More than just shortened URLs
A massive retailer with 2,000 locations and 400,000+ employees, this company trades on providing great customer experiences in stores, online, via social media, and in their digital apps and communications. Prior to 2014, they used Bit.ly to create shortened links, but found the functionality limiting. Here’s how BL.INK helped them streamline processes and measure important marketing metrics.
BL.INK uncovered 10,000 broken links created using Bit.ly
As part of the automated migration of their old shortened URLs, they discovered a major problem.
“When they migrated from Bit.ly, we discovered more than 10,000 broken links,” said Andy Meadows, BL.INK’s leader. “They did not know they were broken. They’d made some website changes in the past that ‘broke’ these links, but were never alerted that they were broken.”
The BL.INK team helped them point thousands of short links to the appropriate destinations. BL.INK now alerts them to any broken links and enables default redirects to avoid future broken links. It’s a feature unique to BL.INK, no other shortened URL tools currently do this.
Short URL as single data point of truth in social media
The retailer relies heavily on social media to market itself, using platforms that include Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest and more. Tracking each ad or engagement by platform, geography, and more is critical. Fortunately, BL.INK’s intuitive platform makes it easy for them to create and manage branded URLs that track every parameter they need.
The retail giant uses Khoros to manage their social media platforms, and BL.INK’s native integration means they can easily create links directly in Khoros, streamlining their workflow while capturing key data.
Live chat agents easily create on-brand shortened URLs
With hundreds of thousands of employees, they wanted to make it easy for key employees to create their own shortened branded URLs, especially when sharing information with customers. BL.INK enables administrators to set up guidelines to point to specific approved URLs to ensure every link is on-brand. It also means hackers can’t “take over” links and surreptitiously redirect them to dangerous links.
Today their live chat agents use these branded URLs to point to specific product pages. The shortened link makes it easier to view in short chat boxes. What’s more, it just takes a few quick clicks to create the perfect link every time.
URL builders customized to department needs
The behemoth retailer created three customized URL builders within BL.INK, each specifically designed for specific departments or campaigns. This accomplishes a few things:
- Users only change the data required to create links for their use case
- Drop-down values deliver perfectly-structured data every time, so analysis is cleaner and easier
- Users don’t have to fumble with unnecessary data points that are irrelevant to their needs
“With the URL builder, any team member can build out what their analytics team has determined is the perfect URL,” said Andy. “So no matter what kind of training they have, they can use the tool to create the short link and the analytics team gets exactly what they need with every transaction.”
BL.INK’s flexible URL shortener solves problem this retailer didn’t even know they had
Since resolving our client’s primary issues in 2014, BL.INK has partnered with this beloved retailer to find bullseye solutions to problems that changing times and technology bring with them.
BL.INK eliminated broken links, made it easy for multiple users to create perfect shortened links in a snap, and integrated with their existing tools to capture and analyze data across all their platforms.
With BL.INK, this retail industry leader has all the features they require to function, and the security of knowing their needs will be met for years to come.
Contact us today and let’s talk about the problems we can solve for you.
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