Bitly Gives Brands A Way To Deep Link To Mobile Apps

Bitly is going deeper into mobile. The Internet’s leading link shortener announced today that it’s offering brand marketers a way to drive more consumers to their mobile apps.

Called Deep Links, the new feature gives Bitly enterprise customers the ability to create links that send mobile users to appropriate in-app locations, instead of web pages.

Such features are usually the province of developers, major platforms like Google and Facebook, and deep linking startups who are jockeying to lay the pipes for the plumbing of the mobile web.

Bitly’s solution is targeted at marketers who want a fix now. The new feature, an extension of Bitly Brand Tools, makes it possible to set an alternative app link for any Bitly link created.

When customers tap on such a link from a mobile device, they will be be taken to the appropriate location on the app if they have the app installed on their device. Otherwise, they will be directed to the web page.

In several weeks, Bitly chief product officer Matt Thomson told Marketing Land, Bitly will add the ability to serve an app-install interstitial to people who don’t have a brand’s app installed.

It’s a natural move for Bitly, which says it processes more than 5 billion clicks a month from mobile devices. Now it will be able to direct more of those to their proper place.

“We’re really just trying to help marketers give a better customer experience,” Thomson said.