--- title: "How to Use Custom Branded Short Links for Client Campaigns" url: https://uselinkpilot.com/blog/how-to-use-custom-branded-short-links-for-client-campaigns description: "A campaign routine for agencies: the client's domain, one link per channel and creative, an approval step, a client-friendly report, and the links' afterlife." lang: en --- Link Tracking (https://uselinkpilot.com/blog/category/link-tracking) # How to use custom branded short links for client campaigns A campaign routine for agencies: the client's domain, one link per channel and creative, an approval step, a client-friendly report, and the links' afterlife. LinkPilot Team (https://uselinkpilot.com/author/linkpilot-team) · The people who build and run LinkPilot at TetraCore, LLC October 26, 2026 · About LinkPilot (https://uselinkpilot.com/about) A client campaign goes out across email, three social networks, a paid placement and a printed piece, and at the end of the month the client asks which channel worked. If every channel pointed at the same long URL (https://uselinkpilot.com/glossary#long-url), the honest answer is a guess. Custom branded short links for client campaigns exist so the answer is a table. This guide is the routine: set the client's domain up once, build the links so they report by channel and creative, get them approved, report in a format the client reads, and decide what happens to the links when the campaign is over. ## Why the domain is the client's, not yours Short links in a client campaign should be on the client's own subdomain (https://uselinkpilot.com/glossary#subdomain), `go.client.com` or similar, for three reasons that all show up later: - **Recognition.** The client's audience trusts the client's domain. A generic shortener domain in a paid ad or a printed piece costs clicks. - **Continuity.** The printed brochure outlives the campaign and sometimes the agency. Links on the client's domain keep working whoever manages them. - **Ownership.** At offboarding, the client keeps the domain, the links and the history. Nothing to migrate, nothing to argue about. Set-up is a CNAME record (https://uselinkpilot.com/glossary#cname-record) on the client's DNS pointing at the shortener, verification, and an automatic TLS certificate (https://uselinkpilot.com/glossary#tls-certificate). Do it during onboarding, not the week of launch. The multi-client guide (https://uselinkpilot.com/blog/how-to-manage-branded-urls-across-multiple-client-accounts) covers the workspace structure around it. ## Plan the links before the creative is final Links get made in a hurry on launch day unless the plan exists before. For each campaign, list: - **Channels**: email, each social network, paid, partner, print. - **Creatives or placements within a channel** you want to compare: hero image versus carousel, button versus text link. - **Destinations**: one landing page, or a variant per audience. - **The campaign token**: `spring-sale`, used in slugs, tags and `utm_campaign`. Then the links name themselves: ``` go.client.com/spring-sale-email-hero go.client.com/spring-sale-email-footer go.client.com/spring-sale-meta-carousel go.client.com/spring-sale-linkedin go.client.com/spring-sale-print ``` One link per thing you will compare. Two placements sharing a link are a question you can never answer. ## Build the links 1. **Build the destination URL** with UTM tags in the UTM builder (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/utm-builder): `utm_campaign=spring-sale`, `utm_source` and `utm_medium` per channel. Lowercase, hyphens, consistent. 2. **Shorten each one** in the client's workspace with the planned slug (https://uselinkpilot.com/glossary#slug). Tag with the campaign and the channel. 3. **Set a fallback** in your head now: where should this link go when the campaign ends? Note it in the link's notes field. 4. **Generate QR codes** for print from the short links with the QR generator (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/qr-code-generator), never from the long URL, so print clicks are tracked and the destination stays editable. 5. **Test every link** on a phone: redirect (https://uselinkpilot.com/glossary#redirect), HTTPS, UTM tags intact on arrival, click visible in the report. The redirect checker (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/redirect-checker) confirms nothing in the chain strips the tags. 6. **Check the preview card** in the Open Graph checker (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/open-graph-preview). A short link unfurls into the destination's card in Slack, iMessage and LinkedIn, so the destination's tags are what the client's audience sees. ## Get them approved A client approval step for links sounds bureaucratic until a link in a paid campaign points at last year's landing page. Keep it light: a shared list of slug, destination and channel, reviewed by the client contact as a viewer in the workspace, with a thumbs-up before launch. Editors on the agency side make links; the client sees them and cannot change destinations by accident. Roles in LinkPilot (owner, admin, editor, member, viewer) make that split a setting rather than a promise. ## Report in the client's terms Clients do not want a dashboard tour. They want a page that says what worked. - **Unique clicks (https://uselinkpilot.com/glossary#unique-clicks) per channel**, bots excluded, against the audience each channel reached. - **Conversions per channel** from the client's web analytics, grouped by the same `utm_campaign`, beside the clicks. - **Device and country split** when it explains a result: a paid placement that was 90 percent mobile landing on a desktop-only form, for instance. - **The surprises**: referrers you did not pay for, which mean the content got shared. LinkPilot's analytics filter by tag, export to CSV, and can be published as a shareable report page with the agency's branding, so the monthly review is a link rather than a deck. The campaign reports guide (https://uselinkpilot.com/blog/how-to-use-short-link-performance-reports-by-campaign) covers the reading routine. ## Optimise while it runs - **Move budget** toward the channel with the best conversions per click, not the most clicks. - **Swap the creative** behind the link that underperforms. Edit the destination, keep the slug, keep the history. - **Watch the first hour for bots.** A burst of clicks seconds after an email send is scanners, not customers. Exclude flagged bots before anyone reads a number. - **Check redirects weekly** during a paid campaign. A destination that moved is money spent sending people to an error. ## When the campaign ends Links do not get deleted. Each one is pointed at the fallback you noted at creation, usually the client's homepage or the current offer, and archived so its history stays in the report. The printed piece in a waiting room, the social post that is still indexed and the QR code on the back of a van all keep landing somewhere useful, on the client's domain, with the client's brand. That is the point of custom branded short links in client work: the campaign has a start and an end, but the links and the evidence belong to the client for good. ## Related reading - How to manage branded URLs across multiple client accounts: https://uselinkpilot.com/blog/how-to-manage-branded-urls-across-multiple-client-accounts - How to use short link performance reports by campaign: https://uselinkpilot.com/blog/how-to-use-short-link-performance-reports-by-campaign - QR codes that actually convert: design and placement guide: https://uselinkpilot.com/blog/qr-codes-that-convert - Why your links look broken on LinkedIn (and how to fix Open Graph tags): https://uselinkpilot.com/blog/fix-open-graph-link-previews ## Tools for this article Free URL Shortener Turn a long URL into a short one with the slug you choose. https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/url-shortener Also for: your TikTok bio (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/url-shortener/tiktok-bio) · your Instagram bio (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/url-shortener/instagram-bio) · LinkedIn posts and articles (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/url-shortener/linkedin-post) · X and Twitter campaigns (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/url-shortener/twitter) UTM Builder Build campaign-tagged URLs in seconds. https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/utm-builder Also for: LinkedIn campaigns (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/utm-builder/linkedin) · Facebook & Meta campaigns (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/utm-builder/facebook) · email campaigns (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/utm-builder/email) · Instagram campaigns (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/utm-builder/instagram) · TikTok campaigns (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/utm-builder/tiktok) · YouTube descriptions and ads (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/utm-builder/youtube) · Google Ads campaigns (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/utm-builder/google-ads) · X / Twitter campaigns (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/utm-builder/twitter) · Reddit posts and ads (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/utm-builder/reddit) · Pins and Promoted Pins (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/utm-builder/pinterest) QR Code Generator Turn any URL into a scannable QR code. https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/qr-code-generator Also for: guest networks (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/qr-code-generator/wifi) · restaurants and cafés (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/qr-code-generator/menu) · networking and events (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/qr-code-generator/business-card) · tickets, signage, and check-in (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/qr-code-generator/event) · sharing contact info (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/qr-code-generator/vcard) · driving follows from offline (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/qr-code-generator/instagram) · starting WhatsApp conversations (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/qr-code-generator/whatsapp) · linking to documents (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/qr-code-generator/pdf) · artists, podcasters, and playlists (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/qr-code-generator/spotify) · creators and educators (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/qr-code-generator/youtube) · lead capture and support (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/qr-code-generator/sms) · lead capture and outreach (https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/qr-code-generator/email) Link Click Checker See clicks, referrers and locations for a short link. https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/link-analytics Smart Link Suggestions AI suggestions for naming, UTM hygiene, and branded domains. https://uselinkpilot.com/tools/smart-link-suggestions ## Frequently asked questions ### What is a custom branded short link? ### Should every channel in a campaign use a separate short link? ### Do short links preserve UTM parameters? ### How should an agency choose a short domain for a client? ### Can a short-link click count prove a conversion? ### How long should client campaign links stay active? ## Run smarter links with LinkPilot Tracking, UTMs, QR codes, AI insights, and white-label reporting — in one workspace. Free to start. Create your free account (https://uselinkpilot.com/signup) ## Read next Link Tracking ### How to Track Clicks on Links Shared With Customers Track clicks on links shared with customers: a short link per touchpoint, UTM tags for web analytics, bot filtering, and no personal data in the URL. https://uselinkpilot.com/blog/how-to-track-clicks-on-links-shared-with-customers Link Tracking ### How to Track Clicks on Branded Short URLs (and Read the Engagement Report) What a branded short URL records on each click, how to set tracking up on your domain, which engagement metrics matter, and why they differ from web analytics. https://uselinkpilot.com/blog/how-to-track-clicks-on-branded-short-urls Link Tracking ### How to Manage Branded URLs Across Multiple Client Accounts An agency setup for branded URLs across clients: one workspace and domain per client, roles that keep agency and client apart, and an offboarding checklist. https://uselinkpilot.com/blog/how-to-manage-branded-urls-across-multiple-client-accounts ## 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