Does opt-in data perform better than soft opt-out data?

Yes, yes, yes, we know. The B2B opt-in data rules are changing. But we have marketers left, right and centre panicking that it is going to drastically affect their results. We’re here to tell you: REMAIN CALM. Here’s what you need to know about your data…

Does your opt-in data perform better than soft opt-out data?

Short answer: of course it does.

Opt-in data has come to you because they WANT to hear from you. They want to hear what you have to say, they are happy to receive communications from you. Sure, maybe your opt-in data isn’t always the top target audience you want to have a working relationship with. But you can guarantee because they came to you, they will engage more with your marketing campaigns. Hence an improvement on your open, engagement and click-through rates.

To date, our own opt-in data has delivered a click-through rate of 37.19%. Compared to the 26.15% of engaged soft opt-out data and 5.6% of cold data, it’s clear opt-in data performs better.

Now here’s where it gets tricky. Does opt-in data improve your conversion rates?

Well, it depends on where your data is coming from. Moving forward, it’s going to be important for your marketing to drive the right quality leads to your website and get them to agree to your communications. You can do this by “gating” converting material such as whitepapers and guides and by tracking which high-quality leads come from which marketing campaigns with UTM values.

What if we want to keep using soft opt-out data?

Well, here’s where the argument becomes a bit of a moot point. With the data laws changing, you won’t be legally allowed to use soft opt-out data in the UK and EU after May 2018. In the meantime, of course, you can keep using soft opt-out data. Soft opt-out data lists are a good way to get your top-target prospects to start engaging with your marketing and eventually turn them to opt-in contacts.

So don’t panic about the switch to opt-in data. It WILL perform higher. You just need to get the right quality contacts. That’s where these best practices come into play.