Marketers that send email messages that include social sharing options generate 30 percent higher click-through rates (CTRs) than emails without a social sharing option, and messages with three or more sharing options generate 55 percent higher CTRs, according to a new study from GetResponse.

"The impressive 55 percent CTR increase achieved by adding social sharing options tells us it’s not enough to integrate campaigns with social media networks – the power is in sharing. For example, Twitter users are posting 55 million tweets per day," said Simon Grabowski, Founder of GetResponse.

"And Facebook has over 400 million active users worldwide, each with about 130 ‘friends’. Imagine the impact on campaign results if every recipient shared a message with 130 friends, and so on and so on! The best part is that there’s no added cost to include social media sharing, so it’s pure ROI."

Other highlights from the study include:

*60 percent of all social emails include only one sharing icon. Only 11.2 percent of social emails include 3 icons or more.

*Twitter was the most popular social sharing option, included in 67.2 percent of all social emails, trailed closely by Facebook at 62.7 percent.

*Emails shared on Twitter returned CTRs of 10.20 percent − over 40 percent higher than messages not linked to any social media.

"I truly believe that if your messages are relevant, timely, and interesting, and you include social sharing icons in your messages, your audience will gladly help your brand message ripple across the Internet," said Grabowski.