Village Gamer

Vancouver-based Tapstream has announced the immediate availability of Smart Shortlinks for iOS, Android, Mac, Windows Phone and Windows 8. Designed to help mobile marketers increase app downloads, the Smart Shortlinks identify a consumer’s mobile device-type, and then use that information to redirect them to a pre determined destination, ensuring consumers reach the correct app. It then tracks the number of activations and value of users who came from each link.

The smart redirects lubricate the download process, allowing it to be completed in just two clicks – one on the link, and one to begin the download from the app store. Setting up destinations is quick and is done from inside the Tapstream dashboard, before the smart shortlink is published.

Previously, mobile marketers had two choices:

1. Send people to the most common app store (usually Apple’s), or
2. Send people to a web page with links to each app: iPhone, Android, Windows, Kindle, Blackberry

Both options are undesirable: the first, because not everyone uses iPhone, and the second just makes the process longer.

Former Google product manager, Gabor Cselle notes, “every step you make a user perform before they get value out of your app will cost you 20% of users.” This drop-off rate is for users who have already downloaded the app and would be much higher for people who are still considering their downloading decision.

“Smart shortlinks speed consumers to where they want to go, just like Amazon did with one-click buying” says Tapstream CEO Slaven Radic. “The intent to download is there, so we’re trying to make it easier for both parties to get what they want – a sale and a solution. And the app maker gets quality metrics to understand which shortlinks drove most installs and engagement.”

The best part about the smart shortlinks is that they work virtually anywhere: in ads, social media, emails, blog posts and web pages. Savvy marketers can even use them in split-tests, control them via an API and brand them with their own custom domain.