Long & suspicious destination adresses in links included in email campaigns

[Gustavo_GDM]

Ever more people hover over links provided on emails to see if the destination address looks safe.

When a link is inserted in a Constant Contact email campaign it appears as a exceedingly long and scary address in a Constant Contact server, rather that the simple address that the link intends to take the user to. If the user is naive enough or fearless enough to click anyway, the link works. But some of the recipients may become suspicious of the email sender.

Here is an example: The link to the home page of pwol.ca (https://pwol.ca) Appears on the email as directing the user to the following address:

https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001-i-aSrPUArKFsXwjTzqUiFcQNR_XlUGtlcoZMKQKeFc0Rvx-puFCtalvKoGq3b-0G4cU...

I find that SCARY enough!

[Caitlin_M]

Hi @Gustavo_GDM. You bring up a great point. r20 links are used as intermediate URLs to accurately track what links are being clicked by your contacts so they can show correctly in your reporting. Other large email marketing providers use this same method, Would you prefer having some kind of customized or modified tracking link that makes it easier for contacts to better understand where they are being directed to?

[Gustavo_GDM]

It is very useful to know which links were clicked on our emails; but would it be possible to pop up a note to the user showing the final destination he/she will land on, independently of the complete path being displayed in fine print at the bottom of the screen?

Perhaps a “Know more” option could be placed inside that pop up note, to explain why the final landing place appears different from the displayed path at the bottom of the screen.

[Caitlin_M]

I'm not sure that exact feature would be possible from a technical standpoint, but I think the idea behind your feedback is still a valid one. Email subscribers would like some way to know where they are going before they click and the current r20 links are not clear. We'll keep this open to gather more input from others who may have other visions of how the links would show when hovering over them while also keeping in mind how we track links.

Some possibilities would be the more customized link instead of showing r20 or maybe even a redirect page before they land on the link you insert. Let us know what you think!

[Frankie_P]

Because we have not heard back we are going to close this idea. This doesn't mean that we aren't listening to your feedback! Please feel free to comment or vote on any of the other open ideas to let us know what you would like to see.