Links in emails: How to use them to avoid poor delivery

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Email is one of the most effective ways to communicate today. You may be sharing a company update, sending out a marketing campaign, or just writing a personal note, but adding links to your emails is always important, because they add value to your recipients. However, it is crucial to use them carefully to ensure that your emails are clear, professional and reliable.

In this article, we’ll take a look at how to safely use links in your emails, covering best practices, mistakes to avoid, and tips to make your email links more effective.

Why are links important in emails?

Links in emails help you:

• Direct recipients to important content: To a website, blog, product page or landing page. Links in your emails guide recipients to information or offers you want them to see.
• Improve engagement: A well-placed link encourages recipients to take action (click to read more or make a purchase).
• Increase the conversion rate: By adding links strategically, you can generate traffic and generate leads or sales.

However, as important as links are, they can also be risky if not used properly. In this guide, we show you how to use them wisely.

How to send a link in email securely

When it comes to sending links via email, the goal is to make sure your recipient feels comfortable clicking on them. Here are the key steps to safely embed links in your emails:

1. Use descriptive anchor text.

Instead of using generic phrases like “click here” or “learn more,” use descriptive, action-oriented (also often called verb-oriented) text that informs the recipient of what they will find by clicking the link. For example:

• “Download the PDF report here”
• “Visit our website for more information”

This improves the clarity, user experience and reliability of your email. Descriptive anchor text is much more likely to make the recipient feel confident in clicking the link.

2. Check your links before sending.

Before pressing “send” always check your links. Broken links or links leading to irrelevant or untrustworthy websites can damage your credibility. You should also ensure that all links point to the correct page or offer.

3. Avoid overloading your email with too many links.

While it’s important to include links, too many links in one email can make it feel cluttered, and we don’t want to overwhelm our customers, do we? Additionally, it could potentially send your email to spam. A good rule of thumb is to limit the number of links in each email to around 3-5, depending on the context.

4. Use HTTPS links for security.

Always use secure links that start with HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) to ensure recipients feel safe when they click. These secure URLs encrypt data and protect users from security threats, such as phishing attacks. Emails with links starting with HTTP (instead of HTTPS) may trigger security warnings. This in turn may result in your email being marked as spam.

5. Shorten your links when necessary.

Long, cluttered URLs are not only visually unappealing, but can also look overly suspicious to email recipients. To improve the aesthetics and reliability of your email, consider using a URL shortener for long links. However, make sure the shortener is reputable and not associated with spam behavior.

6. Do not use too many links in the email signature.

Your email signature is a very important part of your overall branding, but too many links can detract from the message you’re sending. Avoid overloading your signature with links to social media, promotions and personal websites. A simple, clean signature with relevant links is far more effective.

7. Test your links.

Before sending a link in an email, test it on multiple devices (desktop, mobile) to see if the recipient’s experience will be smooth. Mobile users in particular may struggle with links that do not format well. This usually leads to a poor user experience and lower click-through rates. There are tools available that can automatically check if your links are broken or fix them. These tools save time and ensure accuracy, especially when sending mass emails. One of the best tools for that matter is GlockApps. GlockApps offers a Link Checker that analyzes your link’s status, response time, size and more!

How to test your links with GlockApps

As we have already established, it is extremely important to test your email links to ensure that your message ends up in your recipients’ inboxes and not in their spam folder. A powerful tool for testing your links and checking the overall deliverability of your email is GlockApps and its Inbox Insight, which now includes smarter content analysis with improved link checking.

Here’s how to test your email links with GlockApps:

1.Create an account on GlockApps: First, create a GlockApps account for free with 2 spam tests to experience all the benefits of the service.

2. Enter your email: Write your email and include all the links you intend to use.

3. Set up a new test: Select the “Start Spam Test” option from the GlockApps dashboard to start a new manual or automatic test. Select spam filters, email providers and the folder you want to save the test and report to.

4. Don’t forget to enable the link control.

5. Send the test email to the seed list: GlockApps will ask you to send a test email to a provided address, which will then be analyzed for potential issues.

6. Review the report: GlockApps will provide detailed insight into Content analysis.

The link part includes the status of each link, showing you if any links are broken.

The service now offers several important updates, such as:

• Fully displayed links: Links are now displayed as text with tooltips for easy clicking, copying and viewing redirect details in one step.
• Sorting by location: Links are categorized by location – header, HTML or plain text – helping you focus on critical areas and find problematic links more efficiently.
• Match counts: If you have repeated links or images, GlockApps will highlight them, ensuring there are no erroneous alt texts or anchors.
• Flagging embedded images: Embedded images missing response time, status, or URL data will now be flagged, making it easier to identify and fix these issues.

The images in your email content also often contain links, you can find information about it in the picture part:

7. Fix any problems: If GlockApps finds issues, such as broken or flagged links, you can easily make corrections before sending the email to your entire list.

By using GlockApps and its enhanced link checking features, you can ensure that your email is free of errors, broken links or inconsistencies. This improves email delivery and increases the trust of recipients.

How to add links to your email

It’s relatively easy to include links in your emails, but it’s important to understand the correct method for doing so.

How to add a link to an email (manually)

If you’re using a standard email client like Gmail or Outlook, adding a hyperlink is usually pretty easy:

1. Highlight the text: Select the text or image you want to turn into a link.

2. Insert the link: Click the link icon (it usually looks like a chain) in the email editor.

3. Paste the URL: Paste the URL you want to link into the provided field.

4. Save and send: Once the link is inserted, save the changes and continue sending your email.

By following these simple steps, you can easily create hyperlinks for your emails.

How to link to a website in an email

When including a website link in your email, be sure to format it correctly. You can either hyperlink the text as described above, or you can paste the entire URL directly into the email body. For example:

• Hyperlink to email: “Visit our website for more information” (where “website” is a clickable link).
• Regular link: “www.example.com” (this is less professional, but still works).

For better click-through rates, it is usually better to use a hyperlink in an email as it makes the email look cleaner.

How many links should be in an email?

As mentioned earlier, it is important to avoid overwhelming the recipients with too many links. While there is no one-size-fits-all rule, it is generally recommended to keep the number of links to a reasonable amount, usually no more than 3-5 in an email. This keeps the message clear.

Emails with too many links can appear as spam, causing the email to end up in the spam folder or triggering email security filters. Keep your emails focused on a few well-chosen links because it increases the chances of successful engagement and, more importantly, delivery.

Do emails with links go to spam?

Yes, emails with links can be flagged as spam, especially if:

• The links are suspicious or lead to dangerous websites.
• The email contains too many links.
• The email is not properly formatted (for example, if it lacks personalization).

How to prevent your emails from going to spam:

• Avoid using too many links.
• Always make sure your links lead to reputable sites.
• Use clear and concise language with proper formatting.
• Avoid using capital letters, excessive punctuation or too many exclamation marks, as these can trigger spam filters.

Conclusion

Using links in emails can greatly improve your communication and help you achieve your goals. By following best practices like using descriptive text, keeping links safe, and not overwhelming your audience, you can ensure your emails are effective, professional, and deliverable. Test your email delivery with GlockApps today!

Now that you know how to send a link in an email safely, remember to always test your links, check for broken URLs, and limit the number of links in your emails. By doing so, you will improve your chances of reaching your audience and increase engagement while maintaining your email’s credibility.

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