Deep linking in emails

Blueshift deep links enable you to send mobile users directly to a specific screen within your app, such as a product page or offer screen.

When a user clicks a deep link in an email (or SMS), the mobile OS attempts to launch your app and open the screen mapped to that link. This works using universal links on iOS and app links on Android.

For example, if a campaign email contains a link to a product, tapping it on a mobile device can open your app directly to that product's detail page — if your app and SDK are configured correctly.

When Blueshift renders a link in an email or SMS, it automatically rewrites the URL to enable tracking and deep linking.

• Standard links begin with /track or /z (if shortened).
• If you set web-only="true", the rewritten path starts with /web-only/track or /web-only/z.

For technical integration details, please take a look at the Blueshift SDK documentation for iOS and Android.

Opening links in browsers or other apps

To force a link to open in a mobile browser (instead of launching the app), add the attribute web-only="true" to your URL.

When a user clicks such a link, the mobile operating system checks if an app is registered to open it. If not, the link will open in the browser instead.

For example, if you want to link to a product but avoid launching the app on mobile, add web-only="true" to the URL:

<a href="{{url}}" web-only="true">Product URL (Liquid variable)</a>

Example: Open a product link in your app

Blueshift emails use HTML and Liquid templating. You can use Liquid variables to dynamically insert product URLs into your email templates.

In this example, we use the same variable in multiple places to link users to a product in your app.

• Use the Liquid variable {{products[0].url}} to insert a product recommendation URL into your template.
• This variable is resolved to a Blueshift deep link, for example: https://universallinks.blueshiftreads.com/z/…
• When clicked on a mobile device, this deep link can open your app directly to the linked screen.

More examples:

<a href="{{products[0].url}}">Product URL (Recommendation)</a>

{% assign url = products[1].url %}
<a href="{{url}}">Product URL (Liquid variable)</a>

<a href="https://www.blueshiftreads.com/products/juvenile-fiction-action-adventure-general/matilda">Direct URL - Matilda</a>

<a href="{{products[2].url}}" bsft-no-track>Product URL (No tracking)</a>

<a href="https://www.blueshiftreads.com">Blueshift Reads Homepage</a>

<a href="http://blueshiftreads.com">blueshiftreads.com (HTTP only)</a>

<a href="https://blueshift.com/">blueshift.com</a>

Visual example: Email with deep links (left) and app screen opened (right)