Link shortener in Campaigns
An SMS message has a natural limit of 160 characters. Therefore, a long link can take up a disproportionate amount of space in an SMS, which unfortunately discourages many people from using links in their SMS broadcasts.
This is a shame, as links are an excellent way to drive traffic and conversions via SMS. In inMobile you have the option to use the automatic link shortener. Insert your link and have it automatically shortened in the most credible way possible - your brand name remains in the link, increasing click-through rates by up to 39%.
See or read below how you can shorten a link in an SMS broadcast created in Campaigns.
How to use link shorteners in Campaigns
Before you get started: Before you can use shortened links in your SMS messages, you need to create a subdomain. You can see how to set up a subdomain in our guide: "Setting up a subdomain".
Once you have created a subdomain, you can start using shortened links in your SMS messages. Here's how you do it:
- Go to the "Campaigns" menu item.
- Click "New campaign" in the top right corner.
- Select the list, country and optionally segment and mobile number cooldown for your broadcast.
- Now you need to write the text of your SMS. Paste your entire link in the message body
- Enable link tracking/link shortener and select your domain.
- Choose whether you want to have the option to unsubscribe in your message.Note. This is required by law in SMS marketing messages.
- In the message example to the right, you can now see how your shortened link will look to the recipient when the message is sent.
- Click "Next" and choose when to send the campaign.
Benefits of shortened links in SMS
There are many advantages to shortening your link via inMobile's link shortener. Below you'll find the biggest ones.
Trusted links
There are a wide variety of online link shorteners (also known as URL shorteners), and what they all have in common is that they often make your links look like spam. Unlike these online link shorteners, inMobile's link shortener for SMS ensures that your brand name is still part of your link. This significantly increases credibility and therefore click-through rates.
Short links
An SMS message is limited to 160 characters. If it takes up more space, the broadcast counts as two messages. Therefore, it's beneficial to have shorter links as they take up fewer characters. You can read more about this in the article: How many characters can an SMS contain?
More conversions
By using shortened links in your SMS messages, you have the opportunity to send the recipient to the landing page that fits your message. When you create engagement with the recipient, it also increases the chance of ultimately creating a conversion.
Bonus: Data insights
A bonus of inMobile's link shortener for SMS is that you are automatically able to see how many people have clicked on your link when you shorten the link. This knowledge is very useful as it tells you something about the activity and engagement in your SMS messages. Use that knowledge to optimise future broadcasts.