Email links that open the app, not Safari.
Swap the raw URL in your template for a smart link. It opens the app if it's installed and the store if not, lands on the item the email was about, and credits the open to the send.
- Who runs it
- Marketers, product
- Time to set up
- Minutes, after the SDK
- Plan
- Free
A smart link in the template, filled per person.
Replace the raw URL in the template with a smart link that carries the destination and the campaign. Your email tool's merge fields fill the per-recipient parts, like the order or the offer, so the link is personal without being made by hand.
- One link per template, not one per recipient.
- The campaign tag says which send each open came from.
- Works with the merge fields your email tool already has.
The tap opens the order, in the app.
On a phone with the app, the link opens it on the order the email was about. Without the app, it goes to the store, and the same order is waiting after install.
- Works on iPhone and Android.
- No more logging in again in a mobile browser.
- If your email tool rewrites links for click tracking, set it up so the app can still open.
The share of email taps that end in the app.
In-app open rate from email: of the people who tapped, how many ended up in the app rather than a browser. It's usually low before the change, and it's the biggest single fix for lifecycle email.
- App opens and installs per send and per template.
- Purchases and other events credited to the email, from the events your app sends.
One-time setup, then it's all yours.
Your developer adds the LinkTrail SDK once and routes on the link's path when the app opens. After that, every email template you change works without a release.
LinkTrail.onLink(link => {
// link.customData = { cmp: "post-purchase-d3", variant: "review-ask" }
router.navigate(link.path, link.customData);
});The full walkthrough: Email and lifecycle links: opening the app when it's installed, the store when it isn't
Someone opens your email on their phone, taps the button, and lands in mobile Safari — logged out, on a web page that is a worse version of a screen they have installed two centimetres away. That is the default behaviour of a plain link, and it quietly taxes every lifecycle email you send.
What problem does this solve?
Every link in every email should open the app on the right screen if the app is installed, take the person to the store and then to that screen if it isn't, and fall back to web when neither applies. One link, all three outcomes, decided per device at tap time.
How do you set the links up?
Replace the raw URL in the template with a smart link that carries the destination and the campaign. Your email tool's merge fields fill the per-recipient parts — the item, the offer, the plan — into the payload, so the link is personal without being generated by hand.
{
"deepLinkPath": "/orders/{{order_id}}",
"customData": {"cmp": "post-purchase-d3", "variant": "review-ask"}
}What about email clients that pre-fetch links?
Some clients open every link in an email at delivery time to scan it, which registers as a click that no person made. Two things keep this from polluting attribution. Bot clicks that never become installs are inert. And a real install that follows one is still matched to a genuine click on the same device — the pre-fetch happened on a mail server, not a phone.
Where does the click tracking go?
If your email platform wraps links for its own open and click reporting, let it wrap the smart link, not replace it. The platform counts the click; the smart link does the routing and the attribution. Both work. Trying to get the email platform's tracking domain to also do deep linking is where teams lose a week.
Which metric should you watch?
In-app open rate from email, meaning the share of email taps that ended in the app rather than a browser. It is usually shockingly low before the change and the single biggest thing you can do for lifecycle email conversion. The same measure matters most on the biggest send many apps ever make, the launch-day email to a waitlist — which has its own page: launch day.
Which teams own lifecycle email linking?
- Growth marketers
- Mobile product teams
Which LinkTrail features does lifecycle email linking need?
- Smart routing
- Deferred deep linking
- Re-engagement links
- Per-link campaign and creative tagging
Email link questions.
Why do email links open Safari instead of the app?
Because a plain web link opens in the browser. A smart link opens the installed app on the right screen, takes people without the app through the store to that screen, and falls back to the web when neither applies.
Do email pre-fetch bots break attribution?
No. Some clients open every link at delivery to scan it, but a bot click that never becomes an install is inert, and a real install that follows is matched to a genuine click on the same device — the pre-fetch happened on a mail server, not a phone.
Can I keep my email platform's click tracking?
Yes — let the email platform wrap the smart link rather than replace it. The platform counts the click; the smart link does the routing and attribution.
If you're doing this, you'll probably want these.
SMS campaigns
Short links that fit in a text and open the app, not the browser.
Cart recovery
Win-back emails and texts that open the saved basket, ready to pay.
Launch day
Turn a waitlist into installs that land on the right first screen, not a generic welcome.
Make your first email link.
Free for your first 5,000 users. No card, no sales call.