Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson

SPECIAL SERIES ==> 🪦 The Email Rule Everyone Swore Was Right Is Dead <== | BATHROOM Break #122 COLLAB: The Marketing Millennials + Do This, Not That

August 24, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The Email Rules That Marketers Are Finally Abandoning

In a wide-ranging bathroom break conversation, Jay Schwedelson (of Do This, NOT That) and Daniel Murray (of The Marketing Millennials) declare two long-standing email marketing conventions dead or dying: double opt-in and the requirement for business email addresses. The episode draws on fresh data and practical experience to argue that both practices are hurting marketers more than helping them.

The Double Opt-In Problem

Jay opens with a finding from GetResponse that visibly delights him: double opt-in — the practice of requiring new subscribers to confirm their signup by clicking a link in a follow-up email — is in decline, and for good reason. The conventional wisdom held that double opt-in was the gold standard for list quality and privacy compliance. But the data tells a different story.

The first problem is leakage. Roughly 30 to 40 percent of people who think they've signed up for a list never complete the double opt-in step. They fill out the form, expect to receive content, and then... nothing. "You're actually upsetting about 30 or 40 percent of the people that think they signed up for something," Jay says. These people fall into a gray zone — they're not on the list, but they also didn't explicitly reject it.

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What you'll learn

1 (01:32) **Double Opt-In Is Dying** - Jay opens the main argument: the long-held rule that double opt-in is the gold standard for email lists is now bad for marketers.
2 (03:23) **Requiring Business Emails Is Also Fading** - Daniel pivots to a second dying rule: forcing B2B signups to use a work email address.
3 (05:52) **Caveat for Demo Requests** - Jay clarifies the one exception to the business-email rule.
4 Standout Quotes
5 (01:54) “Everybody used to say this is the right way to do it… but here's what GetResponse and what I believe also: it's garbage for marketers.”
6 (02:50) “The people that do actually take the action to double opt-in are a subset of people that are all about privacy… then if you email them just a little bit too much, they're the ones who take action to report you as a spam complaint.”
7 (05:34) “When they go to your site and they try to download that guide and they can't do it because they don't have a work email address… when they eventually do get that job, you're the last company on earth that they're going to want to turn to.”

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Partner with Jay: https://www.jayschwedelson.com/contact

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Check out Jay Schwedelson's new book: Stupider People Have Done It

All net proceeds are donated to The V Foundation for Cancer Research, let's kick cancer's butt: https://www.amazon.com/Stupider-People-Have-Done-Marketing/dp/1637635206

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Subscribe to Jay's newsletter for weekly marketing tips and tactics: https://www.jayschwedelson.com/newsletter

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Check out Eventastic (FREE + VIRTUAL!) https://www.eventastic.com

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Connect with Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schwedelson/

Check out Jay's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@schwedelson

Check out Jay's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jayschwedelson/

Ask Jay anything: https://www.jayschwedelson.com/ask

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Moving a kid into a college dorm apparently means losing a two-hour fight with a dresser, and Jay Schwedelson has the sweat to prove it. From there, he and Daniel Murray get into the marketing habits they are happy to watch die off, including one that everybody was told was the responsible way to do things. There is also a strong case that the email address you keep demanding from prospects is the wrong one entirely.

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Best Moments:

(00:31) Jay builds a dorm dresser in two hours while the dad next door finishes his in 28 minutes

(01:41) A GetResponse study says double opt-in is dying, and Jay could not be more thrilled about it

(02:28) Roughly 30 to 40 percent of people never go back to confirm, so you quietly lose them

(02:48) Spam complaints run higher on double opt-in lists because of who actually clicks that button

(03:52) Personal emails match better