Short URLs in SMS Campaigns

The system supports a feature that shortens a webpage URL down to 19 characters plus the quantity of characters from the target domain.

How to Shorten URLs:

1. Go to the target website and create an empty webpage at http(s)://yourdomain.com/s with the Maestra tracker.
2. Create an SMS message.
3. Go to the Settings section, click "Change" in the "Track clicks by shortening the URL" section and tick the checkbox:

4. Open your template and enter the URL of the target website.

Example:

https://yourdomain.com/promo/february2022/happyvalentinesday

Use the http:// or https:// prefix. Otherwise, the URL will not be shortened.

The system will display http(s)://yourdomain.com/s before leading to the target webpage.

The page can be blank or display some text with redirect information.

5. Send an SMS to test if your shortened URL works.

If you click the button to send a test message or when you create a template in the test mode, the click on the URL will not be tracked. Instead of redirecting to the target webpage, the URL leads to a blank webpage or a 404 error page.

The URL in the message will look like this:

https://yourdomain.com/s?s=9IUEBzfPxusUcHK

Once the customer clicks on the URL, the webpage with the set up tracker opens: https://yourdomain.com/s?s=9IUEBzfPxusUcHK.

The tracker receives the s parameter and redirects the customer to the target webpage.

URLs with Parameters

You can use parameters to personalize your URLs.

For example, you can insert an order track number into your URL:

https://yourdomain.com/${Order.AdditionalData.TrackingURL}

Tickets

You can use tickets in https://projectname.maestra.io/mailing-parameters-help/Ticket as parameters: put your project name in place of projectname.

Example:

https://yourdomain.com/?direct-crm-ticket=${Ticket.MobilePhoneAuthenticationHexTicket}

The shortened URL:

https://yourdomain.com/s?s=9IUEBzfPxusUcHK

When your customer clicks on the URL, the system authenticates them and redirects to the target webpage.

How URL Shortening Affects Attribution

If the feature is enabled, the system collects stats on clicks and orders made from these SMS messages. Thus, the system supports SMS attribution for shortened URLs only.

If the feature is disabled, the number of clicks and SMS orders will always be zero.