Smart devices are ubiquitous among modern consumers, and as smartphones and tablets become more accessible, many people are changing their internet browsing habits. In the past, consumers used computers to access the internet, but now many people opt for the convenience of mobile devices instead.
Brands can take advantage of this shift in internet habits by launching a mobile app and promoting it with a mobile deep linking strategy. Mobile deep links send users directly to a specific page within a mobile app.
Let’s explore how mobile deep linking works and how you can use it to create a better user experience!
What is a mobile deep link?
A mobile deep link is an effective way to direct users to a specific page within your app without opening the app homepage or opening a page in a web browser. Deep links make the mobile browsing experience seamless, directing customers to the exact page they’re looking for. They’re often used as SMS links, email marketing links, or social media links.
Mobile deep linking began in the late 2000s with the release of Apple’s iOS system. This resulted in the development of custom deep links, which became outdated when Apple introduced universal linking in 2015, and Android introduced comparable Android app links soon after.
Mobile deep links use specific URL indicators to send customers to your app. Universal links send them to an iOS app, while Android app links send them to an Android app. You can use domain-level overrides if you have apps available for both platforms.
Default deep links vs. deferred deep links: What’s the difference?
Default deep links assume that the customer already has the appropriate app installed—and won’t work if they don’t. Usually, the link will result in an error message, which is the end of the interaction.
While this sounds quite primitive, default deep links are still useful for retargeting campaigns, where the marketer’s main goal is to reengage customers who haven’t been active in the app recently.
On the other hand, deferred deep links send customers who don’t already have the app to either the App or Play Store to download it. This approach creates a seamless user experience, regardless of whether or not the customer has your app installed. This keeps them engaged with your content and in your sales funnel.
Both default and deferred deep links can be turned into contextual deep links, which capture the customer’s location or search queries to send them to the most relevant link. Contextual deep linking provides a more personalized user experience and allows marketers to gather information on consumer behavior to improve advertising strategies.
Examples of how to use mobile deep linking
There are many ways to use mobile app deep linking as part of a comprehensive marketing strategy. Surprisingly, 51% of mobile deep link opportunities aren’t even attempted, indicating that the market is still largely untapped. Let’s look at a few ways you might implement deep links to maximize engagement with your digital marketing efforts.
- Website to app: This is one of the most popular deep linking. strategies and is an effective way to link to app features that aren’t available on your website. For example, if you’ve created an interactive game in your app, a deep link in your website is a good way to send traffic to it.
- App links to app: You can also use deep links to link between two mobile apps. You might link from your company’s branded app to your profile on a social media app or to your listing on Google Maps.
- SMS to app: Mobile deep linking is a natural fit for your SMS marketing strategy. For example, if you’re announcing a sale with your SMS marketing, you can include a deep link to your app so recipients can quickly and easily make a purchase.
- QR Code to app: QR Codes are a highly effective way to promote your app offline. You can place QR Codes linking to your app on flyers, in print ads, on business cards, and anywhere else you promote your business offline.
- Email to app: You can use deep linking in your email newsletters to send readers to your in-app content. If you share written content in your app, you could include excerpts in a weekly email roundup and link to the full article in your app.
- Search result to app: You can use mobile deep links to make your search results more responsive. Google Search allows you to place a deep link so customers searching on a mobile device can open it in your app rather than a web browser.
- Social media to app: Add mobile deep links to your posts on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media posts to send customers to your app for more content.
- Ad to app: Encourage app downloads by including mobile deep links in your online PPC ads and display ads.
Using deep links in a variety of ways helps create a novel and seamless user experience and offers numerous benefits, as we’ll explore next.
Why add deep links to your user experience?
Deep links help mobile marketers and app developers promote in-app content and boost engagement. Here are some of the unique benefits of using deep links in your marketing strategy.
Increase app engagement
Deep links are an effective way to boost engagement within your mobile app. When placed strategically in your other marketing assets, these links improve customer retention and generate more active participation. Depending on the structure of your app, this could mean increased discussion, more content views, or more game plays.
Drive app installs
Deep links also help you attract new users to your app and increase your install rate. By growing your in-app community, you create a better overall experience for your customers. Increasing engagement in your app can also help you boost your conversion rates and build customer loyalty.
Optimize the user experience
Mobile deep linking creates a seamless experience for your customers and ensures that your app makes a positive impression. Since deep links connect to specific content rather than a generic homepage, they help your customers find what they’re looking for faster. You can also make the app onboarding process easier by directing new users to helpful tutorials or sign-up pages.
In many cases, apps offer a better experience than a mobile web browser. This is likely why customers spend 90% of their mobile time in apps and only 10 % in web browsers. For example, shopping and making purchases in an e-commerce app is often easier than the corresponding browser page. Games, videos, and other multimedia content also work better in an app than in a mobile browser.
Contextual deep links create personalized in-app experiences, utilizing behavioral data to send customers to specific in-app pages. One of the most common use cases of this is abandoned cart retargeting. If a customer puts an item in their cart but doesn’t check out, you can send them a deep link back to that item to finish the purchase.
Improve marketing campaigns
Including deep links in your marketing assets can make them more impactful. These links fit easily into social media posts, email marketing newsletters, digital ads, and any other online marketing strategies you’re using. If your ad resonates with a viewer, they can easily click on the link to head straight to your app and learn more.
Deep links are also easy to track, so they provide plenty of helpful data to support your marketing analytics. This information can help you determine the most effective marketing assets and inform future ad campaigns to drive more app signups.
How to create mobile deep links for marketing campaigns
You’ll need to establish a sophisticated linking strategy for your mobile deep links to generate app downloads and increase conversion rates. Here’s how to build mobile deep links for your marketing campaigns.
Plan your deep linking strategy
The first step is to create a detailed plan for your deep links. Start by assessing your app’s layout and content. Identify pages or features that you’d like to highlight or that could use a boost in engagement. These are the pages you’ll want to create deep links for.
Depending on your app’s features, you may even want to implement contextual deep links. This will help you send more personalized, targeted marketing messages to consumers already in your sales funnel and capture information about engaged users.
Once you decide which in-app pages you want to link to, the next step is to decide where to place your deep links in your marketing assets. Consider your entire customer journey from discovery to purchase to make this decision. Where does your mobile app fit into this journey? This consideration will help you determine where to place mobile deep links in your marketing content.
Use Bitly for simple deep link creation
Once you’ve decided where to place your deep links, you’ll need to create them. Bitly is the ideal deep linking solution, allowing you to create the deep links you need with ease. Bitly integrates with many other popular marketing tools, making it easy to add to your existing marketing strategy.
The Bitly Connections Platform also offers advanced tracking and analytics features so you can assess deep links’ performance within the broader marketing campaign. With Bitly, you can track the number of clicks over time, top-performing links, and even track what location your clicks are coming from to identify engagement trends and patterns. You can also track the number of app downloads in the Google Play and Apple App Stores.
Implement deep links in iOS and Android
Before launching your campaigns, you need to implement your deep links in iOS and Android in collaboration with your app developer.
To do this, you’ll need to make sure your developer app for each platform is configured correctly and then set up a custom URI scheme. A URI scheme helps mobile devices identify the app they should use to open a link.
Once you’ve created your URI scheme, you need to enable iOS universal links or Android app links within your app’s functionality. Then, you can create custom deep links for your marketing campaigns.
Integrate with your marketing campaigns
The next step is to integrate these links into your marketing campaigns. This can include email, social media, SMS messages, and digital ads. With Bitly, you can track the performance of links across your entire campaign in one place.
Make sure that each deep link corresponds with the correct marketing asset and is properly labeled. Links should also be an appropriate length—a URL shortener for SMS can be helpful if you are working with limited space.
Before releasing any marketing assets with your deep links, be sure to test them and make sure they work on a wide range of devices. Ideally, your links should work seamlessly on Android and Apple devices of varying sizes and generations.
Monitor and analyze deep link performance
Once you’ve posted your deep links, the final step is to monitor their performance. Track the amount of engagement and app downloads that each link generates. This will help you determine which marketing assets and strategies are most effective at boosting app engagement. Use this information to improve your future app marketing campaigns.
It’s also essential to check your links frequently and make sure they are still working. They may also need to be updated as iOS and Android make changes to their operating systems.
Discover the power of mobile deep linking
If your brand has an app, mobile deep linking is a must for increasing engagement. It creates a seamless experience for your app users and helps promote a wide range of content across your app.
Bitly makes it easy to create and manage your mobile deep links. With advanced analytics and integrations, you can use Bitly to integrate mobile deep links throughout your marketing campaigns.
Try Bitly for free today to see how mobile deep linking can boost your marketing strategy!