One of the painful truths that companies who go the double opt in email marketing route encounter are customers who don’t follow through with the sign-up process. Although operating a mass email campaign doesn’t require that you have your customers go through the double opt in process, it’s a common practice among those who want to absolutely ensure that anyone who signs up for their marketing campaign is aware of what they’re doing. This is done to lower the risk of being accidentally identified as spam by forgetful subscribers.

Alas, the question remains: what can your company do to realize the full potential of a mass email campaign when a huge number fail to follow up with step two? One method that’s darn near foolproof is offering incentives for signing up. Dangling a few carrots never hurt anyone, and by doing so you’re practically assuring a much higher through rate.

One method that’s proven successful is to offer a coupon via email on completion of the signup process. Be sure to make it a substantial coupon – something like a 25% discount, or a buy-one-get-one-free deal – that will actually be missed if it’s not received. It’s also a good idea to attach an expiration date to the coupon to bring with it a sense of urgency that wouldn’t be there otherwise.