Link tracking is how a campaign knows whether the links in its texts actually get clicked. When you put a giving link, a signup page, or a polling-place lookup in a text, a tracked link records who clicked, turning an otherwise blind send into measurable data. It's one of texting's biggest analytical advantages over channels like mail, and the tracking domain you use also affects deliverability. Here's how it works.
What is link tracking?
A tracked link is a URL that records a click before passing the person to the destination. Instead of a raw link, the campaign uses a trackable one, often a branded short link, that logs each click and attributes it to the send and sometimes the individual contact. So when you text a fundraising link and 200 people give, link tracking is part of how you know the send drove those donations. It's the mechanism behind measuring texting's ROI.
Why does link tracking matter?
Because it makes texting measurable, which most voter-contact channels aren't. A mailer goes out and you mostly guess at its effect; a text with a tracked link tells you exactly how many people engaged. That data drives everything: A/B testing needs click data to pick a winner, fundraising attribution needs it to credit revenue to a send, and segmentation can use who-clicked-what to sharpen future targeting. Link tracking is what turns a texting program from a series of blind blasts into a measurable, improvable operation.
Why does the tracking domain affect deliverability?
Because carriers filter on links. A tracked link on a shared public shortener is a deliverability liability, spammers abuse those domains, so carriers filter messages containing them. A tracked link on your own branded short domain is both trackable and trusted, giving you the click data without tripping filters, and lifting click-through because voters trust a link that clearly belongs to the campaign. So the right setup is a branded, trackable short domain: you get the measurement and the deliverability at once. Using a public shortener for tracking sacrifices deliverability for data, which is a bad trade.
Frequently asked questions
What is link tracking in texting?
A tracked link records a click before passing the person to the destination, logging who clicked and attributing it to the send. It turns a send into measurable data, which is one of texting's advantages over channels like mail.
Why does link tracking matter?
Because it makes texting measurable. Click data drives A/B testing, fundraising attribution, and segmentation, turning blind blasts into a measurable, improvable program.
Does the tracking link affect deliverability?
Yes. A tracked link on a public shortener draws filtering, since carriers distrust those domains. A tracked link on your own branded short domain is both trackable and trusted, giving you the data without hurting deliverability.
Keep reading: what is a vanity short link? and measuring texting ROI. For carrier registration, see The Campaign Registry.