Native Deep Linking Overview

Route Customers Back to the App through Your Social Accounts

In this lesson:

• We will walk through what native deep linking is and how your customers interact with it 

What is Deep linking

Deep linking is the ability for hyperlinks to direct users to specific locations within a mobile application, rather than just launching the app. This concept is similar to the deep linking used in web development, where URLs take users to specific pages within a website. In the context of mobile apps, deep linking provides a more seamless and direct navigation experience for the user.

Deep linking enhances user experience by simplifying navigation, improving the effectiveness of marketing campaigns (by directing users to specific products, offers, or content), and increasing user engagement. It's a powerful tool for marketers to create a more integrated and seamless user journey between the web and mobile applications

How it Works? 

When you choose to install deep linking within your Tapcart app it will create a file on your website that is linked to an Apple App Association file related to your App ID. This then creates a connection between the app association file and the users' app on their device once the configuration is completed.

To configure this feature, simply message us through LiveChat on your dashboard or email us at help@tapcart.co to enable this for you, no development is needed on your side. Please note, it takes about 24-48 hours for this feature to go live as it requires a new build to be submitted to the Apple App and Google Play Stores. Once the new build is live deep linking will be activated! 

Examples of what each URL will link to once enabled:

• tapcart.co
  • Opens the app and goes to the homepage
• tapcart.co/product/red-blouse
  • Opens the app and goes to the red blouse product
• tapcart.co/collections/new-arrivals
  • Opens the app and goes to the new arrivals collection
• tapcart.co/pages/shopping-blog-post
  • Opens the app and opens a web view directing to the blog post within the app  

For merchants with access to Custom Screens:

Some merchants are looking to land natively in other areas of the app. These areas include the account page, cart page, a specific multi-tab on the homepage, or even custom screens (that they have created).

For the merchant to send a push/email/text and have the user land natively on those native pages we have developed a Tapcart specific way using a standard query paramater that instructs the app to land the user on the page. This query param is called Tapcart Route (TCR) and by appending the query param on the end of the URL used in the campaign you can land the user on the native page.

Examples of natively using the TCR query param: 

• Account: ?tcr=/account
• Cart: ?tcr=/cart
• Order: ?tcr=orders
• Multi Tab on Homepage: ?tcr=%2Fhome%3FtabIndex%3D<tab_ID>
  • Unencoded: ?tcr=/home?tabIndex=1
  • The multi tabs are assigned a number based on order starting at 0. The number will be the last digit in the deep link.
    • First tab = 0
    • Second tab = 1
    • Third tab = 2
• Hybrid Pages: ?tcr=hybrid-pages/<route_id>
  • The route ID can be found under Custom Screens when editing the page.

Coming soon:

• Notifications page
• Search page
• Wishlist page
• Loyalty page
• Other deep linking partners like Branch, Iterable, AppsFlyer, and Ometria

Example URLs

Here are examples of how URLs with the TCR query parameter will appear for different native locations:

• Account: https://www.yourwebsite.com/?tcr=/account 
• Cart: https://www.yourwebsite.com/?tcr=/cart 
• Multi Tab on Homepage: https://www.yourwebsite.com/ends-soon?tcr=%2Fhome%3FtabIndex%3D1

Discount URLs

Shopify provides functionality to add discount codes to a URL. When the end user clicks/taps on the link they will be deep linked into the app AND will have a discount code pending. Once the user adds an item to their cart the discount code will be applied (if the product is applicable).

Shopify allows the merchant to designate where they want the user to land as well (home, collection, or product page):

• Homepage deep link with discount code = SHOPNOW:
  https://tapcartStore.com/discount/SHOPNOW 
• Product page deep link with discount code = SHOPNOW:
  https://tapcartStore.com/discount/SHOPNOW?redirect=/products/the-maala-longsleeve 
• Collection page deep link with discount code = SHOPNOW:
  https://tapcartStore.com/discount/SHOPNOW?redirect=/collections/the-winter-edition 

How do Customers Interact with Deep Linking? 

Once native deep linking is set up, you can link your URL to a paid ad or a story within your social media accounts. Using the ‘Swipe Up’ option, once the end-user swipes up they will be redirected to the app if they have it. If they do not have the app already installed on their device, they will be taken to the website. Where you can then have marketing added to the website or the mobile download banner enabled to direct them to download the app.

Considerations

Native deep linking is available to all Tapcart merchants. 

Native deep linking will apply to every page within your website. If you are not directing the user to the main website page, product or collection they will open the app through a swipe-up view. 

Important Notes:

• If you are using the 'Swipe Up' option via Instagram stories, it will route the URL back to your mobile website whether the user has the app or not. Within your mobile website, you can have the mobile download banner enabled to navigate customers to download the app or open it if they already have it! 
• To enable deep linking from feeds or stories within Facebook, you will need to verify your deep link for aggregated event measurement. For the steps on how to complete this, check out this link here!

More Questions

To learn more about Tapcart, visit Tapcart Academy to become a mobile app expert!

Have additional questions, we’re happy to help! Please reach out to us through LiveChat in your Tapcart Dashboard or you can email us at help@tapcart.co! 

Updated March 08, 2024 23:40