Link Click Tracking (Shortened Links / mainst.ai)

Overview

When creating messages to be sent via scripts or as part of Knowledge Base responses, you can include links to webpages and resources. It’s best practice to shorten these links, as long web links create a messy experience for your contacts.

A link shortener is a tool that takes a long web address, such as https://test.example.com/a/b/c/?123=456#789, and returns a short link, like https://bit.ly/abc. (Here, we use mainst.ai as the domain.) This creates a redirect, so when a device visits the short version, the browser immediately redirects to the long version. This means that a long and complicated URL can be condensed into a fixed length, making it easier to read for your audience in SMS or web chat messages.

Note: the shortened link still includes the protocol - http:// or https://. Do not remove this or the device receiving this message may not recognize it as a clickable link.

Links Manager

You can see all of your short links in the Knowledge Base, in the Links tool.

This table includes the following sortable columns:

• Short Link: the randomly generated 4-digit path, with the mainst.ai domain
• Destination URL: the full link where learners are redirected to.
• # Locations Used: the number of places where this short link appears, including Knowledge Base Understandings, Scripts, and Organization Attributes. (See below.)
• # All-time Clicks: the number of times a learner has accessed this short link.

Use the + Add Link button at the top to create a new short link. (You can also create a short link within other tools, like Scripts and Knowledge Base Understandings, where the link would be embedded.)

If you click into a row on the table, a drawer will open with more details about this short link.

• Full URL: Click the arrow icon to open this website in a separate tab. You can also edit the destination, which is helpful when your website has updated but you want to keep the existing short links in your content.
• Clicks: This again shows the number of times this short link has been accessed by a learner. Use the Download Click Events button to export a report showing all instances of a learner clicking the link. This is the same as the Link Clicks Report on the Insights Dashboard, but filtered to this particular short link.
• References: This section shows the Knowledge Base Understandings, Scripts, and Organization Attributes where this short link is embedded. (See below.)
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Link shorteners in the Mainstay platform

Knowledge Base

When creating or editing a Response in the Knowledge Base, you can use the link icon to create a shortened link. Select an existing link from the menu, or insert a new one. Hover over the blue link block to see the original destination.

Scripts

When creating or editing a Script message, you can use the link icon to create a shortened link. Select an existing link from the menu, or insert a new one. Hover over the blue link block to see the original destination.

Organization Attributes

When creating or editing a URL-type Organization Attribute, you can use the "Shorten URL" button to create a shortened link.

Conversations / Live Chat

When communicating with a contact in a Live Chat, you can use the link icon to create a shortened link. Select an existing link from the menu, or insert a new one. Note that this inserts the link directly into the message as plain text.

Personalized Links

Starting in May 2026, Mainstay upgraded the link shortener to automatically personalize the short links for each contact, which enables Link Click Tracking. When sending a message that contains a link, each contact will receive a slightly different version of the link: the same 4-character path, plus a 5-character contact token appended to it:

This means that when a learner clicks that link, we're able to report on which specific learner it was, since everyone has a unique URL.

This information is accessible in a Link Clicks Report on the Insights Dashboard.

Campaign Insights

When sending a Campaign Script that includes mainst.ai short links, the Campaign Insights tool will show the number and percentage of recipients who clicked (or did not click) each link.

When downloading the report, each link will also appear as a separate column. Each learner who clicked the link will have a timestamp showing their first click event (during the Campaign).

Audiences

It's also possible to build an Audience of contacts who clicked a specific link.

You can also build an Audience of contacts who did not click a link. However, this is not necessarily people who received the link and chose not to click it - this rule doesn't actually filter by whether they had the opportunity to click, just whether they have at some point.

Custom Subdomain

You can optionally use a custom subdomain for all short links, from the General Settings page.

This instantly updates all short links throughout your content.

FAQ

Why does Mainstay use mainst.ai instead of a standard link shortener?

Some phone carriers and email servers flag messages that contain standard shortened links, like bit.ly, as potential spam, and block those messages from being received. However, our testing indicates that links using our custom shortener, mainst.ai, are not blocked.

For this reason, we will flag content that contains bit.ly links.

How do I use my own custom link shortener in the Mainstay platform?

To use custom shortened links, either through your own organization Bit.ly account or through some other service, simply copy and paste the URL into the Script message or Knowledge Base Response. You do not need to use the link shortener tool at all.

You can also use our link shortener tool to create a mainst.ai redirect to your own custom short link, essentially creating a redirect chain:

[mainst.ai link] --> [your custom shortened link] --> [actual URL]

How can an organization convert existing bit.ly links?

If you were a Mainstay partner before January 1, 2022, your Knowledge Base and/or Scripts may contain bit.ly links, which our research has indicated may be blocked by phone carriers.

To expedite converting these to mainst.ai links, Mainstay offers a tool to identify all bit.ly links in your Knowledge Base, Scripts, and Organization Attributes, and replace them with mainst.ai links. Contact your Partner Support Manager or the Support team at support@mainstay.com.