We tend to associate “going viral” with social media—in part because it’s relatively easy to see and measure the very public noise of social sharing in terms of likes, favorites, and retweets. However, the much quieter email forward is often a considerably more powerful influencer because its sharing is more targeted, personal, and urgent. In this presentation, Chad White, Research Director at Litmus, and Justine Jordan, Marketing Director at Litmus, share insights gained from examining the forwards generated by more than 400,000 email sends. They cover benchmarks for forward-to-open rates, discuss different email tactics for spurring email forwards, and share real-world examples of highly viral emails.

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. Discover how to get your emails
shared.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
GET THE DETAILS 

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

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

18. Benchmarks for Forw
ard-to-Open Rates

19. 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

20. 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

23. Get more viral email benchmarks and
research findings
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
DOWNLOAD THE FREE REPORT 

24. Tactics that Affect
Forward-to-Open Rates

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

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

27. 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

28. 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

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

30. 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

31. 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.

32. 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

33. 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

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

35. 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

36. 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

37. 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

38. See what other email tactics can help
improve your emails
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
CHECK OUT EMAIL BEST PRACTICES 

39. Topics that Affect
Forward-to-Open Rates

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

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

42. 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

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

44. 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

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

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

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

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

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

50. 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

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

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

53. 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

54. 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

55. @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.

56. Collect data surrounding your forward rate to track
improvement
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Free 14-day trial of Litmus. No credit card required.
START TRACKING NOW 

57. Final Thoughts

58. 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

59. 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

61. 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

62. 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

63. Track forwards, prints, and
geolocation.
Litmus EmailAnalytics
START TRACKING NOW 

64. See how long each subscriber spent
reading your message.
Who read, skimmed, or just glanced at
your email?
Engagement

65. See who opens in mobile,
tablet, desktop, or web-
based inboxes.
Device Usage

66. Works with
any ESP
1
2
3

67. Free 14-Day Trial
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68. The Viral Email
To explore all of our findings,
check out our full report:
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
DOWNLOAD FREE