Word-of-mouth remains one of the most powerful forms of marketing, and that includes digital word-of-mouth — like sharing an email. But here’s the thing: people are far more likely to share something if it’s easy to do.
Instead of just including a generic “Forward to a friend” link in your emails, you can make the process much smoother by adding a pre-filled email link your readers can click. When they do, it automatically opens their default email app with a subject and message already written, ready to send to a friend.
How to Do It:
1. Use a Simple mailto: Link
Inside your email (not on your website), add a link like this:
mailto:?subject=ENCODED_SUBJECT&body=ENCODED_BODY
When someone clicks it, their email client (like Outlook, Apple Mail, or Gmail in a browser) will open with the subject and body pre-filled.
For example:
<a href=”mailto:?subject=Check%20this%20out&body=Thought%20you%20might%20like%20this%3A%20https%3A%2F%2Fyour-link.com”>Share with a Friend</a>
2. Encode Your Subject and Body Properly
Since email clients can be picky about special characters, you need to URL encode both the subject and body text. That means converting spaces, punctuation, and special characters into a format that works inside a URL.
A quick and free tool for this is Eric Meyer’s URL Encoder. Just paste your subject and body text in separately, and the tool will spit out the properly encoded versions.
For example:
- Subject: Check this out
- Body: Here’s a great link: https://example.com
Then just paste those into your mailto: link.
Why This Works
This method lowers the friction for sharing. Instead of asking users to copy, paste, forward, or compose — all of which require effort — you’re giving them a ready-to-go message with one click.
It’s ideal for:
- Newsletters
- Event invites
- Product launches
- Advocacy campaigns
- Fundraising drives
Try it in your next email campaign and see if it increases your reach.
