Social Components Boost Email Campaigns

The success of social and email marketing are not mutually exclusive, new research suggests. On the contrary, social features -- like icons that allow users to share email with Facebook friends and Twitter followers -- are proving effective at boosting the value of email campaigns.
 
In particular, newsletters that included social sharing buttons had an average click-through rate 158% higher than those that lack such features, according to the email marketing specialists at GetResponse.
 
Over the past year, the share of users who included social sharing buttons in their emails increased from 18.3% to 29.4% -- which represents an annual increase of 61%.
 
Facebook was included in almost every social email -- and became the most popular sharing option. Since 2011, its popularity as a sharing feature has increased by nearly 9%, GetResponse reports.
 
Twitter came in at a close second, almost doubling its result from the previous year, while LinkedIn noted a huge leap. In fact, the number of emails that included a link to the professional social network increased from 8.5% last year to 68.1%.
 
“No wonder, since [LinkedIn] kept its position of the top performer in email CTR,” noted Karolina Kurcwald, a social media expert at GetResponse.
 
Marketers not only share more frequently, but also share on more social channels. The number of marketers that include three social sharing icons increased from just 7.4% in 2011 to almost 40% in 2012. An even larger gain was observed for four and more icons that were previously used by just 0.1% -- now used by 34.9%.
 
According to Karolina: “It’s interesting to see how Pinterest is performing (not included in our previous research), with a result of 46.4% of marketers who included social sharing.”

5 comments about "Social Components Boost Email Campaigns".
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  1. Dela Quist from Alchemy Worx Ltd, April 1, 2013 at 7:04 p.m.

    There are lies damn lies and bad infographics.

    This piece of research is deeply flawed and it's findings completely misleading. Worse than that it fails the basic math test.

    GetResponse claim that including a linked in icon in your email improves average click rates from 2.4% to 6.2% - that is NOT a 158% increase it is a 258% increase! How can you trust research from people who make that kind of mistake!

    Even if you are generous enough to overlook that HUGE error, last years findings (dropped from this years infographic) stated that including a LinkedIn icon in your email will generate 4 - YES ONLY FOUR LinkedIn shares per 10000 emails opened. That is a share rate of 0.00008% (if you assume an open rate of 20%) and yet the study claims including a LI icon last year boosted click rates by 7%!

    To do that every share would have to generate 875 clicks. I doubt even the most enthusiastic drinker of social media cool aid would believe that to be true

    Dela Quist
    CEO
    Alchemy Worx

  2. Davida Tretout from Go2Chic, April 1, 2013 at 8:57 p.m.

    I've always found social shares to be a great engagement tool in client email campaigns. Kudos!

  3. Karolina Kurcwald from GetResponse, April 3, 2013 at 9:57 a.m.

    Hi, I'm Social Media Expert for GetResponse and one of the authors of the report and just wanted to clarify something in relation to Dela Quist's comment.

    Dela's right in that 6.2 constitutes 258% of 2.4 but the difference between them - hence the increase in CTR - is 158% by which the CTR is boosted.

    The change in percentage overtime is calculated by subtracting the earlier value from the later value, then dividing the result by the earlier value and multiplying it by 100%. That value gives you 158% and this is the number we're giving as the increase in CTR.

    As for last year's findings, there is a fundamental distinction that should be made between share rate and click rate which are not calculated in the same way and as such should not be compared.

    I'll be happy to explain the methodology of the research in greater detail - if you have any questions, please drop me an email at karolina.kurcwald@getresponse.com. Thanks!

  4. Dela Quist from Alchemy Worx Ltd, April 3, 2013 at 10:33 a.m.

    Hi Karolina
    You beat me too it, but it has just been brought to my attention that my comment (posted at 1am after a 9 hour flight) reads much more harshly than I intended. You are correct that 158% represents the increase, but it was reported in a way that was open to misinterpretation by a tired person :-) As to whether the mere presence of a Linked in icon can improve your click rates by such a staggering amount? No chance! So lets just agree to disagree

  5. Karolina Kurcwald from GetResponse, April 3, 2013 at 10:48 a.m.

    Agreed :) And sorry for any confusion - we'll make sure to be as clear as possible especially when numbers are concerned.
    And speaking of numbers - this is what statistics are, they're just... statistics (like that joke when a statistician tried to cross a river that was 1 meter deep on average and drowned). We examined over half a billion emails for the research but what the study provided is merely a point of reference while the most relevant conclusions are still (and always) those that you draw by testing things yourself.

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