Marketo Link Tokens not functioning in AOL, Yahoo and MSN email clients | Community
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Lauren_Smith7
Lauren_Smith7
New Participant
May 29, 2018
Solved

Marketo Link Tokens not functioning in AOL, Yahoo and MSN email clients

  • May 29, 2018
  • 3 replies
  • 5315 views

Hello,

We are currently using token links and discovered that AOL, Yahoo and MSN emails have removed our hyperlink that goes to a pdf hosted on Amazon. Has anyone else experienced this issue before and how did you fix? I've tested the hyperlinks in Outlook and Gmail and the tokens are working.

Thanks!

Best answer by SanfordWhiteman

When you use a Velocity script to create links, you must output the entire <a> tag within the script, including opening and closing <a> and </a>.

So you never insert a "link" item from the button bar when using Velocity. You insert only the {{my.token}} directly into the email body, otherwise it will not work.

The difference you're seeing between the mail in the inbox and the Web Page View is due to the different ways Velocity is executed.  Emit the entire <a> from Velocity to avoid this confusion.

3 replies

Lauren_Smith7
Lauren_Smith7Author
New Participant
May 29, 2018

@Sanford Whiteman - I should also mention that the tokens were created with velocity scripts.

SanfordWhiteman
SanfordWhitemanAccepted solution
New Participant
May 30, 2018

When you use a Velocity script to create links, you must output the entire <a> tag within the script, including opening and closing <a> and </a>.

So you never insert a "link" item from the button bar when using Velocity. You insert only the {{my.token}} directly into the email body, otherwise it will not work.

The difference you're seeing between the mail in the inbox and the Web Page View is due to the different ways Velocity is executed.  Emit the entire <a> from Velocity to avoid this confusion.

Lauren_Smith7
Lauren_Smith7Author
New Participant
May 31, 2018

Thanks Sanford that worked!

Lauren_Smith7
Lauren_Smith7Author
New Participant
May 29, 2018

Hi Sanford,

I added http and https to the front of the token. However the hyperlink is directing me to error page now. However, I can see the hyperlink in Yahoo.

Here is the view as email as a web page link where you can see the error: Mizona .

SanfordWhiteman
SanfordWhiteman
New Participant
May 29, 2018

The PDF downloads successfully for me from the Web Page View, though.

Lauren_Smith7
Lauren_Smith7Author
New Participant
May 29, 2018

Hi Sanford,

I am going to send you an email to the outlook provided. So you can see that the hyperlink does not work within the email client. However, the link works when you view as a webpage.

SanfordWhiteman
SanfordWhiteman
New Participant
May 29, 2018

What do you mean by "remove," exactly? That doesn't look like plain text -- i.e. there is a href on that link.

What is the URL when you hover over the link in the offending client? In a working client?

What is your branding domain?

Lauren_Smith7
Lauren_Smith7Author
New Participant
May 29, 2018

Yes, the hyperlink displays as plain text. We use styling to change our hyperlinks so they are not underlined or have blue font.

Here is what the url is when I hover over the working hyperlink in Gmail. Nothing shows when I hoover over Yahoo email.

This link redirects to a url that looks similar to this: https://s3.amazonaws.com/backroads

Our website is backroads.com and our Marketo domain is goactive.backroads.com

SanfordWhiteman
SanfordWhiteman
New Participant
May 29, 2018

Yes, the hyperlink displays as plain text.

I'm saying that in your screenshot, there is clearly some kind of clickable link. You said it "removed" the link, which would suggest that nothing, or only the inner text of the <a> tag, would be shown. If you look in the source (received HTML) you'll see a link to somewhere or perhaps empty, but not no link.

If your branding domain is goactive.backroads.com then your links aren't being tracked, i.e. the branding domain is not used here..  And the reason for this is self-evident from your screenshot: you need to take the protocol (http:​// or https:​//) out of the token itself, so the token just starts with your hostname (www.backroads.com).  The link in the link builder should look like

     http:​//{{my.some token}}

as opposed to

     {{my.some token}}

Fix that up and try again. You can also send an email to  figureonecpr+nation45798@outlook.com and I'll see what Outlook/Live (same as MSN) sees.

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