how do i use short links for sms marketing ?
Short links are a common way for businesses to communicate with their clients via SMS, whether it be for service notifications or marketing messages.
The numbers are unambiguous: text messages from brands are the most widely read type of brand communication. Actually, three minutes after being sent, 98 percent of SMS messages are opened, and 90 percent of them are read. That rate is almost 5 times greater than email.
Most businesses want their message to be noticed, but they also want it to motivate the audience to act. There are a few techniques you need to understand if you want your short links sent by SMS to encourage engagement.
What do SMS short links mean?
In order to be utilized in SMS messaging, URLs are shortened using a link shortening service (like Epsi). They are also known as “mobile links” and “mobile tracking links” at times.
When companies utilize short links for SMS, they generally produce a lot of unique links—hundreds of thousands or even millions. You can track user engagement metrics like who clicked on your message and which channel or initiative is the source of your conversions by including unique links in each SMS conversation.
Some links used in SMS campaigns are created expressly to be clicked on a mobile device. These are known as mobile deep links, and when a mobile user clicks one of your short links, they are directed to your content within your app rather than a web browser, or they are directed to the app store to download it. To that end, audiences for your brand may benefit from a more streamlined mobile experience thanks to mobile deep links. Mobile deep links are frequently reduced to be shared by SMS, just as other lengthy connections.
Why use short links for SMS?
Some link shortening services let customers link a unique domain to their accounts. They may now create branded links, like the one in the example below, thanks to this.
As you can see, your links take on a more identifiable brand name when used in place of the default domain (in this case, bit.ly). Custom domains are frequently used by businesses to create branded links. For instance, the New York Times uses nyti.ms, Nike uses swoo.sh, and ESPN uses es.pn. Growing your brand is one advantage of using branded links. You gain a brand impression every time someone clicks on one of your links.
Deliverability
Branded links may help you with SMS communications because certain SMS providers prevent SMS notifications from being sent out using generic short links (i.e. unbranded links).
Inspire action
Branded links can inform your readers that you are directing them to one of your trustworthy websites or another. It’s a simple approach to demonstrate to your audience and SMS provider that your business is supporting the message and that they can rely on the SMS link.
Some URL shortening providers additionally let you insert a unique call to action in place of the random letters and numbers that show at the back of your short link.
Giving your viewers a visual representation of where you’re sending them increases their confidence that they’re clicking to the appropriate location. This makes it possible for you to publish completely personalized links in your SMS communications, along with the use of a custom domain.
Character count
Brevity is essential in SMS communications because each message can only be 160 characters long. One of the most crucial justifications for why companies employ short links for SMS is this. Long links may be split into two separate SMS messages, breaking the connection and rendering your recipient’s ability to act impossible.
Optimized mobile experience
Using mobile deep links, you may direct mobile visitors to a specific site within your app rather than a web browser. If someone doesn’t already have your app installed, they will either be directed to the mobile web experience or prompted to do so. Deep connections for mobile devices are frequently utilized to drive crucial app metrics like app installations.
More data points
Using short links, you may be able to gather more information, depending on your URL shortener. This contains Epsi’s organic sharing metrics, mobile deep link reporting, near-real time click statistics, device- and city-level data, as well as click information. You may gain a better understanding of how your SMS initiatives are doing and how your audience is interacting if you have access to this extra data in addition to SMS open rates.