Engage Studio records click activity when a recipient selects a shortened link in an SMS campaign. Use click events to measure message engagement and combine link activity with UTM and downstream conversion data.
Click tracking is available for SMS One-off Campaigns and Always-on Campaigns when the workspace and campaign settings are configured.
Before using click tracking, make sure that:
- SMS links click tracking is enabled in workspace settings.
- Use TD shortened URL is enabled in the campaign.
- The message contains an eligible HTTPS URL.
- The sender and
phone_numberoutput mapping are configured.
For setup steps, see Shorten Links in SMS Campaigns.
- Enable SMS links click tracking in the workspace settings.
- Enable Use TD shortened URL in the SMS campaign.
- Save and launch the campaign.
Engage Studio records a native click event when a recipient selects a shortened URL. There is no separate campaign-level click-tracking switch: click tracking is downstream of link shortening. UTM parameters alone do not create native Engage Studio click events.
When a recipient selects a valid shortened link, Engage Studio:
- Receives the request for the shortened URL.
- Looks up the original destination URL.
- Redirects the recipient to the destination page.
- Records the click event asynchronously.
The redirect occurs before the click event is written, so a delay in event processing should not prevent the destination page from opening.
Click events may include information about the campaign, message, recipient, and link:
| 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 | CDP profile identifier |
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 the delivery_links_<workspace_id> database and link_click_events table. Hyphens in the workspace ID are replaced with underscores.
Click events may not appear immediately after a link is selected because they are processed asynchronously.
Security scanners, link-preview services, and other automated systems may request a link before a recipient selects it. Raw click activity can therefore include requests that do not represent human engagement.
Where automated-click detection is available, Engage Studio sets suspected_bot to true for identified requests. Some automated requests may not be identified if they use a standard browser user agent.
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 Add UTM Tracking to SMS Campaigns when you need website analytics attribution. Use View SMS Delivery Events to review SMS delivery and subscription events.
- Click tracking requires link shortening.
- Click events are processed asynchronously.
- Click activity can include automated requests and repeated selections.
- Automated-click detection does not identify every non-human request.
- IP addresses are not included in the click-event data.
- A shortened link returns
404after it expires. - Click tracking does not replace consent filtering, opt-out handling, or delivery-window configuration.
Wait for asynchronous processing, then confirm that:
- SMS links click tracking was enabled for the workspace before the campaign was sent.
- Use TD shortened URL was enabled for the campaign before the campaign was sent.
- The recipient selected the shortened link rather than an unchanged full-length URL.
- The link has not expired.
- The campaign was sent successfully.
The link may be expired, invalid, or incomplete. Confirm that the complete link was copied correctly and that it was generated within the last 90 days.
Review suspected_bot, repeated selections, and link-preview requests. Use UTM data and downstream conversion events alongside click activity when evaluating engagement.