Although I often tell people to add a ‘forward to a friend’ function in an email, I even sometimes question its effectiveness.

I mean, even if your email service provider gives you one of those forms where you fill out your friends’ email addresses, the results often look grim. I think you will agree with me, this is often because it’s much easier to hit the “forward” button on your email client and grab names out of your address book–but how often do people really do it? On the flip side– some email providers will record multiple opens with unique IP addresses as forwards, but there’s a whole slew of factors that could throw that number off. Sadly, forwards are probably the hardest metric to accurately measure.

Well today, I had a real “Aha!” moment. This morning at 9:10 am, a friend forwarded me an email from Linen ‘N Things, touting 25% off your total purchase. Now, I was excited about the potential savings opportunity, however, I was MORE excited when I started scrolling and realized she had been forwarded the email, by someone else who’d been forwarded by the original recipient. In total the email had reached 35 people through all that forwarding. Then I looked at the original send date of the email – this morning at 4:35 am – it all happened in a matter of hours!

The original email did contain a forward function, right at the top of the email ” Share the savings–Forward to your Friends and Family.” (with a link) Although the original recipient sent through his email client, I’m sure having it there served as a visual reminder.

Unfortunately it’s unlikely Linen ‘n Things will ever know how many people the email was actually forwarded to. However, assuming other recipients took the same action, the potential reach is huge. While not everyone will take action on the coupon, the whole ordeal creates a very positive impact on the brand.

So keep the faith, and the ‘forward to a friend’ feature in your emails!