Help Them Help You: Only 13% of Brands Include Social Sharing Options in Email Marketing

A new finding from Smith-Harmon (via eMarketer) is almost shocking: Only 13% of brands include buttons in emails that allow subscribers to share content via social networking and bookmarking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.

Although 41% of brands understand that a "forward to a friend" via email button makes sense, nearly half of brands surveyed don't include forward to a friend OR sharing buttons in their emails.

Few social media tactics are as effortless as adding social sharing to emails and other content. Providing a simple avenue for your email subscribers to share your content with their own networks on social sites benefits you and makes their lives easier if they want to tell their own communities about your content.

Choosing a platform that enables you to easily include these buttons and track the pass-along results can be invaluable to learning more about what interests your customers and what resonates with them enough to share with trusted friends.

If your brand isn't facilitating sharing, it's a huge opportunity lost - but one that is easily remedied.