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The support article cites that enabling link tracking in emails sent via JO that the LENGTH of the URL will increase and as a result, deliverability could be impacted negatively.

Can we get more detail around why that would be?  Is the URL length something that is governed by an email recipient’s network settings, and therefore out of our control entirely?  Or is there a means of updating our settings as the sender to alleviate this?  

Separately, how frequently is this actually an issue?  How can we measure whether or not the length of a URL was the root cause of a deliver failure?

We’ve been discussing using UTMs as a workaround to this potential deliverability issue, however if the reason for the issue is due to the URL length, then presumably using a UTM will result in the exact same issue, since those URLs are necessarily longer also.

Thanks.

JJ

Create Journey Orchestrator Email Templates - Gainsight Inc.

Hi Jeremy

I wouldn’t be able to share figures here, but I’ve noticed a clear difference in emails landing in the inbox vs the spam box when there is a survey link (or no survey link), and survey links are somewhat similar in length and perceived “creepiness” to normal links to which you would have added link tracking.

There’s a much higher organic response rate to the second email (no links) than to the first (survey link).

I generally deactivate link tracking, and when really needed, I’ll instead opt-in to use UTMs (limited to source, medium, campaign and leaving out keyword and content) which in my experience cause less delivery issues. Links also look less creepy. These have a couple of downsides though:

  • Requires web analytics on the web property you link to and you having access to said web analytics dashboard
  • Requires (depending on solution and region) acceptance of cookies 

But generally speaking, if an email contains really crucial content:

  • Minimize the number of links in the email
  • No link tracking

Hope this somewhat helps!

Alizée

 

Thanks for sharing @alizee
We are just setting a new JO program and your insights are very valuable! 

Hi Jeremy

I wouldn’t be able to share figures here, but I’ve noticed a clear difference in emails landing in the inbox vs the spam box when there is a survey link (or no survey link), and survey links are somewhat similar in length and perceived “creepiness” to normal links to which you would have added link tracking.

There’s a much higher organic response rate to the second email (no links) than to the first (survey link).

I generally deactivate link tracking, and when really needed, I’ll instead opt-in to use UTMs (limited to source, medium, campaign and leaving out keyword and content) which in my experience cause less delivery issues. Links also look less creepy. These have a couple of downsides though:

  • Requires web analytics on the web property you link to and you having access to said web analytics dashboard
  • Requires (depending on solution and region) acceptance of cookies 

But generally speaking, if an email contains really crucial content:

  • Minimize the number of links in the email
  • No link tracking

Hope this somewhat helps!

Alizée

 

@alizee thanks for the detailed reply.  Much appreciated!

JJ

Tracked links are always overwritten by SendGrid (our email platform) so that each click can be captured correctly. There are a few things here that could affect performance:

  1. Link length — Not sure how significant an issue this is. Security systems such as Proofpoint rewrite all URLs again (https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v1/url?=...), which might cause Google/Outlook to look at them with suspicion.
  2. Link branding — Any time there’s redirection or wrapping involved, links look different and can sometimes cause concerns. Link branding “brands” all the click-tracked links and open-tracked images in your emails with your domain instead of the default sendgrid.net domain (e.g., www.yourdomain.com/link instead of www.sendgrid.net/link).
  3. Too many links — I believe the best practice is to not have more than 3-5  links.
  4. HTTP to HTTPS redirection — This happens when overwritten URLs are HTTP encrypted, but the underlying url (e.g., Gainsight survey URL) is HTTPS. This can be solved by activating SSL click tracking in SendGrid (our email platform). There might be alternatives to consider.

Tracked links are always overwritten by SendGrid (our email platform) so that each click can be captured correctly. There are a few things here that could affect performance:

  1. Link length — Not sure how significant an issue this is. Security systems such as Proofpoint rewrite all URLs again (https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v1/url?=...), which might cause Google/Outlook to look at them with suspicion.
  2. Link branding — Any time there’s redirection or wrapping involved, links look different and can sometimes cause concerns. Link branding “brands” all the click-tracked links and open-tracked images in your emails with your domain instead of the default sendgrid.net domain (e.g., www.yourdomain.com/link instead of www.sendgrid.net/link).
  3. Too many links — I believe the best practice is to not have more than 3-5  links.
  4. HTTP to HTTPS redirection — This happens when overwritten URLs are HTTP encrypted, but the underlying url (e.g., Gainsight survey URL) is HTTPS. This can be solved by activating SSL click tracking in SendGrid (our email platform). There might be alternatives to consider.

Thanks @manu_mittal.  Can you boil it down for me, I don’t follow some of the terminology used.  Is URL length an issue or no?  And does Gainsight have any opinion as to whether or not using UTMs impacts performance via JO?  

JJ

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