URL Shortening & Click Tracking

Shorten URLs in your SMS messages and track click-through analytics.

How It Works

When you enable URL shortening, Exotel replaces long URLs in your SMS body with short links. You can optionally track when recipients click these links.

Parameters

Add these parameters to any Send SMS request:

Parameter	Required	Type	Description
ShortenUrl	Yes	Boolean	true to enable URL shortening
ShortenUrlParams[Header]	Yes	String	DLT-registered header for the short URL domain
ShortenUrlParams[Tracking]	Optional	Boolean	true to enable click tracking analytics
ShortenUrlParams[ClickTrackingCallbackUrl]	Optional	String	Webhook URL to receive click events
ShortenUrlParams[TimeToExpiry]	Optional	Integer	Link validity in minutes (after which the link expires)

Example Request

curl -X POST https://<your_api_key>:<your_api_token>@api.exotel.com/v1/Accounts/<your_sid>/Sms/send \
  -d "From=EXOTEL" \
  -d "To=+919876543210" \
  -d "Body=Check out our sale: https://shop.example.com/sale/winter-2024?utm_source=sms" \
  -d "DltEntityId=1234567890" \
  -d "ShortenUrl=true" \
  -d "ShortenUrlParams[Header]=EXOTEL" \
  -d "ShortenUrlParams[Tracking]=true" \
  -d "ShortenUrlParams[ClickTrackingCallbackUrl]=https://your-server.com/sms-clicks" \
  -d "ShortenUrlParams[TimeToExpiry]=4320"

The long URL in the Body will be replaced with a short link like https://exo.tl/abc123.

Click Tracking Callback

When a recipient clicks the shortened link, Exotel sends a POST request to your ClickTrackingCallbackUrl with:

Field	Description
SmsSid	The SMS message identifier
To	Recipient phone number
ShortenedUrl	The short URL that was clicked
OriginalUrl	The original long URL
ClickedAt	Timestamp of the click
UserAgent	Browser/device user agent string

Best Practices

• Set TimeToExpiry to match your campaign duration — expired links show a generic page
• Use click tracking to measure SMS campaign effectiveness
• The DLT-registered header in ShortenUrlParams[Header] must match your approved sender ID
• Short URLs count toward the 2000-character Body limit but are significantly shorter than the original