Although more people still get coupons from the good old fashioned Sunday newspaper than any other source, a large and growing segment of the population is now using technology to receive their discount offers. According to a recent study released by Scarborough Research, more than 8.6 million households currently acquire coupons via text messages or email.

Unlike unsolicited bulk email offers for deals on things such as indoor pet potties and knockoff watches, the coupons we’re talking about are sent only to consumers who have volunteered (or “opted-in”) to receive them. This approach has several advantages to traditional marketing methods. Since a person can choose which offers to accept, it increases the relevancy of offers they receive, and the advertiser knows there will be more potential for them to take advantage of the offer. Also, with the variety and mobility of personal communications devices now available to us, we can often access our coupons right at the point of purchase.

So how do you opt-in to the deals you really want? It’s really fairly simple.

First of all, if there are certain brands, store or restaurants to which you are already fairly loyal, you’re likely to find an opportunity to sign up for email newsletters of various sorts on their websites. Sometimes you can even select various options or take a short survey to help them determine what offers will be of most interest to you. If the site offers shopping online, you can usually sign up for notification of special offers when you set up an account on the site. For those that don’t offer online shopping, you can still usually sign up for an email newsletter of some sort, or click to connect with them on social networking sites.

If you’re simply interested in exploring what is available out there, do a search for something like “email newsletter coupons.” You’ll find returns for everything from free yogurt and submarine sandwiches to discounts for lodging, department stores and common household necessities.

Another opportunity to opt-in for offers usually comes when you go online to register a product you’ve purchased for warranty purposes.

Much of the time, the offers you receive via opt-in will not only be more relevant to you, but they are often the best and most exclusive deals available.

After you sign up, be sure that your offers don’t get caught in your spam filters. You can either add the sender to your address list so it’s recognized, or be on the alert for anything marked as junk and whitelist the email manually after it comes in.

One other thing worth mentioning is that if you ever do get tired of receiving these offers, it’s usually a simple process to opt-out. Most reputable firms and sites include a link at the bottom of every email sent that allows you to click and unsubscribe.