In recent years, it seems that the digital marketing frontier is becoming more and more saturated with a myriad of new methods that connect brands to customers in new and fun ways— be it a playful TikTok influencer commercial, a promo code linked to an Instagram post, or a virtual reality lens that lets you ‘try on’ the product.
Regardless of what the next new popular social app (and of course its advertising platform) will be, maintaining a smart, strong email marketing strategy is still key in promoting company awareness, revenue, and growth. In fact, did you know that almost 60% of people surveyed said they would purchase a product from email marketing based on their purchase history?
That’s definitely a statistic that no marketer should ignore!
Email campaigns are ultimately one of the most persuasive, effective, and conversion-rich methods of digital marketing today— still standing as one of your brand’s potentially greatest revenue generators. That said, apart from top-notch personalization, how do you increase conversion and revenue from email campaigns in a world that is totally obsessed with mobile apps?
The answer is app deep linking and no— you don’t need SDKs or technical resources to implement it in email marketing and other channels— but we’ll get to that in a minute.
Corporate email strategies often don’t include the brand’s app because marketing technologies are often in silos. App teams use CRM platforms designed around apps (think push notifications) while corporate email teams often use email platforms that are typically aligned with the brand’s website.
That means a brand’s email marketing campaigns will often send everyone— including the loyal app audience— back to the mobile website. That’s not only frustrating for consumers, but stands as a big barrier to conversion— and your app deep linking solution should solve that issue without SDKs.
Deep linking may already be supported in your app, but what if you suddenly find that it doesn’t work in your use case— email marketing! Then you discover that it also doesn’t work when linking to your app from social media which is the same issue.
What you’re seeing is a ‘walled garden’ at work.
In this case, the email app (Gmail or otherwise) prevents your brand’s app from opening, and instead sends your visitor to the app’s mobile website login. To solve this issue, you need to use a deep linking platform for marketers like URLgenius, which gives your email links some additional app linking capability.
Why has creating a unified linking strategy been so challenging until now? We’re here to give you the brief history of this topic!
In digital marketing speak, deep linking historically means linking to a web page beyond the homepage. Today, the phrase also means linking into a mobile app from another app or another marketing channel. To deep link successfully, your link needs the ability to jump over that walled garden, and open the destination app to the right screen. So why do we as consumers run into so many web logins?
There are a lot of different deep linking technologies out there— such as Apple’s Universal Links and Google’s Firebase. Those technologies are useful for other deep linking use cases, such as organic search, but they are not required for channel marketing such as email, social, SMS, QR codes, etc.
Just know that all deep linking technologies are NOT created equal! So it’s imperative to understand that although your app may support deep linking, that doesn’t mean it will work for your email campaigns (or other use cases and channels).
QR Code Tip: QR codes function as a link, so the same concept applies. Want to place a QR code in your email marketing campaign or another channel that opens your app? Updating the link behind your QR code with the right app linking technology will avoid that mobile website login when your visitor scans the code. URLgenius generates a dynamic QR code for every app deeplink, and you can control the destination even after the QR code is printed.
URLgenius uses a patented, cloud-based process that uses your mobile app’s URL schemes to securely open a particular screen in the app— or even a feature of the mobile device (e.g. camera). Think of a URL scheme as an address in the app or a prefix for opening the right screen. Most apps have these configurations now, which is great for marketers creating multi-channel campaigns designed to increase app installs and app re-engagement.
When you sign up for URLgenius, you won’t need SDKs or other technical resources to create app links to place in your email campaigns— all you need to do is simply update the links you already use!
Now we’ll show you the step-by-step process to generate these email marketing deep links!
In this example, we’ll use the JibJab app— a wildly popular, fun app that lets you create entertaining e-cards to send to your friends and family. Like many companies, JibJab has both an app and a website.
This example applies to any type of app you want to link to from your email campaign— whether it’s an e-commerce, finance, or social media app (you name it!). The screenshot below shows a JibJab email (on the left) that presents the user with a selection of Christmas cards to choose from.
There is a URLgenius link behind each card that will open the JibJab app to the right screen if the app is installed, or open the website to that same card if the app is not installed.
Pro Tip: This example shows you how to create a single app deep link. If you have thousands of links to create, no problem! Your links can be created programmatically with the URLgenius API.
Let’s create an app deep link for the Hawaiian Christmas card. To update the link, we’ve entered the web URL for that card into the box on the URLgenius home page. This will be your default destination in case a desktop computer clicks the link.
Notice the JibJab icon appears in the upper right corner. This means URLgenius knows what type of link you entered. If you don’t see your app’s logo, start by entering your app’s Google Play or Apple App Store link. Once you sign up for the platform, your app can be added to the link composer, and from there you can start with a web URL (which makes it easier and faster to set up links).
Also, notice the dialog offers you information about where your visitor will be sent within the app. That’s the app address information mentioned above in this article. No need to change that information— it’s already entered for you!
Now click ‘Compose.’ This creates your app deep link to place into your campaign. This takes you to the settings page for the link, where you can also see your analytics that shows you the number of clicks and times the app has been opened. (You can also scan the QR code to test the behavior of the link.)
Pro Tip: If you’re using an email platform that dynamically appends UTM tags to your email links, no problem! That information can be appended and URLgenius will pass that information to your email platform. Just remember— if you also want to pass attribution information to your app analytics, make sure to add UTMs to the app address on the ‘Routing’ tab. Just let us know if you need help with reporting and analytics!
Email marketing is a science that many marketers have been fine-tuning for years. What’s fairly new is the mobile app. So if want to turbocharge your email strategy to include your app, now is the time to bring app and web strategies together with links and QR codes that can route to both your app and website!
URLgenius app deep links and QR codes can help you:
Still not convinced that you should invest more in a modern, unified email strategy for your app and website? Here are further reasons why a more sophisticated email marketing is a must-have in 2022 and beyond (and why deep linking is such a vital part of this strategy)!
The great thing about the URLgenius platform is that we will show you how many times users clicked your app deep links and how many times the app opened. Keep these reporting tips in mind:
So, what are you waiting for? Based on the information we’ve outlined for you, doesn’t it sound like a no-brainer to use a trusted deeplink website (ahem, us) for your email marketing needs? Give it a try and use the URLgenius platform to generate deep links for your next email blast, and watch your email click rates and overall email marketing conversion rates go through the roof!
We are here to help! Contact us at info@urlgeni.us if you have any further questions about email marketing and deep links.
If you found this content helpful, check out some of our latest how-to posts for deep link app marketing:
Categories
App Marketing, Attribution, Deep Linking, Deeplinking, Mobilize Blog
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