Sending messages to your audience is not just about delivering information. It’s also about developing better relationships.
It should be, anyway.
Ideally, the messages your business sends out across its communication channels are timely, informative and inspire your audience to take action.
In general, this is easier said than done. But as you scale up your communications to reach thousands—even millions—of people, it can feel downright impossible.
This is exactly why so many of our customers that need to create links at higher volumes use the powerful Bitly API.
WANT TO CREATE A SUCCESSFUL SMS CAMPAIGN? USE THIS CHECKLIST.
What is an API + Why Should I use Bitly’s?
Before we go into the different ways businesses are using the Bitly API, and how yours can, too, let’s first explain what an API actually is.
Simply put, Application Programming Interface (API) is a way for different devices and applications to communicate with one another. In today’s world, people have come to rely on the work that APIs do on a daily basis, as APIs are fundamental to an interconnected web experience.
The Bitly API enables our customers to do even more with their links. Using it, they can do anything they would be able to do in the Bitly platform, but at scale and programmatically, including:
Shorten and manage large volumes of links
Using the Bitly API, customers can scale up their communications, creating thousands, or millions, unique custom branded short links safely and securely. (We’ll be discussing this in more detail in a bit.)
Integrate with other apps
Many apps have integrated with Bitly through our API. As a result, our customers can streamline their workflows by using Bitly within the apps they are already working with on a daily basis, saving them time and eliminating hassle.
Keep your branding front and center
Because you can create custom branded links at scale using the Bitly API, every communication you send out is marked with your brand—even if you need to send out thousands of messages a day.
How Hermes Parcelnet uses Bitly’s API to send SMS messages at scale
Hermes Parcelnet, the second largest package delivery service in the United Kingdom, uses Bitly as an SMS tracking communications solution.
The problem
Before implementing Bitly, the limited character count for SMS tracking messages was mostly absorbed by Hermes tracking codes appended to a long link. This left little room for branded messaging.
Worse, these long tracking URLs would sometimes “break” in the middle into two messages, making them useless to the consumer.
The solution
Looking to transform its end-to-end SMS experience, Hermes leveraged Bitly’s powerful API to swap out long URLs for custom branded short links.
With an Hermes-branded short link used in every SMS, each communication can now deliver a more informative message, while keeping Hermes front and center.
Plus, the secure links can be trusted to send consumers to the right place for shipment tracking information and services.
The result
Having improved its communications with millions of consumers, Hermes saw an unprecedented uptick in customer engagement.
By leveraging Bitly’s API and trusted, scalable infrastructure to deliver an improved end-to-end communications experience for millions of consumers, Hermes has become a preferred choice for convenient, flexible and affordable delivery services for thousands of businesses of every size, as well as millions of consumers.
“[Using Bitly] was a bit of a no-brainer. There was no one else who could handle the scale and the volume we were looking at. On any given morning, we needed to generate a quarter of a million links. It’s a difficult prospect to make sure that they work 100% of the time.” – Eoin Kenneally, Head of CX – Digital Transformation and Insight
To read more about how Hermes Parcelnet used Bitly to improve their SMS communications with millions of consumers, visit our website.
GET IN TOUCH WITH OUR SALES TEAM TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BITLY ENTERPRISE.
Other Ways Customers Use Bitly’s API
Of course, trusting Bitly with huge scale tracking delivery communications is just one way customers take advantage of our API. Below are other popular ways businesses leverage the Bitly API. We go into detail on each of these examples in this blog post.
Sending promotions and offers
Many businesses use Bitly as a solution for SMS campaigns that enable them to share coupons and promotional offers with their own customers.
Powering SMS-based appointment reminders
Companies send thousands of customers unique, reliable links at scale to communicate important and confidential information about their appointments.
Re-engaging customers that abandon their carts
With one simple click, businesses can send prospects who abandoned their online shopping carts to pick up where they left off, re-engaging them on the website and reopening the door to a potential sale.
Gathering consumer feedback
By sending out follow-up SMS messages to their audience, businesses can collect important feedback information to help them understand the parts of their consumer experience that are working and the areas that need improvement.
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Communication gets harder as the number of people you connect with grows. The Bitly API allows you to communicate at scale—without sacrificing the customer experience.
