All mass emails should include a call to action, usually in the form of a link for activists to click on and take action. For example, you might ask people to "Click here to sign my petition" and link to your petition page so they can easily do what you ask.
Create a link by highlighting text you've written in the visual editor and clicking the link button in the toolbar. Enter in the URL you want to link to and click "Insert" to make the text you highlighted into a link. Alternatively, you can write the HTML for links using the code editor.
Note that you must insert full links into the URL field. All links must start with http:// or https:// -- links that start with www. or simply YourLink.com will not be clickable when your email arrives in your activist's inbox. Always send a test to yourself and check your links before sending your email to make sure they work.
If you're linking to an action on the Action Network, you can add your own source code or referrer code to your URL if you want. However, if you forget we'll add the source code for you!
If you don't add your own source code, we'll automatically create a source code based on the subject of your email. (ex: An email with the subject "Sign the petition" will become a source code on your links labeled "sign-the-petition.")
In addition, we tag each link with each activist's unique ID, which allows us to recognize them when they click that link. This means that your activists will not be asked to fill out their email or ZIP/postal code again on your Action Network action page if they click a link in your email. Make sure to grab the "direct link" from the action manage page so that action takers are not recognized as you.
Note: If you forward an email we've sent or copy a link to use for posting on social media or elsewhere, your ID will come with it, meaning others will be recognized as you when they click. We attempt to protect against this -- if you've taken action with this link, then others clicking it will not be recognized as you. Potentially, some still will. While most will click the "Not you?" link and clear the form, some will not, taking action as you. Therefore, you should grab fresh links to forward or post without your ID attached.
If you'd like us not to add things to your links (like a source code or the unique ID), you can use the no-rewrite clip, or simply add ?no_rewrite=true on the end of your links. With that added, your links will come out unchanged (and we'll even remove the ?no_rewrite=true part when the email is sent). You can click Add Link Parameters below the Email Wrapper or Layout dropdown menus to apply this clip to the end of all URLs in the email.
Note that if you use the no rewrite clip, action statistics for this email will be disabled. Open, click, bounce, spam complaint, and unsubscribe statistics are unaffected.