Question:

How can I use Twilio’s link shortening feature to redirect customers to the correct appointment confirmation page on my WordPress website?

I have a WordPress website hosted by Nixihost with a Booknetic plugin for appointment booking and management. The plugin generates a long confirmation link for each booking, which I want to shorten using Twilio’s messaging service. I have verified my domain and SSL certificate with Twilio, and added their IP address as an A record in my DNS settings. However, when Twilio shortens the link, it does not redirect to the original confirmation page, but instead shows a page not found error. I also tried creating a subdomain and adding a CNAME record for Twilio’s IP address, but the link was not shortened at all. What am I doing wrong and how can I fix it?

Answer:

If you have a WordPress website with a Booknetic plugin for appointment booking and management, you might want to use Twilio’s link shortening feature to send your customers shorter and more professional-looking confirmation links. However, setting up this feature can be tricky, and you might encounter some issues along the way. In this article, we will explain how to use Twilio’s link shortening feature correctly and troubleshoot some common problems.

What is Twilio’s link shortening feature and why use it?

Twilio’s link shortening feature is a messaging service feature that allows you to send messages with shortened links using your own company-branded domain. Twilio also provides click tracking with the link shortening feature, so you can track customer engagement with your messages’ shortened links.

For example, if your domain is `mywebsite.com` and you want to send a confirmation link like this:

“`

https://mywebsite.com/appointment/?bkntc_token=eyJpZCI6IjI0In0.eyJjdXJyZW50U3RhdHVzIhljlhjlZyIsImNoYW5nZVRvIjoiY2FuY2VsZWQiLCJ0aXRsZSI6IkNhbmNlbGVkIiwiZXhlhjlhJlIjoxNzA3MDkzNDQ0LCJsaW1pdCI6IjAifQ.hqu24ssN1NY-yEdEjSxi-FAxYBsGwuLLhc9GY9jhl7fft8ftTLocg

“`

You can use Twilio’s link shortening feature to convert it into something like this:

“`

https://mywebsite.com/RT3535Vfd

“`

This way, you can save space in your SMS messages, make them look more appealing and trustworthy, and measure how many customers click on the link.

How to set up Twilio’s link shortening feature?

To use Twilio’s link shortening feature, you need to do the following steps:

1. Set up an organization in the Twilio Admin Center.

2. Register your domain in the Twilio console and verify it with your DNS provider.

3. Generate a TLS certificate for your domain and upload it to the Twilio console.

4. Add a CNAME record for your domain in your DNS settings and point it to `lsct.ashburn.us1.twilio.com`.

5. Create a messaging service in the Twilio console and enable the link shortening feature.

6. Set the fallback URL for your link shortening domain in the Twilio console.

7. Optionally, set up a webhook URL to receive click events from Twilio.

8. Send messages with long links using your messaging service SID as the `From` parameter.

How to troubleshoot Twilio’s link shortening feature?

If you have followed the steps above, but you still encounter some issues with Twilio’s link shortening feature, here are some possible causes and solutions:

• If the link is not shortened at all, make sure you have enabled the link shortening feature in your messaging service settings. Also, make sure you are using your messaging service SID as the `From` parameter when sending messages.
• If the link is shortened, but it shows a page not found error when clicked, make sure you have set the fallback URL for your link shortening domain in the Twilio console. The fallback URL is the URL that Twilio will redirect to if the original link is expired or invalid. You can set it to any URL that you want, such as your homepage or a custom error page.
• If the link is shortened, but it does not redirect to the correct confirmation page, make sure you have uploaded the correct TLS certificate for your domain to the Twilio console. The TLS certificate is required for Twilio to securely redirect the shortened link to the original link. You can use a free service like sslforfree.com to generate a TLS certificate for your domain.
• If the link is shortened, but it does not track the click events, make sure you have set up a webhook URL to receive click events from Twilio. The webhook URL is the URL that Twilio will send a POST request to whenever a customer clicks on a shortened link. You can use a service like beeceptor.com to test your webhook URL.

We

hope this article has helped you to use Twilio’s link shortening feature to redirect customers to the correct appointment confirmation page on your WordPress website. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to contact us.