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Many email marketers want to encourage their subscribers to reach out to people that they know and encourage them to either subscribe to the newsletter or go to the website. This can be accomplished two ways--the recipient uses the forward feature of their email software to send a copy of the email to others or they click on a link in the email which sends another email to the address(es) that the original recipient enters.

The first method is certainly the easiest for both the marketer and the recipient, but it has several shortcomings:

• No tracking
  Every click on the forwarded email looks like a click from the original recipient
  
  
• Lack of control over the offer
  If you are segmenting your list, recipients may be receiving content or offers that are not matched to their preferences or for which they are not eligible
  
  
• Unintentional unsubscribes
  When a recipient forwards their email to another person, the links for the original recipient remain in the email, which could lead to the unintentional removal (or profile change if there is a subscription management link in the email) of the original recipient if one of the forwardees accidentally or intentionally clicks on the unsubscribe link
  
  
• Broken templates
  While using the forward function of an email application is fine for sending primarily text correspondence, it can wreak havoc with the design and layout of commercial HTML email, which doesn't present your message or your brand in the best light

What marketers want is the second option--an easy way for their recipients to initiate a new message to be sent to people they know that will increase the opportunity that the new recipient will either sign up to receive future communications or make a purchase on a website. This is commonly referred to as Forward to a Friend (FTAF). The StrongMail Transactional Server can be used to facilitate FTAF capabilities in concert with a standard mailing sent via either StrongMail Server or Message Studio. Here's a high level view of how it would work:

1. Set up a standard mailing in Message Studio or StrongMail Server
2. Set up a mailing on the StrongMail Transactional Server with the same template/header (or a different one if you want to send a separate mail to FTAF recipients) 
3. Create the following web pages and host them on a web server:
   1. FTAF landing page with form elements to collect information on who to forward the email to
   2. Confirmation page to notify the sender that their FTAF email was successfully sent
   3. Error page to notify the sender that there was a problem with sending the FTAF email 
4. Configure the form on FTAF landing page to send an API call to the Transactional Server to send the transactional mailing to the recipient(s) indicated in the form
5. Place a link in the standard mailing template that takes recipients to the FTAF landing page
   

In addition to the standard setup described above, there are a number of variables that you could modify to enhance how the FTAF works:

• Control the number of FTAF recipients permitted from a single FTAF request to reduce abuse and spam complaints
  
• Determine whether the same FTAF landing page could be used for multiple mailings (reduces the effort required to execute FTAF mailings)
  
• Design the FTAF landing page and the forwarded email to permit the original recipient to include a comment to the FTAF recipient
  
• Decide whether the FTAF recipient receives an identical or modified version of the email
  

There are many ways to configure FTAF using the StrongMail Transactional Server. Identify what you want to accomplish with your FTAF program and then choose the option that best suits your needs.