Hard or Soft Boiled Opt-In

Hard or Soft Opt-In

A hard opt-in can occur as described above - but might also occur when a subscriber ticks a box on a website (or forgets to untick a box). It might also occur when a consumer completes a contest registration form manually (like with a pen and a paper).

A soft opt-in occurs when the consumer has an existing business relationship with someone such as their bank or even their movie rental company.

In both cases these hard and soft opt-in means are not verifiable and are openly subject to tampering and/or outright falsification. These are in stark contrast with a hard opt-in whereby a consumer sends an SMS message from their mobile phone expressly requesting specific content.

It is always wise to use a hard opt-in - and to avoid any soft opt-in practices.

There was a brief time when we looked at launching a marketing service that would give consumers full and complete information over their opt-in preferences for mobile and e-mail marketing. We were ready to pull back the covers and expose list brokers to a nice bright light.

I believe that this is not only a good way to get rid of cockroaches and other vermen - but it is a way to legitimize the list brokering industry and in so doing to add value.

Brands will far less likely to sell their lists to less than reputable companies. They will far less likely to sell their lists to often or too widely. And sensing a decrease in revenue will actually charge more for each individual consumer's marketing permission. That's right - permission takes on a whole new level of value.

What do you think?