12 Posts of Christmas: Post Three—Tell a Friend

In a recent Yahoo! sponsored survey about Holiday buying habits, sixty percent of respondents said recommendations from friends and family were a top influencer in purchase decisions. So how do you make sure that friends and family can easily make recommendations to others once on your site? Make it easy for them to send an email.

Below is one method for adding a JavaScript to pages that creates an email link with a pre-formatted subject and message along with a link to the page which the shopper is viewing. Note: The instructions below are for adding the script to pages built in the Store Editor but this script will work for any HTML editing tool where you can add code to the head section and body section of the page. This method also requires the shopper has an email client on their computer.

To add this feature:

1. From the Store Manager, click the Store Editor link.
2. Go to the Variables page and add the head section code to the Head-tags variable. (You can also override the head-tags variable on a per-page basis if you wish to use this feature only on a few select pages.
3. Go to the page(s) where you wish to add this feature and add the body section code to the page.

Note: If you wish to add the link to all pages, you have a few options of where to add the link

• final-text variable
• intro-text field
• HTML-below-nav-bar (Editor 3.0 only)
• HTML-above-nav-bar (Editor 3.0 only)
• Use the Link button to add a link to your contents navigation links
• Create a custom type that includes a new property for this link where you specify in a custom template

Head section (add the below part to the head-tags variable)


<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
<!--
function emailafriend()
{
var emailbody = "Insert text here to appear in the email message. Hint: Don’t include any words likely to trip up spam filters "+window.location;
var emailsubject = "Enter text here to appear as the subject—Hint: Don’t include any words likely to trip up spam filters.";
window.location = "mailto:?subject="+emailsubject+"&body="+emailbody;
}
// end -->
</script>


Body section (add the below part to your page where you wish the link to appear)

<a href="javascript:emailafriend();">Tell a friend</a>


You can also replace the “tell a friend” link text with a tell a friend graphic that you create to match the look of your site and make this feature stand out more. Also, while it is possible to set up this feature without using JavaScript, this method allows you to customize the subject and body message of the email to fit the season (for example “Saw the perfect stocking stuffer”, or “Here’s a great gift for Mother’s day”).

You can also set up a more formal solution that will not only send the email, but also allow you to collect the email address* (of those that approve) of the sender and recipient. This method allows anyone to send an email but it does require more time to set up, and some shoppers may be wary of providing email addresses to a newly visited site for fear of spam.

*Note: Be sure you are in compliance not only with the Yahoo! Small Business Terms of Service and the Yahoo! Store guidelines but also with all state and federal laws regarding privacy and unsolicited commercial email (spam).

So don’t wait. For a few minutes of set up time, you can start getting some highly qualified leads at no cost to you.

Paul Boisvert
Yahoo! Small Business