Email company GetResponse released some data this week suggesting that the placement of social sharing buttons within your email newsletters increases click through rates by as much as 115%. Facebook was by far the most popular sharing option provided, followed by Twitter in a distant 2nd, with LinkedIn an even more distant 3rd. Interestingly though, it was LinkedIn that provided the best click through rate of the main sharing options provided.
So, if adding social sharing buttons to your newsletter is so productive why do only 18% include them? I suspect a major reason is that it isn't all that easy. Whilst adding sharing buttons to a webpage is generally a piece of cake, doing so for a newsletter is a bit trickier. Here are a few steps to help you add social sharing buttons to your emails.
5 steps to help make your emails social
- Create a web version of your newsletter – Firstly you need something to share. Whilst emails can be forwarded to other email accounts, if you want people reading it on Facebook or Twitter, they need a web page to visit, so make sure that there is a web archive of each newsletter.
- Select your social sharing provider – I personally use AddThis as they make it relatively simple to add buttons to newsletters
- Choose email newsletter – They provide you with options depending on whether you have a WordPress blog or whatever. You need to select email newsletter to have the code delivered in easy to embed html. I recommend signing up for the free stat service so you get info on how many people shared your newsletter.
- Give them the url of your newsletter – Remember you created a web version of your newsletter earlier? This is where you add it in. Select the style of button you want and hit generate code.
- Add the code in – You'll then be given a few lines of code to embed into your newsletter. It's well worth experimenting with location so you get the best results. Use the stats provided to compare both click through rate and social share stats.
And that's it. 5 easy steps to make your email newsletters much more social, and hopefully much more effective.
Do you use social buttons in your newsletters? How effective have you found them?
Hmm, interesting research. Wonder how they figured it out? It's surprisingly easy to do though so worth trying out. Thanks for the tips.
I must admit that I've never once wanted to share an email on social media. I can't see the point unless it's an offer or something. If it's a newsletter with multiple stories I just click through to the individual story and share that instead.
Yes I\’m much the same. If something that simple can improve CTR though it\’s worth trying out.