The Hyperlink Manager allows you to add a variety of different links, such as standard hyperlinks, unsubscribe links, and mailTo links, to the content of Email Templates.
NOTE: The Drag and Drop Editor and Freestyle Editor have identical Hyperlink Managers, so they will be discussed in tandem.
Goals
Learn how to add hyperlinks to Email Templates created using the Drag and Drop, and Freestyle
Learn how reserved characters is URLs are handled differently between emails sent using the Send and Test buttons
- Email Designer
- Drag & Drop, Freestyle
Email Designer
Accessing the Hyperlink Manager
To add a Website URL, Email, File or Telephone hyperlink click the "Insert/edit link" button on the toolbar. This will open the hyperlink manager. If any text was highlighted that will be populated in the "Text to display" field.
To edit a Website URL, Email, File or Telephone hyperlink after it has been inserted, highlight the link and click "Insert/edit link" again on the toolbar.
Hyperlink Manager:
In the "Link Type" field, select the type of link you wish to include:
- Website URL
- Phone
- File
To add an Unsubscribe, Web Content or View in Browser hyperlink click the "Special Links" button on the toolbar. This will open the special links hyperlink manager.
Special Links Hyperlink Manager:
In the "Select Link Type" field, select the type of link you wish to include:
- Unsubscribe
- Web Content
- View in Browser
To remove any hyperlink after it has been inserted, highlight the link and click the "Remove link" button on the toolbar.
Now we will go through the details of each link type:
Website URL
You may include parameters within your links. Be sure that the Text to display is the text your recipient will click on to take them to that URL.
CAUTION: When using the # symbol, it must be the last element in the URL and must be included after any manually-added query string parameters. Using a URL with a # symbol that is not the last element may cause your links to break. The following are a few examples of correct and incorrect # symbol placement:
Works: https://www.test.com?utm_source=a&utm_medium=b#anchor
Does not work: https://app.test.com/public/#/2021/?utm_source=dynamics
Include an email address here, so if the recipient of your email clicks on this link, an email draft will be created to be sent to the email address you designated in the Email field
NOTE: The clicks on this type of link are not tracked by Click.
Telephone
If the recipient clicks this link when the email is accessed from a mobile phone, then the number will automatically be dialed. If the recipient clicks this link when the email is accessed from a computer, then some other accessible phone app will be used to dial the number. A country code is not required, but if a country code is included, a plus sign is required to be appended at the beginning of the phone number. It does not matter if dashes are, or are not included.
NOTE: The clicks on this type of link are not tracked by Click.
File
The File tab houses the File Manager, which is how Click handles attachments. Select any uploaded file that should be linked within the Email Template, then click Insert Link to include your link to the file within your Email Template. Click here to learn more about the File Manager.
Unsubscribe
Within this tab you can set the link for the global unsubscribe (which is included within the Email Designer and Drag and Drop editors as a default) or select Subscription Management to include a link to your Subscription Management Page. For more on Click's Unsubscribe process, click here.
Web Content
Within this tab, you can link to Web Content records for Forms (listed as Profile Management), Surveys, and Landing Pages. Read more details about this here.
View in Browser
This link is already populated by default within the Email Designer and the Drag and Drop editor. By clicking this link, the recipient of your email can view the content of the message within a webpage. Please note that the View in Browser links are not intended for archival purposes and will expire after 90 days to help protect the recipient's privacy. If email archives are needed, then we would suggest including an internal email address to get a copy of the email that could then be put onto a web page or using an archiving solution that may be available on the market.
URL Encoding
Some characters, like + signs, are what is called "reserved characters". A reserved character is one that sometimes has special meaning within a URL, and it is best practice to encode reserved characters in all URLs as their unicode values if they are being used for some purpose other than their intended use as a reserved character.
For instance, + signs are encoded as %2B and spaces are encoded as %20.
When an email is sent via the Send button, Click automatically encodes the URLs when when we add the CNAME and our tracking parameters onto the URL.
You can learn more about URL encoding in this World Wide Web Consortium URI syntax article.
URL Encoding with Freemarker
If you use Freemarker to add parameters to your URLs, then any symbols pulled in by the Freemarker will NOT be automatically encoded and may cause links to not work properly. To have the symbols within your Freemarker encoded properly, you can use the "?replace" function at the end of your Freemarker by specifying the symbol to replace and its appropriate encoding. For example:
${Recipient.contact.emailaddress1[0]?replace('@','%40')}
NOTE: You cannot specify a replacement string when using the ?replace function, so you will need to remove the ' !"" ' portion at the end of your Freemarker in order for it to work correctly.
URL Encoding with Test Emails
For emails sent via the Test button, Click does not add the CNAME and tracking parameters so a + or other reserved characters in the URL won't be by automatically encoded.
This means that if your URL includes any reserved characters, it would work normally when sent to your recipients, but may not work when you send it to yourself as a test email unless you manually update those characters for the test.
Drag and Drop & Freestyle Editors
Accessing the Hyperlink Manager
To add hyperlinks to your text, select the word(s) you want to link and click the Link button:
The process for hyperlinking images is a bit different between the two editors. In the Freestyle Editor, the process is the same as linking text; click on the image in your email that should be linked, then click the Link button. In the Drag and Drop Editor, select a block of the template that contains an image, the click the Link button in the image tool bar.
Clicking the Link button will open the Hyperlink Manager. Click the tab of the type of link you wish to include:
- Website URL
- Anchor within the Email
- File
- Unsubscribe Link (global unsubscribe or Subscription Management Page)
- View in Browser Link
- Web Content (Forms, Surveys, Landing Pages).
In the New Drag and Drop Editor, the Hyperlink Manager will look a little different.
Website URL
Enter the Website's URL within the top field. You may include parameters and/or anchors within your links. Be sure that the Link Text is the text your recipient will click on to take them to that URL.
CAUTION: When using the # symbol, it must be the last element in the URL and must be included after any manually-added query string parameters. Using a URL with a # symbol that is not the last element may cause your links to break. The following are a few examples of correct and incorrect # symbol placement:
Works: https://www.test.com#anchor
Works: https://www.test.com?utm_source=a&utm_medium=b#anchor
Does not work: https://app.test.com/public/#/2021/?utm_source=dynamics
Include an email address here, so if the recipient of your email clicks on this link, an email draft will be created to be sent to the email address you designated in the Link Manager.
NOTE: The clicks on this type of link are not tracked by Click.
Phone
If the recipient clicks this link when the email is accessed from a mobile phone, then the number will automatically be dialed. If the recipient clicks this link when the email is accessed from a computer, then an accessible phone app will be used to dial the number. A country code is not required, but if a country code is included, a plus sign is required to be appended at the beginning of the phone number. It does not matter if dashes are, or are not included.
NOTE: The clicks on this type of link are not tracked by Click.
Anchor
You can set anchors to navigate recipients to various places within your email template.
File
The File tab houses the File Manager, which is how Click handles attachments. Select any uploaded file that should be linked within the Email Template, set a value for the Link Text, then click Insert Link to include your link to the file within your Email Template. Click here to learn more about the File Manager.
Unsubscribe
Within this tab you can set the link for the global unsubscribe (which is included within the Drag and Drop editor as a default) or select Subscription Management to include a link to your Subscription Management Page. For more on Subscription Management, click here.
View in Browser
This link is already populated by default within the Drag and Drop editor. By clicking this link, the recipient of your email can view the content of the message within a webpage. Please note that the View in Browser links are not intended for archival purposes and will expire after 90 days to help protect the recipient's privacy. If email archives are needed, then we would suggest including an internal email address to get a copy of the email that could then be put onto a web page or using an archiving solution that may be available on the market.
NOTE: The Microsite is not currently available in the CAN Data Center.
Web Content
Within this tab, you can link to Click Web Content records for Forms (listed as Profile Management), Surveys, and Landing Pages. Read more details about this here.
URL Encoding
Some characters, like + signs, are what is called "reserved characters". A reserved character is one that sometimes has special meaning within a URL, and it is best practice to encode reserved characters in all URLs as their unicode values if they are being used for some purpose other than their intended use as a reserved character.
For instance, + signs are encoded as %2B and spaces are encoded as %20.
When an email is sent via the Send button, Click automatically encodes the URLs when when we add the CNAME and our tracking parameters onto the URL.
You can learn more about URL encoding in this World Wide Web Consortium URI syntax article.
URL Encoding with Freemarker
If you use Freemarker to add parameters to your URLs, then any symbols pulled in by the Freemarker will NOT be automatically encoded and may cause links to not work properly. To have the symbols within your Freemarker encoded properly, you can use the "?replace" function at the end of your Freemarker by specifying the symbol to replace and its appropriate encoding. For example:
${Recipient.contact.emailaddress1[0]?replace('@','%40')}
NOTE: You cannot specify a replacement string when using the ?replace function, so you will need to remove the ' !"" ' portion at the end of your Freemarker in order for it to work correctly.
URL Encoding with Test Emails
For emails sent via the Test button, Click does not add the CNAME and tracking parameters so a + or other reserved characters in the URL won't be by automatically encoded.
This means that if your URL includes any reserved characters, it would work normally when sent to your recipients, but may not work when you send it to yourself as a test email unless you manually update those characters for the test.
| Feature Added: Original |
| Feature Updated: 8.1.0 |
| Click Version Needed: Any |