How tracked links and click counts work
Updated
When you put a link in an automation, the person does not receive your raw address. They receive a short Dartzo link that looks like dartzo.com/r/aB3xK9pQ. When they tap it, Dartzo notes the click and sends them straight on to your page. That is how Dartzo can tell you how many people actually opened what you sent, per automation and per post, without you adding anything to your page.
What happens when someone taps
- Dartzo opens the short linkThe eight-character code is looked up and matched to the automation and the exact DM it came from. Codes are random, so nobody can guess another creator’s link.
- The click is written downDartzo records which automation and DM it belongs to, the time, the real destination, the device’s browser details and where the tap came from. It stores a scrambled one-way fingerprint of the IP address, never the address itself.
- The person lands on your pageFor most websites they see a brief “Redirecting… This conversation is automated by Dartzo” screen for about two seconds, with a Continue now link for anyone who does not want to wait. Then they arrive on your page.
If anything goes wrong while writing the click down, the person is still sent to your page. A broken count never costs you a visit.
Which links are tracked
| Link | Tracked? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The link on your automation | Yes | Arrives as a tap button labelled Open link, unless your message already contains the address or {{link}}, in which case it sits in the text. |
| Link buttons you add to a DM | Yes | Each one gets its own short link. |
Links in follow-ups, and {{link}} in a public reply | Yes | Same treatment, so a tap from the comment section is counted too. |
| A link to an Instagram profile or post (for example the follow gate’s profile button) | No | Sent as-is so Instagram opens its own screen instead of a browser. These taps are not counted, and nothing is added to the address. |
| A link in a broadcast | Goes through Dartzo too | A broadcast has no automation, so do not expect its clicks in your per-post analytics. See Broadcasts. |
For websites, Dartzo adds three tags to the destination only if they are not already there: utm_source=instagram, utm_medium=dm and utm_campaign=dartzo. Your own tags are never overwritten. That lets Google Analytics or similar tools see where the visit came from.
Where you see the numbers
- Dashboard: the Link clicks card, with how many sent DMs led to a click.
- Analytics: Link CTR (the share of delivered people who clicked) and a Clicks column for each post. See Reading your analytics.
- A/B tests: when you test message variations, clicks are credited to the wording that was sent.
Changing a link after people have it
If you paste the wrong address, or a file expires, you can fix it for people who already received it. Edit the automation’s link and save; on Pro, Max and Ultra, every short link that automation has already sent is pointed at the new address. On Free, links already sent keep their original destination and only new DMs use the new one.
- Only the automation’s main link is repointed, never a button. The follow gate’s profile button is never touched.
- The new address must be a normal web address (
https://…). An empty or odd value changes nothing, because a dead link is worse than an old one. - The change is permanent. If your plan later changes, the links you already fixed stay fixed.
Old links keep working
DMs sent before the short-link format existed carry a longer signed link. Those still work and are still counted. A link that has been altered, or a code Dartzo does not recognise, sends the visitor to the Dartzo home page instead of anywhere unexpected.
Ref links are a different thing
Under Growth → Ref links you can make shareable links that open a conversation with you (for a bio, a QR code or a partner’s post). They have their own Label, an optional campaign id, and a click count per link. They start a chat instead of sending a fan somewhere else. They are used by your link-in-bio page for DM buttons.