Question
Large number of malformed links
Hi
I've seen a few discussions on this but couldn't find an answer. For our last email send we saw a large number of 'Malformed links' in the email link performance report
We're using Velocity to output the links based on @sanfordwhiteman code to get around the tracking bug
This has always worked well, the only difference this time is we are also using (another Sanford trick) to get around tracking bulletproof buttons in Outlook
This is code for renaming link variables
#foreach( $session in $all_listings )
#set( $downloadLink = $session.sessionURL )
#evaluate( "${esc.h}set( ${esc.d}downloadLink_${foreach.index} = ${esc.d}downloadLink )" )
#end
Then output like so (first the VML for Outlook, then the HTML for everything else)
<tr>
<td align="center">
<!--[if mso]>
#if( $foreach.index.equals(0) )
<a:roundrect xmlns:a="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" href="https://${downloadLink_0}" style="height:44px;v-text-anchor:middle;width:230px;" arcsize="100%" strokecolor="#e0121d" fillcolor="#e0121d">
#elseif( $foreach.index.equals(1) )
<a:roundrect xmlns:a="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" href="https://${downloadLink_1}" style="height:44px;v-text-anchor:middle;width:230px;" arcsize="100%" strokecolor="#e0121d" fillcolor="#e0121d">
#elseif( $foreach.index.equals(2) )
<a:roundrect xmlns:a="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" href="https://${downloadLink_2}" style="height:44px;v-text-anchor:middle;width:230px;" arcsize="100%" strokecolor="#e0121d" fillcolor="#e0121d">
#elseif( $foreach.index.equals(3) )
<a:roundrect xmlns:a="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" href="https://${downloadLink_3}" style="height:44px;v-text-anchor:middle;width:230px;" arcsize="100%" strokecolor="#e0121d" fillcolor="#e0121d">
#elseif( $foreach.index.equals(4) )
<a:roundrect xmlns:a="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" href="https://${downloadLink_4}" style="height:44px;v-text-anchor:middle;width:230px;" arcsize="100%" strokecolor="#e0121d" fillcolor="#e0121d">
#elseif( $foreach.index.equals(5) )
<a:roundrect xmlns:a="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" href="https://${downloadLink_5}" style="height:44px;v-text-anchor:middle;width:230px;" arcsize="100%" strokecolor="#e0121d" fillcolor="#e0121d">
#end
<w:anchorlock/>
<center style="color:#ffffff;font-family:arial;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;">REGISTER</center>
</a:roundrect>
<![endif]-->
#if( $foreach.index.equals(0) )
<a href="https://${downloadLink_0}" style="background-color:#e0121d;border:1px solid #e0121d;border-radius:50px;color:#ffffff;display:inline-block;font-family:arial;font-size:14px;font-weight:500;line-height:44px;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:230px;-webkit-text-size-adjust:none;mso-hide:all;">
#elseif( $foreach.index.equals(1) )
<a href="https://${downloadLink_1}" style="background-color:#e0121d;border:1px solid #e0121d;border-radius:50px;color:#ffffff;display:inline-block;font-family:arial;font-size:14px;font-weight:500;line-height:44px;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:230px;-webkit-text-size-adjust:none;mso-hide:all;">
#elseif( $foreach.index.equals(2) )
<a href="https://${downloadLink_2}" style="background-color:#e0121d;border:1px solid #e0121d;border-radius:50px;color:#ffffff;display:inline-block;font-family:arial;font-size:14px;font-weight:500;line-height:44px;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:230px;-webkit-text-size-adjust:none;mso-hide:all;">
#elseif( $foreach.index.equals(3) )
<a href="https://${downloadLink_3}" style="background-color:#e0121d;border:1px solid #e0121d;border-radius:50px;color:#ffffff;display:inline-block;font-family:arial;font-size:14px;font-weight:500;line-height:44px;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:230px;-webkit-text-size-adjust:none;mso-hide:all;">
#elseif( $foreach.index.equals(4) )
<a href="https://${downloadLink_4}" style="background-color:#e0121d;border:1px solid #e0121d;border-radius:50px;color:#ffffff;display:inline-block;font-family:arial;font-size:14px;font-weight:500;line-height:44px;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:230px;-webkit-text-size-adjust:none;mso-hide:all;">
#elseif( $foreach.index.equals(5) )
<a href="https://${downloadLink_5}" style="background-color:#e0121d;border:1px solid #e0121d;border-radius:50px;color:#ffffff;display:inline-block;font-family:arial;font-size:14px;font-weight:500;line-height:44px;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:230px;-webkit-text-size-adjust:none;mso-hide:all;">
#end
REGISTER</a>
</td>
</tr>
Links all appear to work as expected when I send a live version to various email clients (Outlook 2016 included) so not sure how to troubleshoot further? Support have given the usual 'browser mangling the unique identifier' response, but given the volume (over 200 in report compared to usually maybe 1 or 2) think there must be something else happening here.
Thanks
Jon