How to send a link in a text? Hyperlinks don’t work. Long URLs eat your character space. Shortened URLs solve the length problem, but you still need to handle them correctly to get customers to shop, track, confirm, and take other actions.
Links perform when they’re short, branded, and relevant. People tap URLs with your domain because they recognize the sender.
You need ways to track interactions, too. UTM parameters tell Google Analytics 4 which campaigns generate revenue, while your SMS platform tracks clicks, sales, unsubscribes, and bounces to show campaign performance.
This article provides a complete guide on how to text a link, including what makes a link clickable, where to place it, when to include more than one, and examples for inspiration.
Join Omnisend to make SMS marketing your best-selling channel
Links turn SMS into action. Without a URL, your message ends at awareness. Add a link, and you will create a pathway to purchases, tracking pages, or exclusive content.
You may want to add message links to these SMS campaigns:
Welcoming new customers to your store: Welcome text messages encourage shopping sessions with links to products
Abandoned cart messages: These offer links to whatever item the customer left behind and work well for SMS marketing
Order confirmation details: Customers gain peace of mind knowing their items are safe and on their way
Order delivery details: Your customers feel more at ease when they receive transactional texts with tracking information
Links also help you generate revenue and measure results:
Directing traffic to pages: Send customers to new arrivals, bestsellers, or seasonal collections without making them search your site
Providing a call to action: A message saying “Sale starts now” leaves people wondering what to do next. “Sale starts now: shop here [link]” gives them the next step
Improving convenience: One tap takes customers from message to checkout, eliminating friction between interest and purchase
Enabling performance tracking: Links generate measurable data on click-throughs and conversions. Track which messages work, refine your approach, and improve ROI over time
If you run an ecommerce store, SMS links funnel customers to product pages and shopping carts. Automated SMS accounted for 18% of orders from just 9% of all sends in 2024, with click rates 147% higher than campaigns and conversion rates 118% better.
Links vs. hyperlinks vs. short links
Knowing how to send a link via text begins with picking the correct format. Complete URLs eat characters, hyperlinks fail in SMS, and shortened links save space while staying clickable.
The tradeoff? Character consumption. Seventy characters vanish before you’ve said anything meaningful, leaving you 90 characters to craft your message.
Hyperlinks
Emails and websites let you mask URLs behind phrases like “Shop now” or “Read more.” Tap the text, and you will land on the page.
SMS won’t play along. Text messages reject HTML formatting, leaving only the raw URL visible. Your anchor text vanishes, replaced by the full web address you tried to hide.
Short links (best option)
Compressed URLs like https://bit.ly/omnisend squeeze long addresses into manageable lengths. Omnisend handles this automatically once you toggle link shortening in your campaign settings.
Branded versions (sms.yourbrand.com/spring-sale) go further — recipients spot your name and trust the link before tapping. Generic shorteners lack that recognition, which reduces click rates. The verdict? Always use branded links.
There are two ways to send a link in iMessage on iPhone:
Option 1 — Share button method
Open Safari or your app
Tap the share icon (it’s a square with an upward arrow)
Choose Messages
The link lands in your thread when you pick a contact
Option 2 — Manual copy and paste
Find the URL you want
Long-press it and grab “Copy”
Jump into Messages
Long-press the message field, select “Paste,” and send
iMessage shows preview cards
iMessage pulls in a preview when you paste most links — image, headline, description. Your recipient sees what they’re clicking before they tap. However, manually inserting a hyperlink in a text message won’t work due to a lack of HTML support.
Regular SMS (when texting Android users or anyone without iMessage) strips that preview out and shows raw URLs. When texting outside iMessage, add a line explaining the link.
How to send a link in text messages with an Android device
Image viaUnsplash
These steps will help you send links in texts on Android:
Open your messaging app
Pick your recipient and tap a thread or hit + to start fresh
Type your message with the link in it
URLs need http:// or https:// to turn clickable
If copying and pasting, long-press your link, tap “Copy,” then long-press the message box and tap “Paste”
Hit send
Message app differences
Google Messages comes standard on most Androids. Samsung and other brands include their own. The process stays identical.
Link previews depend on your app
SMS shows bare URLs. RCS generates previews like iMessage when both sides have it enabled. Since most recipients see plain text, describe the destination before including the link.
How to send multiple links in one text message
Most SMS messages work best with one link, but two can coexist when both serve the recipient. Order tracking plus a help page makes sense. A product link plus an unsubscribe option works. Beyond two, clarity drops and spam risk climbs.
Follow these best practices to add multiple links to an SMS:
Priority matters: Put your main link first. The primary action (buy, track, register) leads. The secondary link handles utility, like preference management or unsubscribe.
Separate your URLs: Place each link on its own line or number them. Bunching links together makes them hard to tap and harder to distinguish. Example:
Track your order: [link]
Need help? [link]
Add context: SMS can’t hide URLs under anchor text. Write “Download the app:” before the link so recipients know where it leads.
Mind the character limit: Two complete URLs quickly eat through your 160-character allowance, forcing your message to split. Shorten links to keep everything in one send and cut costs.
Spacing counts: A period or comma touching your link breaks it. Leave a space or drop the link to a new line.
Spam risk: Carriers may flag messages with multiple URLs. Add that second link only when it serves the recipient, not your promotional goals.
How to send automated messages with links using Omnisend
When you build SMS automations, Omnisend automatically handles link shortening and tracking. Set up workflows for order confirmations, abandoned carts, or welcome sequences, then drop your links directly into the message content.
Go to Automations and select your workflow type (Welcome, Order Confirmation, Abandoned Cart)
Add an SMS block to your sequence if it doesn’t already have one
Write your message and paste your link. Drop in product pages, order tracking URLs, or discount landing pages
Omnisend shortens the link automatically and adds UTM tracking
Set your timing (immediate or delayed)
Activate the workflow
What happens next
Each recipient gets a unique shortened link. Click data flows into your reports, showing which customers engaged and what revenue each message generated.
Personalization options
Insert dynamic content like customer names, abandoned product links, or unique discount codes. Omnisend pulls data from your store and customizes each message before sending.
Common automation scenarios
Send order tracking links immediately after purchase. Follow up abandoned carts with a direct link to the customer’s items. Welcome new subscribers with a first-purchase discount URL.
Read this next when learning how to send a website link in a text:
By leveraging the power of link shortening, automation, and tracking, you can help your SMS channel become much more profitable in the long run.
Ideal message length for texts with links
When learning how to send a link in a text, keeping message length in mind is essential. The ideal message length for texts with links is less than 160 characters. Remember that most links typically take up to 60 and 70 on average, reducing the space available for your message.
Keep your messages short and direct to avoid sending multiple texts. Longer texts may increase costs since each additional message can double your expenses.
Omnisend provides a character counter above each composed message, helping you stay within the limit. Plus, you can use its SMS length & pricing calculator to estimate costs and preview your campaign on different devices before sending.
Omnisend shortens links automatically once you flip the campaign or toggle the automation settings.
When Omnisend shortens links, UTM parameters are automatically added. Thus, you can track performance in Google Analytics without building the URLs yourself.
Branded short links: Custom domains let your links show your brand name. Try sms.yourbrand.com as a subdomain or abbreviate your brand — omnsnd.com works instead of omnisend.com.
Setup: Navigate to Store settings > Domain > Add Domain and pick the SMS branded short links option. Add two CNAME records from your DNS provider. Wait up to 48 hours for verification.
The payoff: Your links now show your brand instead of a random domain. People recognize the URL before they click, which builds trust and lifts your click-through rate.
Start sending links in text messages with Omnisend’s free SMS plan
Shortened links in your text messages help save space and enable you to track their performance. With Omnisend, you can gather valuable insights from your messages, such as UTM parameters for detailed reporting. Here’s what you can track:
Source traffic: Identify where your traffic is coming from
Marketing channels: See which marketing channels drive the most engagement
User behavior: Track how recipients interact with your links
You can disable this option in the compose window if you prefer not to use shortened or tracked links.
Image via Omnisend
Best practices for link placement
Follow these best practices to ensure your SMS links appear in the right places:
End placement wins: Put links toward the end of your message, not at the start. Recipients need context before they click.
CTA before URL: Write a clear call to action before the link. “Claim your 20% discount here:” works because it sets expectations.
Priority ordering: Rank multiple links by importance. Your most crucial action goes first.
Build momentum: Let your message flow naturally. Front-loading with a URL kills engagement before the reader understands your offering.
Track SMS link clicks in Google Analytics 4
Tag your SMS links with UTM parameters. GA4 will then show you which campaigns bring traffic, sessions, conversions, and revenue (when ecommerce tracking runs).
Why bother? Without it, Google Analytics won’t provide the complete picture of your customer journey and how it coincides with revenue.
Tag every link with UTM parameters
Add these codes to your URLs so GA4 knows where clicks come from:
Use a link shortener to fit within SMS character limits when learning how to text a link.
Check your data in GA4
Open Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition. Set Session medium = sms as your filter. You’ll see session counts and engagement rates. Conversions and revenue appear once you configure key events and ecommerce tracking.
Set up conversion tracking
Mark actions like “purchase” as key events in Admin > Events > Mark as key event. Marking key events surfaces conversion data in overview reports and makes tracking easier.
Dig deeper with Explore reports
Build a free-form exploration to compare landing pages and campaign names side by side. You’ll see which message content and destinations work best for your audience.
3 examples of how to send a link in a text
Although text messages are much more basic than emails, that doesn’t mean you don’t have any options for what they say.
Let’s look at a few examples of how to send a link in a text message:
1. Lunar — Link to a new collection
This example from Lunar provides excellent context for the link, telling recipients where it takes them and why it interests them. The message is also personalized with the recipient’s name:
2. Runway Rogue — Link with a discount code
This example from Runway Rogue goes the extra mile by including a long-form call to action that encourages the reader to proceed with the following steps and place an order:
3. Vagari Bags
Vagari Bags uses vivid product descriptions to hook attention before dropping the link. “Rich, timeless, effortlessly stylish” paints a picture first. The URL appears only after readers know what they’re clicking for:
Success story
Vagari Bags’ SMS campaigns hit 6-7% click rates, with the best campaign delivering 5.18x return on ad spend. Overall, Vagari Bags generated £121.38 for every £1 spent on Omnisend’s email and SMS combined.
Short, branded links with context outperform long URLs and broken hyperlinks in SMS. Generic shorteners lack trust. Your domain in the link builds recognition before the tap.
UTM parameters feed Google Analytics 4 the data you need to see which messages generate revenue. Position links after your message explains the offer, not before. Tell recipients what happens when they click.
Numbers from 2024 show that automated SMS generated 18% of orders from 9% of sends. Click rates ran 147% higher than manual campaigns. Vagari Bags achieved 6-7% click rates and £121 return for every £1 spent across SMS and email.
Pick software that shortens links automatically and reports clicks with attributed revenue, such as Omnisend, and test placements and calls to action. Scale winners, drop losers. Let the data guide your SMS marketing.
Ready to grow your sales with branded links in text messages?
Simonas is a Content Team Lead at Omnisend. Early on, he developed an interest in blogging, online media, internet culture, and what makes the online world spin (it's content). When he's not fully immersed in extraordinary cyberspace adventures (giggling at memes), you'll probably find him at a live music gig or reading fiction.
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