Related terms

• Click Through Rate (CTR)
• Tracking
• Link verifier

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Link shortener

Service to facilitate the tracking of clicks to a URL, as well as to make it shorter. It is useful for websites and social networks, but it is not recommended to use in email marketing because it increases the chances of being considered spam by email managers.

How does a link shortener work?

A link shortening service works by creating redirects from long URLs, for example for navigation pages with many levels, to other URLs that are much shorter. By clicking on the shortened address, the user visits that page before the longer destination page, so quickly that he or she is often not even aware of it.

It is because of this intermediate visit that it is possible to have click-through rate statistics and is therefore a useful service when the same address is distributed on several channels, as is the case with content on different social networks. In addition, using fewer characters can be interesting when the URL is left visible, especially if tracking tags are included that increase the length of the address.

Services such as Bit.ly allow you to configure the short URL to customise it so that the address can be recognised by the user, for example to include a defining word or brand name, as some allow configuration in the domain itself. In this way the reference to the company is maintained, even if a shortener is used.

Why we don’t recommend to shorten links in your email marketing?

All the advantages of link shorteners in marketing take a back seat when it comes to email because using them can affect deliverability.

The main reason is the function of hiding the destination URL: spammers take advantage of this to hide fraudulent addresses, both in links and by displaying them directly in the text. This is why ISPs may block messages that include them, because they consider them as a potential cause of phishing.

If the only reason to use the shortener is to have statistics on clicks, all email marketing platforms provide this data, so it would be enough to add up the number of clicks obtained in this way. Another option is to create a short address of your own domain and then just trust that it will not be blacklisted.