Hyperlinks offer a convenient way for your subscribers to interact with your organization. In Higher Logic Thrive Marketing Professional (Thrive Marketing Professional), you can insert hyperlinks in your mailings and templates so that your subscribers can more easily:
- link to your organization's web content,
- unsubscribe from mailings, and
- manage their preferences.
This article provides information about hyperlinks in Thrive Marketing Professional.
Adding hyperlinks
You can add hyperlinks to:
- Text (i.e., any layouts that use the Rich Text editor)
- Images
- Buttons
There are layout-specific ways to add hyperlinks:
- Text - In the Rich Text Editor, click the Insert Hyperlink button in the toolbar.
- Images and Buttons - Add hyperlinks in the Properties panel (Content tab).
Hyperlink types
Hyperlinks are configured in the hyperlink pop-up, which opens when you click either Add hyperlink or edit hyperlink, as shown in the images below.
Click the hyperlink dropdown to select a hyperlink type. Use the following descriptions to understand the hyperlink types and their respective options.
NOTE: The configuration settings that you see depend on which hyperlink type you chose to include.
Hyperlink options
| Option | Description & Sub-options |
|---|---|
| Web Page | Adds a link to an external web page.
|
| Web Version of this Mailing | Adds a link to the online/web version of your mailing. (There are no additional controls.) |
| Form Landing Page | Adds a link to a Form Landing Page. Click the Landing Page menu to select a Landing Page. |
| Content-Only Landing Page | Adds a link to a Content-Only Landing Page. Click the Landing Page menu to select a Landing Page. |
| Unsubscribe Hyperlink | Adds a link to the required unsubscribe hyperlink.
|
| Email Address | Adds a link to an email address. When readers click the link, their default email client opens a new draft email message with the specified address.
|
| Document | Adds a link to a file that readers can download. Click Select Document to load a file from Asset Manager or to upload a new one. After you've inserted a file, the button updates to Change.
|
| Bookmark | Adds a link to a bookmark of a named Mailing Content Area.
|
| iCalendar | Adds a link to a calendar event.
|
| Survista Pro Survey | Adds a link to a survey.
|
Hyperlink validation
Thrive Marketing Professional uses some behind-the-scenes logic to validate hyperlinks. There are two aspects to this validation:
- Is the hyperlink's URL properly formatted?
- Does the target URL exist?
Both criteria must "pass" in order for the hyperlink to be deemed valid.
Format
Hyperlink URLs must have the following format to be considered valid.
<protocol>://<domain name>.<top level domain name>
For example, http://www.higherlogic.com is a valid URL.
Thrive Marketing Professional displays an error message if the URL is invalid.
- Review the URL and correct any format errors.
Validation
Thrive Marketing Professional sends a network request to the specified web address.
- If it receives a success code, the hyperlink passes validation.
- If it receives a different response (e.g., a 404 error), the hyperlink does not pass validation.
NOTE: The validation test is not a sure-fire way to determine that a destination address exists and truly works. For example, Thrive Marketing Professional typically cannot validate a link to an organization's intranet site because, for security reasons, external network requests are usually blocked by these sites.
If you are targeting a URL that you know (or suspect) Thrive Marketing Professional won't be able to validate, check the Allow Insert box below the URL. Thrive Marketing Professional will bypass the validation and add the hyperlink to your template or mailing.