Goal

To add a link address (URL) to an SMS message.

General Information

 Dos and don'ts

An SMS only contains text.

  • In an SMS, enter the link address without http:// or https://. For example, www.example.com.
  • SMS does not support HTML. Do not use href tags in the link address.  For example, <a href="www.example.com">link text</a> is not supported.
  • In an SMS, every character counts. Use the ​Shorten Links​ option to reduce the number of characters in your SMS messages.
 Can the recipient click the link?

Smartphone operating systems such as Android and iOS automatically turn the URL into a clickable link. However, recipients with feature phones only see plain text and are unable to click the link address.

If you include a phone number in an SMS, smartphones can recognize the phone number and turn it into a clickable link. When the recipient clicks the link, the phone automatically dials the number. However, feature phones generally do not support this function.

Many people continue to use feature phones. This is why Mapp recommends that SMS messages only contain short URLs, so that customers can easily remember them and type them into an internet browser.

 Is there link tracking for SMS?

No. Long link addresses are not practical for SMS. Link tracking requires special link parameters to be added to each link in the SMS (just like in an email). The link parameters create a long, complicated URL with many characters. 

We recommend that you create a mobile-friendly landing page. You can track the number of visits to your landing page with a web analytics tool. The statistics for your landing page show the total number of clicks of the link in the SMS. It is not possible to determine the number of unique clickers or who clicked the links within an SMS message.

Prerequisites​

​SMS messaging is an extra feature of Mapp Engage. Before you can send SMS messages, you must do the following.

  1. Work with your account manager to register the necessary codes and keywords for SMS messaging.
    See ​SMS Code Types​.
  2. Create one or more dedicated groups for SMS sendout.
    See ​Create a New Group.​
  3. In the group settings, define the inbound mobile ID, outbound mobile ID, and reply handling settings.
    See ​Define the Inbound Mobile ID​.

Procedure

  1. In the main navigation​, click ​Create​ New >  Message​.
  2. Click​ SMS Message​.
  3. Enter message information and select​ SMS ​from the​ Type ​drop-down list.
  4. Click​ Create​.
  5. Enter the SMS text in the input field.
    The number of characters that are used in the SMS appears beneath the input field.

  6. Add your link address to the text in the SMS input field. For example, www.example.com.

    • Do not add links with the HTML format: <a href="www.example.com ">link text</a>.
    • Do not include http:// or https:// in the link address.
    • Remember that links in SMS messages are not tracked.
  7. Optimize your link.

    1. Click the ​Shorten Links​ button to gain more space for other content in your SMS Message. 

    2. Add placeholders to your link. You must shorten the link first.
      For example, to use the personalisation placeholder:

      1. Paste your link in the SMS content section. For example https://mapp.com/blog/8-tips-dont-let-the-coronavirus-infect-your-email-campaigns/

      2. Press the ​Shorten Link​ button. Your link looks now like this: https://mre.li/3koE09CW

      3. Add your personalisation placeholders, for example: https://mre.li/3koE09CW?email=<%user.Email%>

  8. Expand the ​Advanced Options​ area.
  9. In the ​SMS Encoding​ area, specify the encoding Mapp Engage uses for the message and click ​Prepare Sendout​.
    • Messages that are transmitted with ISO-8859-1 are limited to 160 characters per message.

    • Messages that are transmitted with UTF-8 are limited to 70 characters per message. Only 16-bit encoding allows special characters. 

  10. Create the desired sendout settings and click ​Check Message​.

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