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How to create links in legacy campaigns

This article explains how to create links to a URL, an email address, a phone number, a website anchor, a document, or a survey when using the legacy* editor.

What is a hyperlink?

A hyperlink is when a word or phrase has been selected to connect to a certain URL, email address, phone number, or an external link like a survey; it makes the word or phrase clickable and brings the user to the chosen destination. Within the copy of your campaign, you can add hyperlinks to any word or phrase so that when the user clicks on it, they are automatically connected to the destination you have chosen.

Are hyperlinks trackable?

Hyperlinks, or links for short, can only be tracked in certain circumstances. Links in your legacy campaigns are trackable because the links are routed (redirected) through our server on their way to their final destination, allowing us to record the click. The process happens very quickly and is virtually invisible to the person clicking the link. However, there are a few scenarios when links in campaigns are not trackable. Specifically, links are not trackable these scenarios:

  • Regardless of bracket formatting, certain personalization tags do not track at all, such as the tags that create the manage preferences link, opt-out link, signup link, and webview link.
  • Personalized URLs (PURLs) that use bracket-percent personalization do not track at all
    • Bracket-percent personalization looks like this: [% member:first_name default=”” %]
    • If you want to create a trackable PURL, you must use double bracket tags instead, which looks like this: [[first_name]]
  • When the linked text contains personalization tags. For this reason, buttons with personalization also will not track.
  • If you are using an image map, links in that image map will not track.

To help you better understand this, we’ll let you know if each of the hyperlinking instances below are trackable or not at the end of the description. You can also refer to this article for more information on clicks, links, and tracking.

How to add hyperlinks to text

Regardless of which end destination you choose, the first few steps are the same when adding a hyperlink to text. Here’s how to get started:

  1. Navigate to your Campaigns tab.
  2. Open a saved legacy* draft or click on the Create new campaign button to choose a legacy* template.
  3. Click on the text block icon in the left panel and drag it over to your mailing.
  4. As you drag the block over to your campaign, you will see yellow sections appear labeled Drop here. These yellow drop spots will turn green as you hover over them, so you know where the content block will appear in the mailing.
  5. Once you release the block, it will appear in the place you designated.
  6. Enter your copy into the text block.
  7. Use your cursor to highlight the word or phrase that you want readers to click on.
  8. Click on the chain link icon in the toolbar.
  9. Navigate to the appropriate tab option in the pop-up window and follow the instructions below to fill in the requested fields.

URL

  1. In the pop-up window that appears, click on the URL tab.
  2. In the URL field, type or paste the URL for the website that you want to reader to be sent to.
  3. In the Link name field, enter a name for the link. This name will appear in your response data and is used for easy reference.
  4. In the Tooltip field, enter a short description of the link’s destination. This will appear when a user hovers over the link, in most email clients.
  5. Click on the Insert button.

Email address

You can also link a word or phrase to an email address within your mailing, doing so will open up a ‘mailto’ email form that’s pre-filled and ready to be sent to you. An example of this is an “email us” link that’s been included in the body of your mailing, which means the message will be routed to a specific email address within your organization. Here’s how to do that.

  1. In the pop-up window that appears, click on the Email address tab.
  2. In the Email address field, type or paste the email address you would like to direct your readers to.
  3. In the Subject field, enter some text for a pre-populated subject line.
  4. In the Link name field, enter a name for the link. This name will appear in your response data and is used for easy reference.
  5. In the Tooltip field, enter a short description of the link’s destination. This will appear when a user hovers over the link, in most email clients.
  6. Click on the Insert button.

Document

Because so many servers block emails with attachments on entry, it’s not possible to include attachments with your mailings. Instead, you have a document library located in your Campaigns tab that allows you to easily post your files to our server and link recipients right to them. You’ll need to have a document already uploaded to your library in order to create a hyperlink for it, then follow the below steps.

  1. In the pop-up window that appears, click on the Document tab.
  2. Select the desired document name from the dropdown menu and then click Upload.
  3. In the Link name field, enter a name for the link. This name will appear in your response data and is used for easy reference.
  4. In the Tooltip field, enter a short description of the link’s destination. This will appear when a user hovers over the link, in most email clients.
  5. Click on the Insert button.

SurveyMonkey

In order to use this option, you’ll need to have already built a survey in your SurveyMonkey account and clicked Send Survey to publish it as a link.

  1. In the pop-up window that appears, click on the SurveyMonkey tab.
  2. If it’s your first time accessing SurveyMonkey from your account, you’ll need to authorize the integration. Otherwise, you’ll see your surveys listed in a dropdown menu right away.
  3. Choose your survey from the dropdown menu
  4. Click on the Insert button.

Trackable?

Are URL links behind text trackable?

Yes, links that lead to URLs are trackable, since they are redirected to another server where they are housed. However, they still follow the same rules about exceptions, as described above. Additionally, text links have the ability to add no_track=”1” to enable no tracking for the text link. This cannot be accomplished with images or buttons.

Are links that lead to an email address trackable?

No. Email address links will not be tracked since they are not redirected from our server to a final destination.

Are links that lead to a document trackable?

Yes, documents are tracked since they are redirected from the email to our cloud servers where the document is hosted. The same rule applies if the user hosts the document on their server.

Are links that lead to a SurveyMonkey survey trackable?

Yes, they are trackable.

How to add hyperlinks to buttons

To add a link to a button, simply click on a button block to open the Edit button window and type or paste the desired URL into the Link box. Similar to links behind text, you can also add certain special links to buttons. You can find more information about special links in the section below titled How to add special links to images and buttons. For more information about how to edit buttons, check out this article.

Are URL links behind buttons trackable?

Yes, links that lead to URLs that are trackable since they are redirected to another server where they are housed. This is true even if the links are behind buttons.

How to add hyperlinks to images

To add a link to an image, simply click on the image to open the Edit image window and type or paste the desired URL into the Link box. Similar to links behind text, you can also add certain special links to images. You can find more information about special links in the section below titled How to add special links to images and buttons. For more information about how to edit images, check out this article.

Are URL links behind images trackable?

Yes, links that lead to URLs that are trackable since they are redirected to another server where they are housed. This is true even if the links are behind images.

How to add special links to images and buttons

There are several types of special links that you can add behind images and buttons including email address, phone number, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, and document links. Instead of linking to a specific website, clicking on one of these links will trigger an action on the recipient’s device.

Email address

In the Link box, enter mailto:email_address and replace the email_address portion with the email of the person that you want your contacts to reach out to. For example, mailto:[email protected].

You can also pre-populate the subject line of the email by adding ?subject=subject_line at the end. For example, mailto:[email protected]?subject=hello – when a contact clicks on that link, they will be directed to their email inbox and a new draft will automatically open with [email protected] as the recipient and “hello” as the subject line.

This type of link works on Android, iOS, and desktop.

Phone number / SMS

Another option is to link to a phone number, which will make the number a click-to-call link when your mailing is opened on a mobile device. In the Link box, simply type tel:phone_number and replace the phone_number portion with the phone number of the person that you want your contacts to reach out to. Do not include any dashes, spaces, or characters other than numbers. For example, tel:5555555555.

You can also create an SMS link; this will open up the text app on the recipient’s phone with the number pre-populated so that they can send a text to it. The format for SMS links is sms:phone_number. It works on Android and iOS. Again, be sure not to include any extra characters, like a dash in between the digits.

This type of link works on Android and iOS.

SMS links are not supported by every inbox provider. Specifically, Gmail, Outlook.com, and Yahoo typically do not support the protocol used to create SMS links.

Facebook

You can add a link to a Facebook profile using this link format: fb://username. You just need to replace the “username” portion with the Facebook username for the profile that you want your contacts to visit. Clicking on this link will open the Facebook profile on the recipient’s phone.

This type of link works on iOS.

Twitter

You can add a link to a Twitter account using this link format: twitter://twitter_handle. You just need to replace the “twitter_handle” portion with the Twitter handle for the account that you want your contacts to visit. Clicking on this link will open the Twitter profile on the recipient’s phone.

This type of link works on iOS.

Document

You can also add a link to one of the documents in your library behind a button, by following the steps below:

  1. Navigate to your Campaigns tab.
  2. Click on the Documents section in the panel on the left.
  3. If you haven’t yet uploaded the file that you’d like to link, click on the Upload button and select the file from your computer.
  4. Once you’ve uploaded the file, click on the corresponding dropdown arrow and choose Copy link from the list.
  5. Return to your campaign draft and click on the button / image to edit it.
  6. In the Link box, paste the link that you just copied.
  7. Finish styling the button / image to your liking and then click Save.

Trackable?

Are email, phone number, SMS, Facebook, and Twitter links trackable?

No. Email addresses, telephone numbers, SMS, Facebook, and Twitter links cannot be tracked since they are not redirected from our server to a final destination.

Are document links behind buttons and images trackable?

Yes, documents are tracked since they are redirected from the email to our cloud servers where the document is hosted. The same rule applies if the user hosts the document on their server.

How to add a link to a previous mailing

You can also link to one of the previous mailings that you’ve sent from your account. To do this, you’ll just need to copy the URL for the webview of the mailing that is found at the top-right of the mailing’s Response overview, then use that URL link as you would for any webpage.

Are links that lead to a previous mailing trackable?

Yes, they are trackable.

How to create an anchor link

Anchor links are also called bookmarks or jump links because they jump the reader down to an item somewhere else in the same email. There are two steps to the anchor link process: inserting the anchor and then creating the link. First, you’ll need to insert an anchor in the body of your mailing to where you want to jump the reader down.

Due to limitations beyond our control, anchor links are not supported in mobile platforms. There are also some email clients that do not support anchor links, so you’ll want to be sure to send a test of your campaign to the different email clients in your audience.

Step 1: Insert an anchor

  1. Click to the left of the text that you want to use as the anchor.
  2. Click on the Insert button in the toolbar.
  3. Select the Anchor option and give your anchor a name. The name should be all one word without spaces, as adding spaces can disable the link in some email clients.

Step 2: Create the hyperlink

  1. Highlight the text that you want the anchor to jump down to when clicked on.
  2. Click the chain link icon in the toolbar.
  3. Select the Anchor tab and then select the desired anchor from the dropdown menu. If there is only one, it will auto-populate in the field.
  4. In the Link name field, add a name for the link. This name will appear in your response data and is used for easy reference.
  5. In the Tooltip field, enter a short description of the link’s destination. This will appear when a user hovers over the link, in most email clients.
  6. Click on the Insert button.

Anchors do not always function properly in Preview, but you can send yourself a test email in order to click the anchor links to make sure they’re achieving the desired effect, and it’s always a good idea to send and review a test of your mailing before sending it to your clients.

While anchor links can be useful, they are often a sign that a mailing is too long, which may impact deliverability and decrease the likelihood of contacts reading the full mailing. Instead of using anchor links, best practice is to put essential information in your campaign and link out to your website or a landing page for full details.

Are hyperlinks that lead to anchor links trackable?

No. Anchor links cannot be tracked.

* In April 2022, our legacy editor was replaced with a new drag and drop editor. Accounts that existed prior to this change still have access to the legacy editor through their previously saved templates and campaigns, however new, from-scratch campaigns can only be created in the new drag and drop editor. Accounts that were created after this change only have access to the new drag and drop editor. Please refer to our new editor FAQ article for more information.