Add the Forward to a Friend Link

If you’ve switched to our new email builder, some steps in this article may not apply. To learn how to use the new builder, check out Design an Email with the New Builder.

Our Forward to a Friend tool allows your subscribed contacts to forward your campaign to their friends, and we track these forwards in your campaign reports. It's a good idea to include a Forward to a Friend link in all your campaigns, especially if your contacts are likely to share your content via email.

In this article, you'll learn more about the Forward to a Friend tool, how to customize your form and email, and how to add the Forward to a Friend link in your campaigns.

How it works

When you create your campaign, you'll add the *|FORWARD|* merge tag to your content. This merge tag automatically populates with a link when the campaign is sent.

After a subscribed contact clicks the Forward to a Friend link in your campaign, they are taken to a form to type in their friend's details and a message. Then, the friend receives an email that includes a link to view the campaign in their browser.

Contacts can send to only one friend at a time. After they forward the email to one friend, there is a message that allows them to send to another friend.

When a contact clicks Send Email on the forward form, it counts as a forward on your campaign report. After a campaign has been forwarded using Forward to a Friend, we'll display Forwarded opens on the report, too.

Why use it

Including the Forward to a Friend link in your campaigns prevents your contacts from being unsubscribed by people they forward to. This is because the Forward to a Friend link does not forward the campaign your original contact received.

By contrast, if a contact forwards a campaign using the forward button in their email client instead of the Forward to a Friend link in your campaign, the new recipient gets the contact's campaign rather than a link to the campaign. The contact's version shows the original contact's data and links that are specific to them, and the new recipient could accidentally unsubscribe the contact from your marketing.

An additional benefit of the Forward to a Friend tool is that your campaign report will show how often your campaign was forwarded and how often those forwarded emails were opened. If a contact uses their email client's forward button to share your campaign, the forward is not counted in the campaign report, and any opens will be tied to the original contact. This can result in a single contact showing a high number of opens.

Customize your forms

The Forward to a Friend tool consists of the form your contact fills out and the email the contact's friend receives.

To customize the Forward to a Friend form and email, follow these steps.

1. Click Audience.
   
2. Click Audience dashboard.
   
3. If you have more than one audience, click the Current audience drop-down and choose the one you want to work with.
4. Click the Manage Audience drop-down and choose Signup forms.
5. Scroll to the Form builder tile, then click Manage forms.
6. On the Forms and response emails drop-down, choose either Forward to a friend form or Forward to a friend email.
   
7. Click the Design it tab to make changes to the color scheme.

Design changes are saved automatically. Mailchimp's translation feature is also available for your forms.

How to add the Forward to a Friend link

After your form and email have been customized, there are four ways to include the Forward to a Friend link in your campaign.

• Use the link tool
• Edit source code for your campaign
• Edit source code of a code your own template
• Add merge tag in a plain-text campaign

Add forward link using the link tool

1. In the Content section of the Campaign Builder, click Edit Design.
   
2. On the Design step, click the text content block you want to edit.
   
3. Add the text you want to link, such as Forward to a Friend, and highlight it.
4. Click the Link icon in the toolbar.
   
5. Type or paste the *|FORWARD|* merge tag into the Web Address (URL) field, and click Insert.
   
6. Click Save & Close.

Add forward link in the source code

1. In the Content section of the Campaign Builder, click Edit Design.
   
2. On the Design step, click the text content block you want to edit.
   
3. Click the Source < > icon to view the source code.
   

4. Add the following code where you want your forward link to appear.

   <a href="*|FORWARD|*">Forward this email to a friend</a>
   

5. Click the Source < > icon to return to the visual editor to review the design.

6. Click Save & Close.

Add forward link in your custom code

If you've custom-coded a template or campaign, you can also add a Forward to a Friend link to your own HTML. Copy and paste the following code wherever you'd like the link to appear.

<a href="*|FORWARD|*">Forward this email to a friend</a>

Add forward link in plain-text campaign

When editing a Plain-Text Campaign, type the merge tag in as regular text.

Forward this email to a friend: *|FORWARD|*

We'll populate the link automatically once your campaign sends.

Troubleshooting and FAQs

• How can I preview the Forward to a Friend form and email?
  Before you send your campaign, click the Forward to a Friend link you added to your campaign from Preview Mode. You can fill out and submit the Forward to a Friend form, so you can also see the Forward to a Friend email.
• Can I see who was forwarded my campaign?
  You can only see how many times your subscribed contacts forwarded a campaign using Forward to a Friend. You can't see who your campaign was forwarded to, because these people may not be contacts in your audience, and showing their email addresses would be a violation of their privacy.