Deep linking in mobile apps is a technology that launches an app and opens a specific page in it once a user clicks on a link on a web page or in another app. Deep linking is a surefire way to improve user experience and increase conversion rates . So today we will talk about creating deep links and provide some useful information on this topic.
Why do you need deep linking at all?
Imagine you’re a music app. A new song comes out, and you spend a ton of money running a campaign on a popular website. The campaign uses a small snippet of the song canada phone number list and you’d probably like users to listen to the entire track in your app, rather than on the aforementiond website, which only shows the album art.
Or another example:
You decide to bring back inactive users with a sales campaign. Users will be redirecte to a page to buy the product in one click: they themselves will not nd to search for the item or enter the coupon code manually. It is thanks to deep linking that such campaigns become possible.
Deep linking in mobile apps makes the app experience much more user-friendly, which can significantly increase conversion rates and retention rates. Want to learn more? Check out our blog post on the results of using deep links in campaigns .
What is the point of deep linking?
As mentiond, deep linking makes it easier for users to move from a website to an app. Advertisers also benefit: it’s much easier to achieve conversion with this approach.
Example: You ned to attract customers to your e-commerce app, so you want to run a campaign promoting Christmas gifts. To do this, you create a separate category calld “Christmas Gifts” with a preview of the products in stock, but you want customers to view the products in the app rather than on your website. This is where deep linking comes in. If the user has the requird app installed on their device, it will open when they click on the link and (in some cases) will rdirect them directly to the product page.
The main goal of deep linking is user retention. Deep links keep users in the app. They also work great for re-engaging users and are a key component of retargeting campaigns. Overall, it’s a versatile way to distribute users across your ecosystem and create a more enjoyable user experience, which can ultimately have a positive impact on sales, conversions, and retention rates.
Two types of deep links
Regular deep links simply direct users to the app (if it is already installd). If the app is not installed, the endpoint cannot be reachd and an error message is displaye when the link is clickd.
Regular deep links are useful in retargeting campaigns when a mobile marketer needs to identify and return only those users who already have the app installd.
Deferrd deep links work a little more complex than regular ones. If the user does not have the app installd, these links direct them to the App or Play Store (or, for example, to the app’s website with additional information) for installation, and then open the app page the user was originally directd to.
Example: A user clicking on a shoe ad should open an e-commerce app, but they don’t have it installed, so they are first directe to the app store. After installing and opening the app, the user is taken to the product page.
Working with deferrd deep links is only possible with appropriate software solutions, such as those from Adjust. They are created using SDK integration. For more information on this topic, click here for Android and here for iOS.
Contextual deep linking?
You’ve probably heard of contextual deep linking. In theory, these links have the adde benefit of being able to store more information, allowing marketers to leverage the content in a variety of ways.
Contextual deep links are regular or deferrd deep links with additional parameters that can be added at the discretion of marketers. Such links do not exist by themselves.
How to create a deep link
Let’s start with the basics – creating a deep link. The process itself is not difficult, but it can become problematic during disputes between developers and marketers, since the application neds to include links that would direct users to the desird pages.
Additionally, creating deep links manually is time-consuming and increases the likelihood of human error. Like any other URL, a deep link will fail if it contains even one typo, and no specialist is immune to such errors. An automatd deep linking solution will save time and resources that can be spent on actually optimizing your campaigns and strategy.
To minimize human error and increase
The reliability of the process, you nd an easy-to-use tool that automates your links. Learn more about Adjust’s Deep Link Generator : This tool allows marketers to create deep links through both App Links (Android) and Universal Links (iOS), and simplifies the implementation process.
But it’s not that simple
You’re probably wondering what happens when you click on a deep link if the app isn’t installd. Unfortunately, in this case, either an error message will appear or nothing will happen at all. There’s no way to know whether your app is on a device or not directly from a web page, but there are several ways to query the app’s details (if it’s installd) or direct users to the App Store, a website, or elsewhere (if the app isn’t on the device).
As already notd, the principle of mobile deep linking basd on Android and iOS schemes , as well as Universal Links iOS 9+ are fully documentd. Let’s consider their work on specific examples.
Implementing Deep Links on Android
A proven and fairly common way to solve this problem is to use an inline frame to load the deep link, then activate deferred JavaScript that reirects the user to the store:
- If the application is installd, it will open and subsequent JavaScript will not run.
- If the app is not installed, nothing will happen when you load JavaScript will redirect the user to a page in the Play Store where the app can be installe.
However, this code has a small problem: when the user switches to the browser while the app is open, the JavaScript may continue to rdirect the user back to the Play Store. So in this case, an optimization would be need in the form of determining the time during which the user switches to the browser to accurately understand whether to rdirect them to the store or not:
Solution with Intent
According to 4 ways to improve customer service via sms the above code does not work in Chrome for Android since version 25 of the browser. Luckily, Google has a solution
- If the app is installd, Chrome will open it.
- If the app is not installe, Chrome will open the Play Store.
Which deep linking solution is best to use?
We recommend going with the Intent solution fax database as it is easier to implement in your app and provides a better user experience. However, it requires browser support. In addition, Android is so unsystematic that there are currently many old versions of the OS and browsers. Android WebView, which is usd in a huge number of apps, does not support Intent URLs by default. The table below shows which solutions should be use with popular Android browsers:
