Short links help to increase trust in the brand and improve the effectiveness of interaction with the audience and effectively implement promotional posts. Thanks to this, their use becomes an important tool for the successful promotion of the company.What are the main marketing mistakes to avoid when using short links, we will look at below.
1. Overloading the text with long links
One of the common mistakes in marketing materials is the use of long and complex URLs, which not only look cumbersome, but can also distract attention from the main message of the text. Such links interfere with the perception of information, especially in texts with a limited number of characters, for example, in social networks or advertisements. Short links make the text concise, compact and easier to read, which improves the overall impression of the material.
2. Lack of branding in links
Standard links, especially if they are generated by third-party services, are often not associated with a brand. This omission leads to the fact that the user does not associate the link with the company, and sometimes even doubts its reliability. Reduction services can be used to create branded links, such as brandname.link/promo, which builds trust and makes the brand more recognizable. This approach improves the perception of the company, especially if the links are used in mass mailings or social networks.
3. Insufficient analytics of click-throughs
Without link click-through analytics, a company loses important data about how audiences interact with its content. This can lead to a lack of insight into how effective specific marketing efforts are. Link shortening services provide detailed analytics: how many times a user clicked on a link, what country they came from, what devices and browsers were used. This data allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of your ads and better understand your audience.
4. Problems with using links in advertising
In print or outdoor advertising, long URLs are inconvenient because it is difficult for the user to manually enter them. This is especially critical for smaller companies that make heavy use of flyers, banners, or outdoor advertising. Short links solve this problem by creating simple and memorable addresses that are easy to enter in the browser, minimizing the risk of errors and increasing conversion rates.
5. User distrust of links
Long and non-obvious links can make audiences suspicious, especially if they don't know where the link leads. This often leads to the user refusing to click, even if the content is interesting to them. Short links look safer and inspire more trust, especially if they use a branded domain. This increases clickability, which is important for advertising campaigns.
6. Failure to utilize A/B testing
Without the ability to quickly create unique links for different variations of content, a company loses chances to test which approaches work better. For example, an ad campaign can use two short links for different posts and track their results. This makes it easy to experiment and find the most effective solutions that will lead to increased conversions.
7. Inconvenience for users on social media
Social media often has character limits, which makes using long links extremely awkward. The visual clutter of URLs distracts the audience and takes up precious space that could be used for key messages or calls to action. Short links allow you to optimize text and make it more appealing to users, which encourages greater engagement.
8. Problems with the perception of links in email newsletters
Long links in emails not only look aesthetically unpleasing, but can also make email systems suspicious, which leads to a decrease in user trust and even spam. Short links make emails look neater, increase the likelihood of opening and click-through, and help track the effectiveness of the newsletter through analytics.
9. Gaps in campaign marketing management
When the marketing team does not use centralized tools to manage links, confusion arises and some data can be lost. Shortened links give you the ability to centralize all conversions in one service where you can track their effectiveness, change parameters, and analyze user behavior in real time.
10. User Experience (UX) degradation
Complex and long links in the text create inconvenience for the audience, they take up a lot of space among the regular text and spoil the overall stylistic appearance. Also, such links are more difficult to manually enter when needed from print media. Short URLs make it easier to interact with content, making it quick and easy for customers to navigate. This improves the overall user experience and increases loyalty.