Does adding bookmarks add value to your site?

I'm looking for facts

[Whitey]

My SEO and marketing consultant mentioned that he is not convinced that adding bookmarks e.g. [ [webmasterworld.com...] ] to our e-commerce site is a good thing to do. Besides saying that the script doesn't work very well, he think's adding these icons to our site will just add clutter rather than offering users any real benefit or providing any search benefit.

Does it drive big sales?
Wouldn't folks just bookmark a site anyway if they wanted to, or does putting links on encourage the process?
How does this compare to sales from normal search results?

Can anyone comment on the value of bookmarks?

I am interested in strengthening repeat sales and broadening the marketing channels for income to our site and thought this might assist.

[rogerd]

The first links I'd add would be "Add to Favorites" and "Email a Friend". These will be used more that "Digg This" etc. Whether social bookmarks will add to traffic depends on your userbase. In my experience, these will be seldom used. Plus, a product link is unlikely to generate a lot of popularity.

I'd recommend deciding which bookmarking systems are used by your visitors, and then testing some links.

[jtara]

The first links I'd add would be "Add to Favorites" and "Email a Friend"

Why?

All browsers already have "add to favorites" and "email" in their UIs.

This is just wasted screen space, and annoying.

As for the buttons to bookmark at social bookmarking sites: I would love to see the social bookmarking sites start checking for such buttons, and ignoring sites that have the buttons...

[rogerd]

>>All browsers already have "add to favorites" and "email" in their UIs.

If you implement these buttons and monitor activity, I guarantee you will find that some visitors use them. :)

IMO, a major rule of web design is to make desired behavior as easy and obvious as possible. An e-commerce site needs big "order now" links, and community sites need obvious viral links.