Looking for a better response rate for your email marketing? A recent study from the email marketing technology firm GetResponse shows that you can improve your click-thru rates by including social media sharing options within your emails. While it’s always a good idea to cross-promote your marketing channels for greater influence, this research shows how effective it can be to let your customers do the talking. Small to mid-sized businesses that added at least one social network sharing link improved click-thru rates (CTRs) by 30% with a 9.4% CTR. In comparison, promotional emails without any social network links generated a 7.2% CTR.  By adding in at least three social sharing icons, the email generated a 55% higher CTR than messages without any sharing options.

The Email Marketing and Social Media Integration Report also identified the most effective channels. Emails that could be shared on Twitter returned a 10.2 CTR, while Facebook returned a 9.1% response rate. It’s worth adding the social sharing links to your arsenal as most small to mid-sized business marketers do not. A mere 18.7% link campaigns to their Twitter accounts, while only 13.5% include links to other social media networks.

Consider the benefits of word-of-mouth marketing and make it easy for your customers and prospects to share your message among their friends and networks.