Referrals by Request

Don't assume your friends are going to forward your emails. Sometimes, you have to ask them to do it

by Stu Carty,   Former Regional Development Director

Everyone knows the classic saying "If you want something, you have to ask for it." It holds true when it comes to getting your email recipients to forward your content on to their friends, family, and associates: You have to ask them to do it.

You already ask for your customers' email addresses; why be afraid to ask customers to pass along your valuable content as well? When you come right out and ask people to pass along your email, very often, people will do it. Sometimes we as humans need to be told to do something. Putting call-to-action pass-along messages in your email -- not just at the bottom, but all over your message -- will help build referrals and grow your list. This is what referral marketing is all about.

Before I delve into the nuts and bolts of getting customers to forward your message, I should point out the obvious: Your content has to be worth sharing. Informative content tends to be shared the most. By positioning yourself as an industry expert and adding value to your newsletter content, you're more likely to get a "yes" response when asking customers to share your emails. Other forms of content that do well in the sharing department include promotional messages and special relationship messages, such as frequent diner bonuses.

Using a forward icon

There are a few ways to work the call-to-forward action into your content. First and easiest is the automatic forward-this-email link placed in the footer of every email you send via Constant Contact. You can easily override the generic text with a more tailored message of your own. For instance, I change the forward link text in my seminar reminder messages to say, "Forward this email to other people that might want to attend this seminar." This is a much more direct appeal than a generic "Forward email" call to action.

But, you can't just rely on the forward link at the bottom of your email; you have to use other cues to prompt recipients to pass along your content. A sure-fire way to do this is to include a direct appeal in your text. Your email should have a friendly and narrative tone, so putting a sentence along the lines of "If you enjoy this newsletter, please forward it along to your friends" should be relatively easy without making it sound too forced.

For those Email Marketing customers who also subscribe to Image Hosting, there are a few stock "Forward to a Friend" buttons available that you can drop into your messages. I highly recommend putting one near the top of your message, somewhere near the middle, and one near the bottom. For a more eye-pleasing design, stagger the images by left or right justifying them throughout the text.

Just don't include so many forward invites that it complicates the flow of your email. Always stick to the "keep it short and sweet" rule for better results, as email campaigns in general should be easy to read and act upon.

Why the forward links?

You might be asking, Why use the forward links and buttons in your message and not just have recipients click the Forward button in their email client? The simple answer is because links inside the email are trackable, with the results showing up in your reports. You can see who on your list forwarded the email and can get a better sense of what content is resonating with your fans. If a recipient forwards using their email client, your content is still passed along but you lose the tracking.

Note that you won't be able to see who your email was forwarded to as a matter of privacy, but there is a "Subscribe to this Newsletter" link automatically at the top of any forwarded email as a way to virally grow your list.

You've built up a trusted relationship with good email. Now take advantage of that relationship to spread your content beyond your contact list. Ask your customers to refer your content to their circle of influence.

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