There has been a lot of discussion about internal linking in the app world recently. While they have been around in app environments for a long time, it is important to understand how they work in apps. If you want to know more, read on.
Despite being present in the app world for some time, internal links have been the subject of much discussion in recent months.
Deep linking is a technique to improve user experience and increase conversions and revenue. You may have heard the term before and are looking for a quick, non-technical explanation of the basics.
What are deep links?
What are deep links?
A deep link is a link that leads directly to specific content within an application (or website).
When a user clicks on an ad or link, they are taken directly to the content they want without having to go through the app's home screen. This is known as deep linking.
Any destination other than the app home screen that contains specific content, such as product or checkout pages.
What is the starting point for deep linking? In other words, where would you place a “deep link,” i.e. the URL, to begin the deep linking journey?
Wherever your potential or existing users might be searching – whether it’s on Snap, Instagram, email, text messages, chat inboxes, search engines, QR codes on billboards or pizza boxes, for example – you should be there, too. Mobile users are everywhere, and so should you.
We like to compare mobile marketers to taxi drivers to help you understand deep linking, and I admit this may seem like an odd comparison at first glance.
The job of a taxi driver and a marketer is the same: to get people from point A to point B. While taxi drivers use a vehicle for their work, marketers do so with deep linking technology.
Marketers and product managers rely on deep linking to drive app growth, engagement, and retention. Digital destinations can be reached from almost anywhere using deep linking.
Deep linking is how it works.
Now the interesting question arises. How can marketers and product managers ensure that the same link they place within a campaign connects users to the right content, regardless of whether they have the app or not and regardless of the device (mobile or PC), operating system, browser, etc.?
Deep linking is where the magic happens.
Marketers can dictate the user experience by using a deep linking engine.
An app's user experience can be broken down into different paths for iOS, Android, and desktop users, as well as destination options.
A deep linking engine enables marketers and product managers to provide two different types of journeys, one for app users and one for non-app users, at a very basic level:
Deep linking engines can create personalized journeys for different users on the fly, resulting in contextual and personalized customer experiences. These delightful journeys will have a significant impact on the business, driving retention, increasing conversions, and improving LTV.
Let me give you a more visually appealing example of deep linking on a website:
Are deep links supported in Android and iOS apps?
You will see the item from your browser, on the mobile version of the website, when you share this URL with someone: a family member, friend, acquaintance, etc. This happens even if the user has downloaded the app on their device. When deep linking from a website, they are not supported on native mobile apps. The user must open their app and search for the product in it, in this case a waterproof sports camera. It can be difficult to find items on Amazon's huge site.
A deep link is a smart link that takes you to specific content within an app or website if you have it installed.
How should we react to this?
Instead of going to the app's homepage, deep links point directly to the app's content. With this approach, if we want to share a product with the app, the link will open the product's content, not the app's homepage.
1. Basic Deep Link
Deep links can be classified into three categories.
A basic deep link is a link that points directly to a specific page on a website.
When the recipient does not have the app, a message appears to allow the link to open in the app. Otherwise, the user will not be able to access the content. They will need to download the app from Google Play or the App Store and open the link again to access the content. Deep links are the most common because they take longer to open between apps.
2. Deferred Deep Links
A deep link is a hyperlink that takes the user directly to a specific page within a website or web application. A deferred deep link is a deep link that is not active until a specified event occurs.
This link links to the content in any way. If you already have the app, it will display the content of the link within the native app. For example, as we saw at the beginning, the sports camera will be visible from the native app.
If a user does not have the app installed, the link will take them to the app's installation page in the app store. Once the app is installed, the shared content can be accessed immediately.
3. Contextual Deep Links
Deep linking to specific topics within your content can help direct users to the content that is most relevant to them.
A deferred deep link has the same functionalities as this type of link, but also offers other benefits. This link stores information about where the user wants to go, where they clicked, who shared the link, etc.
Relevant information added through contextual deep links is invaluable for both mobile app developers and users. This information will allow developers to include personalized content, such as landing pages or referral pages, which will undoubtedly improve the user experience.
Deep linking for mobile apps gives users what they want, when they want it.
Android and Apple support deep linking.
Google App Links is Android's version of iOS' Universal Links.
On iOS, deep links can be used to link to specific content.
With the release of iOS 9.0, Apple introduced Universal Links. This solution sought to address the problem of deep linking functionality in apps by using URI schemes.
When you open a link on iOS, the app is searched for if it is installed. If it is not installed, the content is opened via Safari. A universal link is a standard web link that links to both the web and content in a web app.
Additionally, according to a study by Branch.io, universal links can increase conversion by up to 40%.
In fact, they work in a similar way: they are normal web links that connect to a website and content within the app. This leads to a better user experience, but adoption has been slow because not all versions of Android support it.
Facebook offers deep linking functionality.
In 2014, Facebook developed the App Links standard to address issues with deep link URI schemes. There are two components to app links:
It’s time to wrap things up. Even though deep linking works similarly across all platforms, each has a different technical foundation. However, mobile apps must implement deep linking as part of the app design in terms of user experience and usability. To do this, you need to have a developer who understands how deep linking works, as it often involves both web and mobile optimization.
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Deep linking for re-engagement and retention is important.
Abandonment rates (email marketing/e-commerce) are increasing.
Users can easily decide not to complete their purchase after browsing, purchasing, and filling their cart.
A proactive approach to re-engage customers who leave their shopping cart full of items is to send them emails.
Approximately 451% of cart abandonment emails are opened and 211% are clicked. Even more importantly, contextually relevant emails can recover up to 11% of lost potential revenue. (Sitecore)
A fashion retailer has set up an automated process that sends emails to customers who leave items in their shopping carts.
The user is taken to the checkout page using a deep linking solution, where the items left in the cart are already conveniently populated.
Users (friend/game referrals) are how new users are acquired.
Whether print or digital, word of mouth remains a powerful method for creating product and brand awareness.
Consumers are four times more likely to purchase when referred by a friend, so it's no surprise that many companies encourage existing customers to invite their friends to join in on the fun.
Word of mouth serves two purposes in the highly competitive gaming industry: existing users become more loyal and continue playing, and new app users are referred and join as a result.
A head-to-head game was incentivized for users of a gaming app using a very simple and fast process in this use case.
The friend is magically taken to the app's waiting area after downloading the game from the App Store and launching the app by clicking on a WhatsApp link sent by the player. Let the games begin.
Average order value on social media and retail (combined)
AOV is a measure of the average order amount over a specific time period. These KPIs provide an opportunity for lower-hanging fruit. If a shopper is about to make a purchase, why not offer suggestions for other products they might be interested in?
Between now and 2024, the percentage of e-commerce revenue on mobile is expected to increase from 64% to 67%, indicating that mobile apps are the best way to increase AOV.
A fashion brand uses Instagram to advertise an “outfit of the day” story, featuring different products (see example below). When shoppers swipe up, they are redirected to an AppsFlyer social landing page (to prevent Instagram from breaking the link).
When shoppers click the “buy it now” CTA button, they are taken to a pre-populated checkout page in the app, which includes all of the items that were featured in the story.
SMS Banking: Process Abandonment (Traditional/SMS Banking)
The 75% forms in the financial sector are abandoned because customers find them too
Implementing deep linking is crucial.
Implementing deep linking is crucial.
It is relatively easy to build deep links with SAAS products from deep linking providers. A handful of them offer SAAS products for building deep links for mobile marketing campaigns.
Marketers and product managers use deep linking solutions to define the journeys they want their end users to take once they click on the deep links they create.
Marketers and product managers may also gain a better understanding of campaign performance by measuring installs, revenue, paying user engagement, and LTV, or by capturing the sources of users who have clicked on deep links.
Are developers involved in deep linking implementations? In most cases, developers are involved, as the app needs to open on the deep-linked page. A good deep linking solution provides a smooth transition between developers and marketers/product managers.
My final recommendation regarding implementing deep linking is that you should choose a vendor that offers much more than that. Using another mobile marketing technology stack is generally less desirable than employing a sophisticated mobile marketing platform that includes deep linking capabilities as a core feature.
How to create a deep link
Let's start from the beginning: how to generate a deep link. The normal process can be complicated and may require unnecessary information exchanges between developers and marketers, as links need to be implemented within the application to direct users to the desired destinations.
Additionally, creating deep links manually can be time-consuming and increase the chance of human error. Like any URL, deep links don't work if they contain spelling errors, and even the best engineers can make these kinds of mistakes from time to time. Using a solution to create deep links automatically saves you time and resources, which can be used to optimize your campaigns and strategies.
Ultimately, it’s best to have an easy-to-use tool that allows you to automate the link generation process to increase trust and minimize human error. Learn more about Adjust’s Deep Link Generator, a tool that provides marketers with a fully-formed deep link URL, works for both App Links (Android) and Universal Links (iOS), and greatly reduces the effort required to implement deep links on your own.
Both scheme-based deep links (for Android and iOS) and universal links for iOS 9 and later are fully documented, and the basic ideas are pretty similar: you associate a URL (for scheme-based links, youapp://; for universal links, https://yourdomain.com/) with your app. When the user clicks the URL, the system opens the app if it's installed.
However, not everything is perfect in the world. You may be wondering what happens if someone clicks on a deep link URL without having your app installed. Unfortunately, in these cases, nothing happens, or the user gets an error message. While there is no direct method to check from the web whether an app is present on a device or not, there are some options to “query” your app when it is present, or send customers to the app store, your website, or any other location when it is not.
As we mentioned, both scheme-based mobile app deep links for Android and iOS and universal links for iOS 9 and later are fully documented. Let's look at some examples of how it works.
Implement deep links for Android
As an example of using deep links for Android, let's say your deep link URL is yourapp://path/ and your app's package ID is com.yourapp.example.
JavaScript Solution
An old and common technique to solve this problem is to use an iframe to load the deep link URL and have a delay JavaScript code to redirect to the store:
When you do this, the browser will try to load yourapp://path/ first.
If your app is installed, it opens and the following JavaScript is not executed.
If your app is not installed, nothing happens when yourapp://path/ loads. After 2 seconds, the JavaScript code redirects the user to the Play Store, where they can install the app.
However, there is a small problem with this code: after the app is opened and the user returns to their browser, the JavaScript code can redirect them back to the Play Store. Therefore, we can optimize the process by checking the time when the user returns to their browser to determine whether it is necessary to redirect them to the store or not:
Intent Solution
Since the release of Chrome for Android version 25 or later, the above code stopped working, as mentioned in the Chrome documentation. Fortunately, Google offers a better solution by using the intent URL. When a user clicks on the URL intent://path/#Intent;scheme=yourapp;package=com.yourapp.example;end, the following happens:
If the app is installed, Chrome opens the app.
If the app is not installed, Chrome opens the Play Store.
Which deep link solution should I use in King of App?
JavaScript Solution
Similar to Android, there is also a JavaScript trick for iOS:
html
window.location.replace(“yourapp://path/”); setTimeout(function () {
window.location.replace(“https://itunes.apple.com/app/id12345678”); }, 2000);
.
If the application is installed, the first relocation code opens the application and the following script does not run.
If the app is not installed, the first relocation code does nothing and the timeout feature redirects the user to the App Store.
Universal Links Solution
Starting with iOS 9, Apple introduced the Universal Link, which works similarly to the Android intent but requires more configuration. And starting with iOS 9.2, the JavaScript solution stopped working because Apple introduced a modeless dialog box.
To enable Universal Links, you must have an SSL-certified domain (for example, https://yourDomain.com/) associated with your app and display a special JSON file at https://yourDomain.com/apple-app-site-association similar to the following:
This file tells the device which path acts as a deep link for each application.
Then you need to add applinks:yourDomain.com to your com.apple.developer.associated-domains mapping within XCode:
You can associate a domain with multiple applications or vice versa.
You then need to adopt the UIApplicationDelegate methods for delivery (specifically, application:continueUserActivity:restorationHandler:) so that your app can receive a link and handle it correctly.
Suppose you associate https://yourDomain.com/dress/ with your app by setting “paths”: [“/dress/”] in the JSON file. When the user clicks the link https://yourDomain.com/dress/1 in Safari, the following occurs:
If the app is installed, the app is opened and https://yourDomain.com/dress/1 is sent to the UIApplicationDelegate. There you can use it to decide which view you want to open.
If the app is not installed, https://yourdomain.com/dress/1 opens with Safari and can continue to display the product on your website or redirect the user to the App Store.
Universal Links seem like a perfect solution for iOS. However, they also have their limitations.
Universal links only work with Safari and Chrome.
When another website redirects with a universal link, it only works if the click is done within Safari or Chrome. For example, if in your email application there is a link https://otherDomain.com/ that redirects to the universal link https://yourDomain.com/dress/1, this does not work as a deep link to your application. However, if the user clicks on the link https://otherDomain.com from Safari, this does work.
Universal links do not work if you paste the link directly into the address bar.
Universal links do not work if the redirect is triggered by JavaScript code.
Universal links do not work when you open the link programmatically within your application (for example, with openUrl).
First, in the builder, you need to go to services and click on the marketplace. Select the deep linking service and add it.
Once it's added, you'll see these options.
The most common deep links in the service are already preconfigured: WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, Instagram, LinkedIn and Snapchat.
Just click to activate the option.
Otherwise, you will need to configure the custom service by adding the custom deep link.
How to configure a custom deep link?
From this point on there is no magic formula, for this reason, throughout the article we have been explaining step by step how this type of link works.
It is best to look for the documentation for each application/platform to know how to build the link. For example: https://faq.whatsapp.com/425247423114725/?cms_platform=iphone
There will be cases where iOS and Android deep linking are different, so we recommend using a smart URL shortener, such as the one you can find on our website in the resources section or also within our WordPress mobile suite, where you can create a smart link.
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