ability to add a forward to friend in emails

[MelanieM34]

I created an email using card/announcement and when I tried to add "forward to a friend", "join my mailing list" and permission reminder" I was not able. I would like to have the ability to use these functions in future emails that I create.

[MelanieM34]

Hey all,

I wanted to chime in on this thread regarding the lack of Forward to a Friend in the third-generation editor. The simplest answer is that due to lack of usage in our previous editor (both our users inserting this link, and recipients using this link) we decided not to implement the feature. We also wanted to solve for cases where this feature was used as a workaround (such as getting around possible display issues), with other features or improvements to the editor. We want to focus on the latest and greatest features that will bring as much value as possible to our users. While I can understand that some users found this feature valuable, our plan is not to rebuild the second-generation editor, but rather to learn from its mistakes/successes to create a new, best-in-class editor.

To address some of the concerns around the lack of this feature:

1. Display concerns: some folks like the peace of mind knowing that users can see a “clean-copy” of their email. As a work-around for this, I would recommend including a “View as Webpage” link. This will link to the web version of your email without any potential display issues, and it will not have any personal information of the original recipient.
2. Referrals and new signups: we recommend including a link to a lead generation landing page within emails that you’re hoping will be referred along. If you wish to have your contacts share your email on their social media pages, you can include a Social Share bar in your email that allows your contacts to easily make this happen. 

[Caitlin_M]

Hello @ThomasL76. Thank you for your feedback about the Forward to a Friend feature! I can see how this can be used as a list growth tool for you. In the meantime, you can include a link to your sign-up form in your campaign to allow new contacts to join your mailing list. I have tracked this request in your account and sent it over to our developers. 

[ThomasL76]

Thank you - we do already include that link however it does not work as well without the "Forward to a Friend" feature as the messages often get "altered" (missing images, etc.) when recipients forward them using programs such as Outlook.  Additionally, the "Forward to a Friend" feature allowed us to see statistics (trends) regarding how often our messages were being forwarded -- without that feature, we lose that valuable insight.

[DeannaM178]

When we forward our email, the formatting completely changes and makes our newsletter unreadable. There should be a forward option within the service that allows for someone to forward the email to a friend without losing the formatting. 

[AWordinSeason]

When my subscribers forward my email to several people and one of them hits "unsubscribe" then my subscriber gets unsubscribed. This happened several times. Please add a FORWARD EMAIL BUTTON again to prevent this from happening. Thank you

[JessicaC9]

Please bring back the Forward to a Friend feature in your new design editor. We heavily rely on that feature. Thanks!

[MichaelB9456]

Dear Caitlin,

So as far as I see, I am still not able to include a "forward to a friend" link or button to my email template?

Could you please help me saying which editor I have - 2nd or 3rd? 

Thank you!

[Adrienne_B]

Hi @MichaelB9456

Thank you for reaching out to the Constant Contact Community. It's my pleasure to assist you today.

I have taken a look at your account and see that you are in the 3rd Generation Editor. So in this case you may add a link to your sign up form in the email and I will submit your feedback. 

Thank you for choosing Constant Contact. Have a great weekend! 

[dorism11]

Yet another request from one of your customers requesting the Forward to a Friend link. I'm at a loss to understand the continued suggestion that a signup form has anything to do with a Forward to a Friend. Those receiving our emails are already signed up. We need a way to enable those who are already our contacts to forward the email to their friends who will then have the ability to sign up. What is currently happening is actually detrimental to your clients. How? Our contacts are forced to forward the email which includes the name and email address of a current contact. If that person is unhappy with the email, they hit unsubscribe and, what do we get? A unsubscribe. We lose a contact. Who probably don't even know they've been unsubscribed and then are **bleep** off at us - your client. And sometimes they even consider it SPAM. This isn't rocket science and I'm totally at a loss at CC's failure to address this so obvious issue. I believe people have been asking about this since the addition of Editor 3 - which is good otherwise. Please treat your customers as you would like to believe we treat our customers. Please don't cause us to lose customers. Thank you for your consideration.

[Adrienne_B]

Hi @dorism11

Thank you for the feedback, your detail in this feedback is great and I'm submitting it all directly to our product team. Please feel free to reach out if you need anything else. 

Thank you for choosing Constant Contact. Have a great day!

[CarolynD05]

We were converted to the new template look (3rd generation) but we use an old email that was created before the new look (2nd generation) that has the forward to a friend link.That is our work around. The down side is the old emails don't have the nice mobile friendly look. I wish CC would add it back to the new templates. 

[Caitlin_M]

Hello @CarolynD05. Thank you so much for the feedback about the forward to a friend feature! I'll be sure to note this feedback in your account and send it over to our Product teams. 

[SuzanneH47]

We gave the 3ed Gen editor a shot from it's launch, but found that since it didn't have a "forward" feature, it was worth sticking with the tried and true template we originally created. I'm often tempted to change our template or use once of yours for a special campaign, but without the forward feature, I think it would be losing it's punch.  Also, in the "Forward" landing page, perhaps it could let us choose which kind of person to send to....mostly I forward to collegues or associates, rarely a "friend"....

[JennyM3268]

When you click on "Edit Footer Info" under the Footer Options, why not add "forward email to friend" here? I can't figure out how to add this to the footer otherwise.

[JennyM3268]

I also need this feature. I just spent over an hour going through the instructions on how to "Customize Forward Email to a Friend Options" from the knowledge base but got stumped over how to add it to the email footer. I see other emails which include this feature and can't see how I'm unable to also have it. Now, I learn that the newer editor does not include this feature. Not only have you removed the ability to add hyperlinks to a table of contents in the newsletter (which I learned only by calling up the help line), but I also can't add a simple forward email link to the footer. Very disappointing. Shouldn't the new editor be an improvement over the older one? 

[Caitlin_M]

Hello @JennyM3268. Thank you for the feedback about the Forward to a Friend customization options being available in your account. While the feature is not currently on the roadmap to be brought back in our third-generation editor, our Product team is looking into different ways to have your emails be forwarded with fewer disruptions. One thing I can suggest is to insert a View As Webpage link which we have just introduced into the editor. This way, if someone receives a forwarded email, they will have the option to view the email as a webpage version.

In regards to your question about the Table of Contents, most mobile devices and mail apps do not support these types of links and they would not work if a contact was to click on them. This is why this feature was not included in our newest editor. If you are creating a longer email, I suggest using the Read More block so contacts can click to read a longer article or blog post that you would like to share. 

[dorism11]

Having to give our recipients on how to Forward an email is simply ridiculous. Also, there are still at least 50% who read emails on a desktop. I simply fail to understand Constant Contact digging in on this issue instead of simply providing what so of their customers are asking for. It might be a good time to remind CC and everyone that there are many other services - the majority if not all of which do provide the Forward to a Friend.

[Caitlin_M]

Hello @dorism11. Although the Forward to a Friend feature is not currently on the roadmap to be brought back in our third-generation editor, our Product team is still collecting feedback. May we ask why you would like to have this feature back? If this feature is used because of display issues when an email is forwarded, I can suggest inserting a View As Webpage link which we have just introduced into the third-generation editor. This way, if someone receives a forwarded email, they will have the option to view the email as a webpage version.

[SarahL8780]

Wow, I'm astonished that this venerable feature is gone (also the hyperlinked TOC!). I'm just testing CC for the first time in several years -- but this is probably the deal-breaker, because we expect the list to grow by word of mouth, not online publicity. Oh, well.

[Caitlin_M]

Hello @SarahL8780. I can certainly understand how this feature would be useful for growing your list. I would suggest including a link to your sign-up form in your campaign so if a contact does forward your email, a receiving contact would have the ability to join your mailing list! In the meantime, I will submit your feedback over to the appropriate team.

[Matt_B.]

Hey all,

I wanted to chime in on this thread regarding the lack of Forward to a Friend in the third-generation editor. The simplest answer is that due to lack of usage in our previous editor (both our users inserting this link, and recipients using this link) we decided not to implement the feature. We also wanted to solve for cases where this feature was used as a workaround (such as getting around possible display issues), with other features or improvements to the editor. We want to focus on the latest and greatest features that will bring as much value as possible to our users. While I can understand that some users found this feature valuable, our plan is not to rebuild the second-generation editor, but rather to learn from its mistakes/successes to create a new, best-in-class editor.

To address some of the concerns around the lack of this feature:

1. Display concerns: some folks like the peace of mind knowing that users can see a “clean-copy” of their email. As a work-around for this, I would recommend including a “View as Webpage” link. This will link to the web version of your email without any potential display issues, and it will not have any personal information of the original recipient.
2. Referrals and new signups: we recommend including a link to a lead generation landing page within emails that you’re hoping will be referred along. If you wish to have your contacts share your email on their social media pages, you can include a Social Share bar in your email that allows your contacts to easily make this happen.