We might just be nearing a time when email is considered slow and delayed. Although email may comprise a lion’s share of the pie in online marketing, the prominence of Blogs, Social Networking and Instant Messengers cast a spell in pronouncing the decline in the ROI that emails may provide to Online Retailers and Marketers.

In her WSJ Article, Jennifer Saranow Schultz says, “Many retail sites have email-a-friend features which make it easy to ask friends what they think of a product by sending a link to the page it is on. But the approach has one big drawback. Shoppers might not get immediate feedback while they are still at a retailer’s site, so their decisions may be delayed, putting sales at risk.” Jennifer’s statement holds water – we live in a generation where instant gratification pays off richer dividends and there is no better time than now to capture your audiences’ attention and get them to act.

Let the Numbers talk
The Pew Internet Study brings out some staggering statistical information on the proliferation of Internet Messaging.

• 53 Million Adults trade instant messages
• 24% of them swap IM’s more frequently than email
• The Demographic is primarily circled around young adults and technology enthusiasts
• More than 250 Million people, or a quarter of the world’s internet population send more than 7 Billion Messages a day!

There is no further need for validation of the buzz on internet messaging - it is the quickest way for the already online market to communicate with each other. Further, this is a vital market that is virtually untapped - people are actively talking and listening - why not get them to talk about your product?

We got you covered

At SocialTwist, we understand the demands and challenges of the market and want to offer you cutting edge technology that provides you the maximum bang for your buck. With that in mind, we become the first to provide you with a Word of Mouth Marketing Widget that includes Instant Messaging. Now, visitors to your website can log into their favorite Instant Messengers (Yahoo!, MSN Live Messenger, Google Talk and AIM) through the Tell-a-Friend widget, without leaving your site and share content with their buddy lists. Find a buddy offline, simply send a message and they will receive it when they are next online. We have incorporated the features of the desktop version of the Instant Messenger in the widget to give your visitors a quick, rich experience in sharing and again all this without leaving your website. Like every other facet on Tell-a-Friend, we give the Publisher control over every aesthetic aspect of the Marketing Message visitors to the website will be IM’ing.

Instant Gratification, Instant Karma, through the Instant Messenger. So go on - Tell your Friends.

Found something interesting on the internet? You should be able to share it with your friends with ease. While many sharing buttons (including scripts, forms, etc.) provide emailing capability, Tell-a-Friend (TAF) was the first to provide on-page address book access from popular email services.

The address book feature is one of the key aspects of TAF, designed keeping in line with both the Publisher and the User’s best interests.

For the User

• Simplicity: Sharing has to be a simple act, a mere click on the web page that is to be shared.
• No need of remembering addresses: Most email clients and services (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) allow for auto-completion of email addresses. While this is extremely convenient it also means that the average user tends not to remember any email addresses.
• Complete privacy assured: While a user may want to use a quick address book access, they need the trust to open that confidentially. Tell-a-Friend has been certified to provide complete confidentiality and implements a completely white-listed service.
• Zero spam: A widely used service like Tell-a-Friend that guarantees that no email addresses are retained, so no misuse or spam can occur, will give users the necessary confidence.

For the Publisher

• More traffic: An access to the TAF address book means the user might end up sharing with more people than he originally intended to; and this converts into more traffic for the publisher.
• No typos: Typos and errors don’t occur. You can be sure that the email will definitely reach the right destination, since there is no chance of typing errors happening with an address book in hand.
  
• Multiple referrals: Users may find and share with more people when they view their address book.
• Stickiness: The user never leaves your page (maybe to find an address or send mail) and continues browsing your site.
  
  

In summary, Tell-a-Friend address book feature makes it convenient and comfortable for users to share more. We find that over 50% of sharing activity on Tell-a-Friend happens through the email channel (after all, everyone is on email, more than any other service or network) and use of Gmail/Yahoo/MSN/Hotmail addresses book is very high.