Picture this: You just got a text message from a number that’s not in your contacts. The sender identifies themself as a familiar brand, invites you to check out their summer product line, and shares a URL. Which link are you more likely to click?
- A lengthy, seemingly random string of letters and numbers that doesn’t include the brand’s name
- A short, straightforward branded link
The second option is a clear winner, right? But why is that? Short link clicks aren’t just personal preference. Science backs up the decision to take action and click a short, clear, and branded URL over a cluttered or confusing one. Let’s dive into the world of marketing psychology to explore why short links win.
How psychology influences marketing
Psychology and marketing have always been close friends. At its core, the marketer’s role is to study an audience, learn how they think, and understand what makes them pay attention and take action. All of that is driven by how humans’ brains work and why they do what they do—in short, psychology.
When marketers understand human psychology and their unique audience, they can choose imagery, copy, campaigns, and channels that appeal to consumers. That’s much easier said than done. But marketers can give themselves a leg up by getting familiar with the psychological principles that affect how consumers make decisions, including whether or not they’ll engage with a marketing campaign. And links are a perfect example.
Why would (or wouldn’t) someone click on a link in an SMS campaign, email, or social media comment? What intrigues, concerns, or appeals to them? What turns them off? You can answer these kinds of questions when you unpack the science of decision-making.
4 psychology principles that favor short links
If you’ve ever noticed that you gravitate toward content that supports what you already believe, you’re experiencing confirmation bias. And if you tune out things you’re exposed to over and over again, banner blindness is kicking in. In other words, we’re surrounded by psychology 24/7. Here are four ways that psychological principles come into play to make a consumer more likely to click a short link than a long URL.
1. Cognitive load
Humans can only process so much information at once, and cognitive load theory tells us so. Plus, they’re being bombarded with countless digital and marketing messages at all times.
When you send a lengthy or random URL to a consumer, you’re asking them to process additional information, gauge the situation, and decide whether it’s worthwhile to click. Such links introduce visual complexity and increase the mental effort needed to make that decision.
If you want someone to take action—whether it’s a first step like clicking a link, or a final step like making a purchase—you shouldn’t overwhelm them with visual information. You need to simplify.
A clean, simple, branded short link helps decrease the mental energy needed to assess the URL and decide what to do next. At a glance, customers can see who it’s from clearly and what they’re offering. This short, branded URL creates a professional and buttoned-up first impression—one that’s more likely to boost engagement.
2. Elaboration likelihood model
Every marketing message you send aims to convince someone to take action—browse your products, make a purchase, or subscribe to something. But if you’re reaching out with a link, you first have to persuade them to click.
The elaboration likelihood model says that people use one of two paths to make decisions, like whether to click. They’re either willing to put in a lot of thought and energy to make decisions (central processing), or they make decisions quickly based on correlations with things they like or trust (peripheral processing).
Ideally, your marketing message should speak to both central and peripheral processors. Informative copy about your upcoming sale or new products might prompt a central processor to think about whether they need your product or have the budget. But you can persuade a peripheral processor by providing signals that your message (and link, in particular) comes from a trusted source.
That’s why a trusted short link, paired with a compelling message, is a powerful combination for convincing both fast and slow deciders to click and take the next step with you.
3. Risk aversion
It’s human nature: We’re primed to stay on the lookout for potential threats and avoid them when possible. This is risk aversion—we choose certain outcomes over uncertain ones.
When a consumer sees a long link or a generically shortened URL in their inbox, even if it looks like it’s from a familiar brand, their first instinct is often to question whether it’s safe. Will clicking it lead to malware or inappropriate content? Is the text a phishing attempt posing as a familiar brand?
Those concerns don’t loom as large when a short link is branded and indicates a familiar domain. Such links more readily build trust, and recipients see clicking them as lower risk. If they’re interested in your offer, risk aversion won’t stop them from taking the next step with your brand. The result? Higher click-through rates and more sales.
4. Information-gap theory
When you send customers a short link on any channel, you need to provide them enough information to convince them it’s trustworthy and safe to engage. But humans also have a certain tolerance for uncertainty, which you can use to your advantage with short links.
According to the information-gap theory, when people notice a gap in their knowledge about something important to them, they’ll take action to fill that gap. A trusted short link requires the customer to click and take action to learn more, and you can lean on human curiosity to create mystery and interest that prompt users to discover what’s behind the link.
Remember to build on a foundation of existing trust and brand awareness. This approach is likely less effective with skeptical consumers and unlikely to succeed with cold outreach. But for your loyal customers, this is an ideal tactic for driving clicks.
5 psychology-backed strategies for better short links
You could write a dissertation on marketing psychology, applying knowledge of how people think and behave to create and send better messages. The principles we’ve shared in support of short links only scratch the surface of what’s possible when you connect psychology and marketing.
Now that we’ve covered the psychology, let’s get tactical with a few steps you can take to put these ideas into action and drive more clicks.
1. Start by shortening
First things first: If you’re still sending long, confusing links that are (1) hard to read or (2) include lengthy tracking details within the URL itself, begin by making short links a best practice.
While a branded link is always preferred (more on that in the next tip!), a short link from an identified source still lets your audience process the information more quickly with a lower cognitive load. Instead of overwhelming recipients with visual complexity, simplify what they see with a custom short link.
And if you do it with a recognizable name like bit.ly or, better yet, your own domain, you’ll see even better results. If you’re new to link shortening, learning how to shorten a URL with a platform like Bitly takes just minutes and can help boost your engagement right away.
2. Put your brand front and center
Close the information gap and help consumers make quick, gut-level decisions by featuring your brand upfront in your short URLs through a custom domain. With certain Bitly plans, you can create Bitly branded links using a dedicated custom domain for your short links. Instead of your links starting with our domain (bit.ly/link, for example), your links begin with your unique, trusted domain (dannisdonut.shop/link, for instance). Recipients know who the message is from and can trust where the link is taking them.
3. Customize both halves of your links
Bitly links not only let you signal that URLs are from your brand, but they also allow you to share details about a specific campaign or offering by customizing the back-half of your link. Instead of a random string of letters after the slash, make your links friendly and memorable with a tag that further signals what you’re offering. Try a descriptive phrase like “/springsale” or your new product name as part of a major launch. These give your audience clear, easily readable pieces of information to process and inform their decision to click in seconds.
4. Use shortening for analytics
UTM parameters are a powerful tool for helping marketers distinguish traffic sources and identify which channels and campaigns are most successful. But UTM parameters can make links long and bulky, introducing visual complexity that can keep your audience from clicking. Here’s an example link featuring UTM parameters:
www.example.com/page?utm_campaign=newfeature&utm_medium=email
If that showed up in your text inbox, it wouldn’t be the easiest to process.
With link shortening, you can keep links readable without sacrificing tracking. The Bitly platform lets you shorten any link you’ve created with UTM parameters. Plus, you get access to Bitly Analytics, which gives you insights into link performance, including top campaigns, click and scan locations (city/country), and referring channels. Short links encourage your audience to click and deliver real-time data about their behavior.
5. Create the clearest possible CTA
We’ve already pointed out that, when it comes to psychology, optimizing for short link clicks isn’t just about the URL itself—it’s also about the copy and context you share. Along with customizing short links, you can close the information gap and appeal to consumers’ central processing by telling them exactly what they’ll get if they click.
Calls-to-action like “Learn more” or “Take a look” might be right for some campaigns. But when you’re trying to boost short link clicks, try to be even more specific to limit confusion and the perception of risk. Try CTAs like “Check out this week’s flavors,” “Redeem your free item,” or “See what’s 50% off.” These offer clear, tangible paths to value and make your audience more likely to click.
Spark action and connections with Bitly
Many, if not most, decisions humans make are driven by factors they’re not even conscious of, from colors that feel harmonious to a phrase that’s almost rhythmic to a sense of familiarity with a brand. Brands can harness all of these potential connections to reach their audience. The better marketers understand the psychology behind building trust and even kinship with consumers, the better their marketing will be.
By now, it’s clear that short links are more than just a digital tool—they’re a bridge to instant, meaningful connections with your audience. Make it easy for them to take the next step with a short link that’s quick to understand at a glance and delivers real-time insights for your team.
Understanding your consumers doesn’t have to be rocket science, and Bitly makes it easier with user-friendly short links, QR Codes, and more. Sign up for Bitly and get started today!
