The Big Short for SMS – Sending Big Content with Short Links and Link Tracking

Airship is excited to announce the launch of two new features that will drastically improve your SMS and Mobile Wallet campaigns: Link shortening and link tracking! 

Link shortening transforms any URL within your SMS messages by creating a shortened link with an Airship or custom domain and only 25 characters, while Link tracking allows brands to track the performance of their links within SMS messages. 

Read on to learn more about these new handy features and how you can use them to engage with your customers through text messages. 

Link Shortening Reduces Characters and Cost

Every character counts for SMS marketing, especially when messages are limited to 160 characters. Link shortening can open up valuable message real estate so marketers can create even better customer experiences, and being able to shorten links within the same UI as your message composer makes it that much easier. Airship can even create a custom domain that’s unique to your brand for your shortened URLs to create a more branded experience! Here are some other benefits of shortened links:

• Increased Click-Through Rate: Shorter links can have a higher click-through rate since longer URLs with query strings can detract from the message and look spammy. Custom domains also significantly improve CTRs as they are more branded and trustworthy.
• Cost-Effective: Long URLs may result in multi-part messages, ultimately increasing your SMS costs. 
• Automated: Link shortening can also be used in auto-responses for keywords texted in, such as requests for app download links or coupon links. 

Link shortening is especially exciting for brands using our Mobile Wallet Adaptive Link™ technology.  Adaptive Links™ take your customer data and automatically personalizes the Mobile Wallet pass. A single URL can then be distributed through any channel for a higher likelihood of customers seeing and installing the passes.  The Adaptive Link™ then automatically detects the device type and adapts the pass accordingly. With Airship’s link shortening functionality, these dynamic links can also be shortened and it is that much easier to text the Adaptive Link and achieve high install rates of your Mobile Wallet passes.

Track Your SMS Link Performance

Airship also allows brands to now track the performance of their links within SMS messages.  Brands can track aggregate clicks and view reporting through Airship’s reporting dashboards to see how messages and campaigns are performing. Furthermore, through Airship Real-Time Data Streaming, brands can correlate audience members with clicks on Airship-shortened links to get engagement data down to the user-level.

This data can be especially important for A/B testing of different marketing campaigns and comparing click-through rates for various audience segments

Get the Most Out of Your SMS Marketing Campaigns 

With average open rates of over 90%, you can’t afford to ignore the power of SMS messaging. Now with link shortening and tracking, you have more room to write impactful messages and more visibility to use your data strategically. Start creating deeper connections with customers on SMS today.

Yes-m-s!

We have more great SMS resources for you in our Resource Library.