While the era of mass email blasts may be behind us, email marketing is far from obsolete. In fact, by tapping into your existing leads, you can not only engage your current audience but also generate a substantial number of new leads. In this post, we’ll explore a strategy to encourage your leads to become advocates for your brand, transforming them into a valuable source of new leads through email marketing.

How to Encourage Leads to Share Your Content:

Create Compelling CTAs:

Develop clear call-to-action (CTA) buttons encouraging your leads to share your content via email. Examples used at HubSpot can be easily customized and incorporated into your marketing assets.

Convert Buttons to Mailto Links:

Transform these buttons into customized mailto links. This hyperlink, using ‘mailto’ instead of ‘http,’ opens a new email compose window when clicked, streamlining the sharing process. Customize the link with a pre-populated subject line and body content.

Why These Buttons Work:

Email serves as a form of social proof, leveraging the concept that if others are engaging with your content and are trusted by your leads, it validates the content for new users. HubSpot, for instance, generates 17 times more leads from email sharing links than social media sharing links.

Thank-You Page:

Encourage sharing immediately after a lead fills out a form. Add buttons on the thank-you page to prompt sharing with friends and colleagues.

Follow-Up Email:

Send a simple follow-up email providing the offer link, an email share button, and a call-to-action for the next stage in your buying cycle. This email serves as a reference for future sharing.

Marketing Emails:

Incorporate share buttons in your targeted email campaigns. Even if emails are specific to certain segments, offer opportunities to share content that recipients believe would interest their network.

How to Measure Your Results:

Use Tracking URLs:

Include a tracking URL in your mailto link to monitor traffic and leads generated by the “Email to a Friend” buttons. HubSpot provides an easy-to-use tracking URL builder.

Analyze Results:

Utilize HubSpot’s Sources report to assess the impact of your “Email to a Friend” buttons. Track traffic, new contacts, and customer conversions resulting from leads who shared these emails.

Conclusion:

By encouraging your leads to share your content, you can turn them into active participants in your email marketing strategy. This user-generated referral approach not only boosts engagement but can significantly contribute to your lead generation efforts. Consider implementing the “Email to a Friend” button and watch as your email marketing evolves into a top lead generation channel. Share your experiences and strategies in the comments below!