Why use a URL shortener in your SMS campaigns?

What is a link shortener?

A link shortener (URL shortener) is an online tool that randomly assigns a set of numbers and characters to the URL you enter, thus reducing its original length and creating a shortened version between 10 and 20 characters.

The link that is generated will include the address of the shortener and will redirect you to the website of the URL that you have previously selected.

Nowadays, there are numerous online shorteners, but not all of them offer you the same functionalities (domain customization, statistics, click count, etc…).

You have to keep in mind that the effectiveness of the shortener platforms will depend on the use you want to give to that shortened link.

In the case of SMS marketing campaigns, it is important to select a platform that has specific features.

Therefore, below, we will tell you what these features are, why they are essential for your SMS marketing plan and we will also tell you about our free shortener for SMS campaigns and communications.

Shall we start?

3 essential features that your URL shortener for SMS MUST have

Due to the amount of information that users receive every day and the (increasingly high) percentage of fraudulent emails or SMS, it is very important that, when including a URL in your SMS and using a shortener, you consider these 3 factors:

1

Domain customization:

It is imperative that a shortener allows you to customize the domain.

First of all, there are certain predefined domains generated by the shorteners that will directly position your sms in SPAM.

And secondly, customizing your domain will allow the link to carry your brand name, and therefore, generate trust on the user who intends to click on it.

2 

Click monitoring

It is key that the shortener you use allows you to track statistics; clicks, most active users, visits per day, channels, countries of origin…

In this way, you can check if the strategy you are using is effective or find a way to optimize it to obtain better results.

3

A unique link for each SMS & detailed tracking of interactions

It is true that many of the shorteners have generic statistics that provide you with information about the clicks (as we have commented in the previous point).

But it is not so easy to find a shortener that generates unique links (with an individual code) for each SMS you send. This is an additional function of SMS platforms.

This functionality is essential, since in this way, you can obtain much more precise information on the behavior of your users.

You will know which specific SMS has been clicked on (which user and which specific phone number has interacted with your link), as well as if said URL has gone viral, that is, if the user has sent your URL to other users and if they have agreed.

Later, we will tell you how we do it in LabsMobile.

Why use a URL shortener in your SMS campaigns?

The main reason to use a link shortener in your campaigns or SMS communications is the characters.

If you have to add a link to your SMS messages, shortening it will allow you to save space and characters, which will also mean a lower cost.

Above all, it’s useful if you are going to send promotions, discounts or links with information, and you need your users to enter the link to achieve the objective that you have set in your strategy.

In that case, it is important that the link does not take up much space in order to leave room for a text that promotes the click.

Of course, this is not the only reason why we recommend using a shortener:

• Long links generate distrust:
  
  A long link with an alphanumeric code generates distrust by not knowing its origin and can be associated with fraudulent activities.

And since, as we have mentioned before, there are more and more fraudulent messages, it is important to build trust and make it clear that said link is safe.

• Build brand image:
  
  Some shorteners allow you to customize the abbreviated link with the brand name so that the user can identify you, and in line with what we have said before, generate trust and security.
• Monitoring and measuring:
  
  By using a shortener that allows you to monitor clicks and access detailed information on the behavior that the user has had with your link, you will be able to improve future campaigns and marketing strategies, and calculate the return on your campaigns and SMS communications.

One of the most valuable data is being able to segment recipients according to their loyalty or interaction, being able to differentiate between users who have not clicked, those who have clicked, those who have clicked more than once and viral users (users who have shared the link and that different devices have accessed with the same url).

You can also add UTM variables or any other in your URLs that will be hidden using a URL shortener.

LabsMobile’s free link shortener

As we have mentioned before, there are many online cutters, but not all of them have the necessary functionalities to create efficient links so that your campaigns and communications have better performance.

LabsMobile is an SMS technology platform that has all the necessary services so that you can create, manage, send and optimize your campaigns and communications from the same web application.

For the same reason, we created a cutter that meets all the characteristics that we have mentioned above.

That is:

• Personalizable domain:
  
  When inserting the link in our shortener, the default domain is “lm0.eu”. However, once created, you can customize the link with your own domain or subdomain, which you must configure in the account preferences.
   
• Advanced click monitoring: unique link for each SMS & detailed analysis of interactions

LabsMobile identifies user clicks by means of a unique code per message sent and stores all the data of that click (date, time, IP address, user agent).

With this data, it is possible to generate lists, reports and click statistics for each SMS message sent.

Therefore, it is possible to identify the clicks (and all the associated information) of each one of the messages.

This is an additional functionality to any shortener not integrated into an SMS platform.

What do you have to do to use our  URL shortener and send SMS campaigns?

Our link shortening service is completely free, all you have to do to use it in your SMS is:

• Register for free in our SMS sending platform: create a user account here. 
• Once you have created your account (when you complete the data we will give you 10 free credits to use on your first shipment), you can go to the “Attachments” section and by clicking on add file or link you can shorten a long URL or upload any file to the platform and it will assign you a short link.
• You can also configure your account so that any link is automatically shortened. In other words, whether it is sent by the WebSMS application or via API, any link will be shortened when processed by the platform and a minimum number of characters will be used.
• Customize the domain with your brand name. If you want to see how to do it ,we have a post that explains it easily with a simple DNS configuration: click here.