’re:

1. Following regulations that apply to businesses
2. Building trust with your audience
3. Gathering valuable insights from day one
4. Setting the stage for personalized, targeted communication
5. Boosting your email deliverability and engagement rates

Setting up your opt-ins doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By following the ALIGN Framework, you can create a seamless, compliant, and connection-building process that sets the stage for a great relationship with your subscribers.

Remember, every email address represents a real person who’s interested in what you have to offer. Treat them with respect, provide value, and watch your email marketing flourish!

Need help implementing the ALIGN Framework in your business?
Let’s chat about how we can optimize your email marketing strategy together!