To automatically assign a link category, the link category must contain a certain string. A regular expression (Regex) defines how the string is identified (see  ​Automatic Assignment of Link Categories​).

Frequently, the actual destination address (i.e., the link) does not contain the defined string. In this case, adding the string to the link is necessary to trigger the automatic assignment.

The following approaches provide alternatives to the manual assignment of link categories. However, it is often easier to edit link categories manually (see  ​Manual Assignment of Link Categories​).


Example

Assign a link to the  ​Wellness link category. The link itself must contain the string ​Wellness. The destination address (i.e., the link) is www.myhotelo/resortpeter.com. A parameter is attached to the link so that the address is www.myhotelo/resortpeter.com?linkcategorie=Wellness. This makes an automatic assignment of the link category possible.

If you use a CMS template to create the message, contact your customer service representative and request that the placeholder for the link assignment is included in the master template. These options are possible during the manual creation of the messages.

Change links in a template without Engage functionality​

The easiest way to adjust a link is to insert the desired value by hand. A flag must be used that the web system of the destination site does not interpret. For example, the previous approach assumes that the destination site does not interpret the designation linkcategory=Wellness and does not unintentionally start an action.

Adjust links with placeholders and personalizations​

Engage provides Engage variables and personalization placeholders to drag and drop into messages. The placeholder is replaced with the actual value that exists for it when the message is sent.

The allocation of the link categories takes place before the placeholder is replaced with the actual value. The link category is determined based on the placeholder name. Any placeholder can serve as a link parameter.

Example

The following link is in the message: www.myhotelo/resortpeter.com?linkcategorie =

A personalization placeholder (attribute)  ​Wellness stores individual information about the last spa each customer visited. Depending on the customer, different values are stored:

  • Hotel vacation,

  • Event,

  • Literature.

This placeholder is dragged and dropped into the link. The link in the message is:

www.myhotelo/resortpeter.com?linkcategory=<%Wellnes%>


When link categories are assigned, the link is assigned to the ​Wellness link category.

The link is sent to different customers in 3 variations:

  • www.myhotelo/resortpeter.com?linkcategory=Hotelvacation%

  • www.myhotelo/resortpeter.com?linkcategory=Event

  • www.myhotelo/ressortpeter.com?linkcategory=Literature

Regardless of the values or links sent, every link is assigned to the link category ​Wellness. Link categories are only assigned to links that can be recognized as links in the message editor or in the sendout process. If the entire link is inserted via a placeholder, it is not identified as a link when the message is processed and is not assigned a link category with this method.

Save link categories for reuse as personalizations​

In the personalization builder, any value in the code view can be stored as a personalization (see Code View (wizard)​).

Example

The value: linkcategory=wellness is stored in the code view for the wellness personalization placeholder. The corresponding value in the link can be dragged and dropped into any message. The value ? or & need to be added to the link:

www.myhotelo/resortpeter.com?linkcategory=Wellnes

or www.myhotelo/resortpeter.com?language=de&linkcategory=Wellness.