# Track clicks in SMS campaigns

Engage Studio records click activity when a recipient selects a shortened link in an SMS campaign. Use click data to measure campaign engagement and build audiences of recipients who interacted with a message.

Click tracking is enabled for a workspace when **Link Click Tracking** is enabled in workspace settings. After that, Engage records clicks for shortened URLs in SMS One-off and Always-On campaigns. There is no separate campaign-level click-tracking setting.

## Prerequisites

Before using click tracking, make sure that:

* An SMS sender number has been provisioned and assigned to your workspace
* Your Parent Segment includes a phone number column in E.164 format, such as `+12125551234`
* Consent filtering is applied at the segment or activation level to exclude opted-out recipients
* Quiet Hours settings are configured for your audience's time zones
* Your SMS activation includes the required `phone_number` output mapping
* Your SMS message contains an eligible HTTPS URL


For instructions on creating shortened links, see [Shorten links in SMS campaigns](/ja/products/marketing-cloud/engage-studio/channels/sms/shorten-links-in-sms-campaigns).

## Enable click tracking

To enable click tracking, follow the steps in Shorten links in SMS campaigns. Enabling link shortening also activates click tracking for the workspace.

Click tracking begins when recipients select the shortened links generated for the campaign.

When **Link Click Tracking** is disabled, the original URL is sent unchanged and Engage does not record a native click event for that URL.

Important
Click tracking requires link shortening. UTM parameters alone do not create native Engage click events.

## How Click Tracking Works

When a recipient selects a shortened link, Engage:

1. Receives the request for the shortened link.
2. Looks up the original destination URL.
3. Redirects the recipient to the destination page.
4. Records the click event in the background.


The redirect happens before the click event is written. A delay in click-event processing should not prevent the destination page from opening.

## Valid and Expired Links

A valid, unexpired shortened link redirects the recipient to the original destination URL.

An unknown or expired link returns a `404` response and does not redirect the recipient.

Shortened links expire after 90 days. For more information, see [Shorten links in SMS campaigns](/ja/products/marketing-cloud/engage-studio/channels/sms/shorten-links-in-sms-campaigns).

## Click Event Data

Click events contain information about the campaign, message, recipient, and link. The available fields may include:

| Field | Description |
|  --- | --- |
| `event_id` | Unique identifier for the click event |
| `short_id` | Short-link token that was selected |
| `campaign_id` | SMS campaign identifier |
| `message_id` | Message identifier |
| `recipient_id` | Recipient identifier (CDP profile ID) |
| `channel` | Message channel, such as `sms` |
| `click_timestamp` | Time when the link was selected |
| `user_agent` | Browser or device information from the request |
| `suspected_bot` | Indicates whether the request matched a known automated-client pattern |


Click events are written asynchronously to your Treasure Data account.

Click events are stored in the following database and table:

* Database: `delivery_links_<workspace_id>` (hyphens in the workspace ID are replaced with underscores)
* Table: `link_click_events`


Note
Click events may not appear immediately after a link is selected because they are processed asynchronously.

## Automated Clicks and Link Scanners

Security scanners, link-preview services, and other automated systems may request a link before a recipient selects it. As a result, raw click activity may include requests that do not represent human engagement.

Where automated-click detection is available, Engage sets `suspected_bot` to `true` for records identified as automated requests. These records remain in the `link_click_events` table. Some automated requests may not be identified if they use a standard browser User-Agent.

## Click Tracking and UTM Tracking

Click tracking and UTM tracking measure different things:

| Feature | Purpose |
|  --- | --- |
| **Click tracking** | Records that a shortened link was selected |
| **UTM tracking** | Adds campaign parameters to the destination URL for external analytics platforms |


Use click tracking to measure interaction with the SMS link. Use UTM tracking to attribute website visits to a campaign in analytics platforms such as Google Analytics or Adobe Analytics.

You can use both features in the same SMS campaign.

For more information, see [UTM Tracking](/products/marketing-cloud/engage-studio/channels/sms#utm-tracking).

## Limitations

* Click tracking requires a shortened link.
* Click events are processed asynchronously.
* Click activity may include automated requests from security scanners or link-preview services.
* Automated-click detection does not identify every non-human request.
* IP addresses are not included in the click-event data.
* Advanced bot detection is not included.
* Repeated selections of the same link are not automatically treated as one click.
* A shortened link returns `404` after it expires.
* Click tracking does not replace consent filtering, opt-out handling, or Quiet Hours configuration.


## Troubleshooting

### Clicks are not appearing immediately

Click events are processed asynchronously. Wait before checking the click-event data again.

If the events still do not appear, confirm that:

1. **Link Click Tracking** was enabled for the workspace and **Use TD shortened URL** was enabled before the campaign was sent.
2. The recipient selected the shortened link rather than an unchanged full-length URL.
3. The link has not expired.
4. The campaign was sent successfully.
5. Your workspace click-event configuration is complete.


### The link returns `404`

The link may be expired, invalid, or incomplete.

Confirm that:

* The complete shortened link was copied correctly.
* The link was generated within the last 90 days.
* The recipient is using the link from the delivered message.


### Click counts are higher than expected

Review the click-event data for suspected automated requests. Security scanners, link-preview services, and repeated selections can increase raw click activity.

Use UTM data and downstream conversion events alongside click activity when evaluating campaign performance.