Context:
By default Customer.io doesn’t track SMS links. You can switch it on, but the link isn’t suitable for a text message.
What I want to hear:
- Has anyone got an elegant solution for better link tracking?
- Has anyone on the CIO team heard of an SMS link shortening service built-in being mooted?
What I’ve tried so far:
- Using Short.io to generate a custom link by campaign. Works well to track overall clicks, but not individual to user, and therefore can’t be used for further campaign logic (e.g. if user clicks SMS, don’t send this follow up email)
- Using Short.io to generate a link via webhook in the CIO workflow. Chews up API calls very quickly, and while I can track individual click behaviour manually, it’s not showing up in CIO and therefore can’t be used for workflow behavior
These solutions were recommended by the CIO customer support team.
My dream user flow:
- SMS delivered to user with nice looking URL e.g. https://shortname.io/x5d3f
- User arrives at desired webpage with full URL e.g. https://longname.io/mypage/otherpage/?user_id=12345&login_token=abc123&utm_campaign=blah
- CIO registers the click like it would for the regular link tracking, and pings the reporting webhook
- The follow up SMS only sends to users who haven’t clicked the previous message
Currently I think the only way I could engineer this is to build a bespoke handler, but I’m rather reluctant to do that.
How other providers do it:
https://support.iterable.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403865896724-SMS-Link-Shortening-and-Click-Tracking-
