In this free webinar, Justine Jordan, Marketing Director at Litmus, and I will share insights gained from examining the forwards generated by more than 400,000 email sends. We’ll cover benchmarks for forward-to-open rates, discuss different email tactics for spurring email forwards, and share real-world examples of highly viral emails. You can listen to the recording of the webinar here >> http://pages.litmus.com/lp/viral-email

2. @chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
We tend to associate ‘going viral’
with social media—in part because
it’s relatively easy to see and
measure the noise of social sharing.

3. However, the much quieter email
forward is often a much more
powerful influencer.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

9. The 1-to-1 or 1-to-few nature of
email forwards makes them much
more personal and much more
trusted—and therefore more likely to
drive action.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

10. Chad White @chadswhite
• Research Director at Litmus
• Author of Email Marketing Rules
• Written thousands of posts and articles on email
marketing
• Quoted in over 100 publications, including The
New York Times,
The Wall Street Journal,
and USA Today

11. Justine Jordan @meladorri
• Email critic and popular industry
speaker
• Directs all things marketing at Litmus
• Recipient of 2015 EEC Email
Marketing Thought Leader of the Year
award
• Organizer of The Email Design
Conference

13. To better understand the quiet, often invisible
influence of email forwards, we used Litmus’ Email
Analytics to analyze the forwards generated by
more than 400,000 email sends with at least 500
opens between Jan. 2013 and March 2015.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

14. To reduce the impact of list size,
we normalized forward activity by calculating
the forward-to-open rate—that is, what
percentage of opens generated a forward.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

15. And to understand the drivers of email forwarding,
we analyzed more than 200 emails from among the
top 1% of viral emails and another 200-plus emails
from around the 50th percentile—looking at
tactics, topics, and other email elements.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

16. You’ll receive a copy of The
Viral Email Report, slides,
and a recording following
the webinar.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

17. Benchmarks for Forw
ard-to-Open Rates

18. The median email (50th percentile)
produced a 0.27% forward-to-open rate. Put
another way, the middle-of-the-pack email
generates 1 forward for every 370 opens.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

19. The 99th percentile of viral emails was 17.6
times more viral than the median, generating
1 forward for every 21 opens.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

22. Tactics that Affect
Forward-to-Open Rates

23. Tactics we’ll explore…
• Audience Size
• Segmentation & Triggered Emails
• Personalization
• “Share with Your Network” Calls-to-Action
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

24. Audience Size
Does an email sent to a small audience or a
large audience have more viral potential?
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

25. Small audience! The median email among
those with 500 to 50,000 opens was forwarded
90% more than the median email among
those with more than 50,000 opens.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

26. And it’s even more stark among the most viral emails
Small Audience
Forward-to-Open Rate
Large Audience
Forward-to-Open Rate
Small vs. Large
99th Percentile 5.04% 1.91% 2.6
95th Percentile 2.29% 0.89% 2.6
90th Percentile 1.49% 0.60% 2.5
75th Percentile 0.71% 0.32% 2.2
50th Percentile 0.30% 0.16% 1.9
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

27. Segmentation & Triggers
Are segmented emails and triggered emails
more or less likely to be forwarded?
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

28. More likely! The emails in the 99th percentile
were 4.3 times more likely to be segmented
and 2.9 times more likely to be triggered than
emails in the 50th percentile.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

29. San Diego Magazine
segmented these event
promo emails to attendees
of last year’s event and to
attendees of another event
they held. Both were among
the top 1% of viral emails.

30. Personalization
Are personalized emails more or less likely to
be forwarded?
Note: We ignored first-name merges and other superficial forms of
personalization.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

31. More likely! Emails in the 99th percentile
were 4.5 times more likely than emails in the
50th percentile to include personalization.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

32. ‘Share with Your Network’ CTAs
Are emails that include SWYN calls-to-action
more or less likely to be forwarded?
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

33. More likely! Emails in the 99th percentile
were 13 times more likely to include a “share
with your network” call-to-action than emails in
the 50th percentile.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

34. This highly viral email
from Chevy Safe & Fun
included a photo taken
at an event, as well as
prominent “share with
your network” links.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

35. Recipients of this
segmented email from
JustGiving were very
happy to spread the word
that they were among the
top 1% of fundraisers
during 2014.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

36. Topics that Affect
Forward-to-Open Rates

37. Email topics we’ll explore…
• Promotions/Deals/Discounts
• News/Helpful Content
• Events/Webinars
• Transactional/Account Change/ Action Required
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

38. Promotions/Deals/Discounts
Are emails about promotions, deals, and
discounts more or less likely to be forwarded?
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

39. Less likely! Promotions were the most
common topic among emails in the 50th
percentile and were 67% less likely to be the
topic of the most viral 1% of emails.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

40. News/Helpful Content
Are emails about news and helpful content
more or less likely to be forwarded?
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

41. Less likely! Although very common in the
99th percentile of viral emails, news and
helpful content was slightly more prevalent
among emails in the 50th percentile.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

42. Promotions and helpful content are
staples of email marketing, so
subscribers are only driven
to forward those that are
truly great.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

43. Plan your email content calendar so
that you’re occasionally sending an
awesome deal, exclusive news, or
similarly impactful content.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

44. A really good deal—
combined with the
announcement of store
closings—made this
email from Home
Decorators Collection
highly viral.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

45. Presented as an
infographic, news that
GameChanger’s app
had tracked 800 million
pitches for amateur
teams went viral.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

46. Events/Webinars
Are emails about events and webinars that
require registration or an RSVP more or less
likely to be forwarded?
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

47. More likely! Emails in the 99th percentile
were 3.2 times more likely to be about an
event or webinar than emails in the 50th
percentile.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

48. An exciting,
controversial topic and
a compelling speaker
propelled this event
email into the top 1% of
most-forwarded emails.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

49. Transactional/Account Change
Are emails about transactions, account
changes, and required actions more or less
likely to be forwarded?
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

50. More likely! These emails were 4.6 times
more likely to be among the 99th percentile of
viral emails than among the 50th percentile.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

51. Two Types of Email Forwards…
• Social forwards build awareness and start others
down their own funnels toward conversions.
• Advice-seeking forwards help the forwarder decide
whether to convert.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

52. @chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Whereas most forwards
raise awareness and help
convince others to convert,
the forwards of this
triggered transactional email
from Glo primarily helped
the forwarder convert.

53. Final Thoughts

54. When your subscribers forward
your emails, they expand your reach, increase
conversions, and boost your email
engagement metrics—which is good for
branding, revenue, and deliverability.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

55. Forwards are a powerful indicator of the
overall health of your email program;
they’re a sign that you are fulfilling your
subscribers’ needs at the highest level.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

57. If your monthly forward-to-open rate is
in the bottom quartile (less than
0.11%), then your email program is
probably not delivering experiences
that are deeply relevant.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

58. How to track forwards
• Litmus Email Analytics detects ‘natural’ forwards—
those made by clicking the ‘forward’ button in your
email client.
• More insight than using ‘forward to a friend’
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail

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See how long each subscriber spent
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Who read, skimmed, or just glanced at
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Engagement

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See who opens in mobile,
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Device Usage

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63. Questions?
The slides, a recording, and copy of the full report will be sent
via email to everyone who registered.
Submit questions via the Q&A panel

64. litmus.com/giftcard
Coupon code: VIRALEMAIL
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