Claravine + Bitly Integration

Bitly is the largest Link Management Platform, used globally to create short, branded call-to-action links. Understanding link performance is essential to optimizing customer communication. However, link data around content and campaigns are often disconnected from analytics systems and other teams. Analytics teams struggle to unify and add brand-required regularity to this siloed data.

With Claravine's integration with Bitly, you can continue to leverage Bitly-enabled brand control and ensure the link data you create is governed and connected for analytics optimization. Claravine can be used with the free account (1,000 links/month) or enterprise account (1,5000+ links/month). Bitly account pricing and features. To request a demo or to have it added to your account, contact your Customer Success Manager.

When you log into Claravine and Bitly, click Connect and Allow to integrate the systems. Select the Bitly accounts and branded domains in a customizable Claravine template. Saved templates enforce and validate link readiness, capture metadata, and automatically create branded Bitly links and campaign tracking URLs enabled to send data to your organization's analytics solution.

Watch the Claravine + Bitly webinar: How to Enhance Link Data for Better Brand Experiences

Add Bitly to Claravine to create standardized shortened links associated to metadata for analytics teams. You can also create company-branded shortened links.

Templates: Outbound Configuration

In Claravine, you will see both the shortened URL and full URL in the submission table.

• Claravine will send the Shortened Link and full Link to Bitly.
• Edited submission links will not update to Bitly.
• You can add a Bitly integration to a new or existing template.

Watch the Video to connect Claravine + Bitly and add it to a template:

Add the Bitly Outbound Integration to a Template

1. Open the correct Template in the Templates tab.
   
   
2. Click Step 3 - Connect.
   
   
   
3. Click the plus sign (+) to add a new Outbound integration.
   
   
   
4. Click Bitly.
   The Bitly Outbound configuration section displays.
   
   
   
5. Select the connected Bitly Account.
   An Administrator must first connect the Bitly Account in Integrations → Accounts.
   
   
6. Select the Organization.
   
   
7. Select the Group.
   
   
8. Select the Short Domain. Click Save to save the template.

   Optional: Create a Custom Back-Half

   Claravine can create custom, branded links. You can customize the part of your short link after the last forward-slash (aka back-half or hash value) with customized letters and numbers through your Claravine template (e.g., bit.ly/BACK-HALF). The customized back-half of your Bitly shortened link can be configured to populate from a list value, text field, auto number, concatenation, etc.  The character limit for a custom back-half is 255 characters.

   We recommend that the connected Bitly account associated with the template uses branded link for a custom domain (e.g. clr.vn) instead of a generic bit.ly domain.

   If users have created submissions with the Bitly integration prior to adding the custom back-half, they cannot edit the submission to add a custom back-half. We recommend duplicating the template and versioning out the original non-custom back-half template.
   
   

9. Add a field to the template that you want to populate the custom back-half value. This value or phrase is used to better identify the link and must be unique.
   
   
   • In Step2 Define and Govern, click the +Select Fields button at the bottom of the template schema.
     
     
   • Create a new field to fill in the custom back-half. Click the plus sign (+) next to a Field Set.
     
     
   • In the Add New Field side-menu, add the Name (Bitly Custom Back-Half), check if it is required, and select the Field Type.
     
     If it is a Text field, remember the dash (-) and underscore (_) are the only allowed symbols in a back-half value. We recommend excluding all symbols in the Exclude field except for dash and underscore.
     
     
   • Click Done.
     
     
10. Find the newly created Field and add it to the template schema and reorder as needed.
    
    
11. In Step 3 Connect, click on the Bitly Outbound integration accordion drawer to expand it.
    
    
12. We strongly recommend using the branded short domain (clr.vn) and not the generic (bit.ly).
    
    
13. Check the box to customize the back-half of shortened Bitly links from this template.
    
    
14. In the Map from Claravine field, select the newly created Bitly Custom Back-Half field.
    
    
15. In the Map to Bitly field, select Custom Bitlink.
    
    
    
    
16. Click Save to save the template.
    
    
17. Claravine creates a System Field Set for the Bitly link, do not delete this Field Set. The Shortened Link field is automatically added to the template schema. Reorder the field as desired but do not remove this field.

User Experience

The user enters the full landing page into the Link column. The Shortened Link field is locked and cannot be edited.

When all required fields and governance is met, click Submit.

The Link populates with the Pattern in full, and the Shortened Link field populates with the organization branded short domain.



Both the full Link and Shortened Link are passed to Bitly.

Bitly Platform Limits

Platform limits apply to all accounts, regardless of the subscription plan. Bitly enforces per-hour, per-minute, and per-IP rate limits for each API endpoint.

• IP address limit: API users are limited to a maximum of five concurrent connections from a single IP address.
• Hourly limits: The rate limits reset once each hour and once each minute. The per-minute limit is one-tenth of the hourly limit. So if your limit for the /v4/shorten endpoint is 1,000 calls per hour, it will also be limited to 100 calls per minute.
• Requesting higher hourly limits: Increasing platform limits requires a subscription to a custom enterprise-level account. To discuss an increase to your hourly limits, contact your Bitly Account Manager for assistance.
• You can also find your monthly link limits by logging into Bitly, clicking the profile menu, selecting Change Group, and then clicking Manage next to the appropriate account name. This will take you to the Account Settings page.
• Dynamic Parameters: Bitly does not allow dynamic parameters as part of the final URL (i.e., claravine.com?rid=<%= recipient.id %>&cid=12345)

Important Reminders About Custom Back-Half Values

• If users created submissions when the template utilized one branded short domain prior to an Admin changing the Bitly configuration to another branded short domain
• If a submission shows the text “BITLY_SUBMISSION_ERROR”, it means this custom link is taken, you'll need to enter a different back-half. This is because someone has already used that back-half with that domain, whether it's bit.ly or your own custom domain. Once a back-half is used for one link, it is permanently tied to that link. It cannot be used again or “freed up” later, even if you go back and edit the custom link in your account. See Bitly support.
• Because Bitly links are case sensitive, try changing the capitalization. You can also add other characters, like numbers or a hyphen. For example, if someone has used yourdomain.com/sample, and you wanted to use the sample back-half, you could try yourdomain.com/Sample or yourdomain.com/sample2022.
• All letters a-z in upper case and lower case letters are considered unique. All numbers are allowed. Dash (-) and underscore (_) are the only allowed symbols.
• All Bitly links are case sensitive, so if a back-half value has been used, consider using upper or lower case letters.
• When using a Bitly outbound integration, the template must include a link field and value in the link field must be provided. We recommend configuring link fields to be required when building your template. If a link is not provided, the submission will fail.