Practical guides on short links, click tracking, QR codes, and campaign analytics. Written for marketers, creators, and teams using Linkkit.

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James makes video content about personal finance. He posts on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. He sends a weekly newsletter to about 8,000 subscribers. He has affiliate partnerships with three financial tools he genuinely recommends.For two years, he had no idea which platform was actually driving traffic to his affiliate links.<h2>The problem with affiliate links</h2>Affiliate links are already long and ugly — not the kind you put in a YouTube description and hope people type out. And even if you shorten them with a generic tool, you lose the ability to track which platform the click came from.James was using TinyURL for his affiliate links. He had shorter links. He had no data.<h2>The switch to Linkkit</h2>James created four versions of each affiliate link — one per platform:james.finance/youtube-tool1 — for YouTube video descriptions james.finance/instagram-tool1 — for Instagram bio james.finance/tiktok-tool1 — for TikTok bio james.finance/newsletter-tool1 — for his weekly emailEach link pointed to the same affiliate URL. Each tracked separately in Linkkit.<h2>What he found after 60 days</h2><table class="border-collapse table-auto w-full" style="min-width: 75px;"><colgroup><col style="min-width: 25px;"><col style="min-width: 25px;"><col style="min-width: 25px;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">Platform</th><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">% of affiliate clicks</th><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">Expectation vs reality</th></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Newsletter (8k subscribers)</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">58%</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Massively underestimated</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">YouTube</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">27%</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Roughly as expected</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Instagram</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">11%</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Lower than expected</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">TikTok (largest following)</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">4%</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Biggest surprise</td></tr></tbody></table><blockquote>"I was spending roughly equal time on all four platforms because I assumed they were equally valuable. They're not. My newsletter audience is worth significantly more per person. I only knew that because of the data."— James, Personal Finance Creator</blockquote><h2>What changed</h2><ul><li>Newsletter: Added second affiliate mention per issue — revenue increased significantly</li><li>YouTube: Added affiliate links earlier in descriptions — click-through improved</li><li>Instagram: Reduced time spent on content creation — effort-to-result ratio wasn't there</li><li>TikTok: Kept posting for growth but stopped prioritising affiliate placement</li></ul><h2>The takeaway</h2>If you share links across multiple platforms, using a single link across all channels is leaving insight on the table. Create one link per channel. Track them separately. Let the data tell you where to focus. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="text-primary underline" href="https://app.uselinkkit.com/sigup">Linkkit is FREE to start, TRACK your 500 clicks today.</a>

A personal finance creator tracked affiliate link clicks across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and email with Linkkit. The results changed his entire content strategy.

How a creator used Linkkit to discover which platform actually drives affiliate traffic

For most event organisers, print marketing is a black hole. You spend money on flyers, posters, and local press ads. You distribute them. And then you have no idea if any of it worked.The team behind Eastside Market — a monthly local food and craft market — decided to change that.<h2>The setup</h2>For their May 2025 event, the team used Linkkit to create separate tracked QR codes for each print marketing channel:Flyers at local cafes, gyms, and community centres: eastside.link/may-flyer A3 posters in shop windows: eastside.link/may-poster Local newspaper ad: eastside.link/may-press Social media bio and posts: eastside.link/may-socialEach link pointed to the same event registration page. But each was tracked separately. Total setup time: about 45 minutes.<h2>The results</h2><table class="border-collapse table-auto w-full" style="min-width: 100px;"><colgroup><col style="min-width: 25px;"><col style="min-width: 25px;"><col style="min-width: 25px;"><col style="min-width: 25px;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">Channel</th><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">Scans / clicks</th><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">% of total</th><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">Cost</th></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Flyers (cafes, gyms, community)</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">312 scans</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">41%</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">£60 printing</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">A3 posters (shop windows)</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">186 scans</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">24%</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">£40 printing</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Local newspaper ad</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">94 clicks</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">12%</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">£180</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Social media</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">172 clicks</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">23%</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">£0</td></tr></tbody></table><h2>What they learned</h2><ul><li>Flyers were their highest-performing offline channel at 41% of all engagements — and they'd been considering cutting them to save costs</li><li>The newspaper ad cost £180 and drove 94 engagements — most expensive channel per engagement by far</li><li>Social media held its own at 23% with zero cost</li><li>For June's event: newspaper ad cut, budget reallocated to flyers and social</li></ul><blockquote>"Before Linkkit we were just guessing which channels were worth spending on. Now we actually know. That newspaper ad is gone from our budget. It's our decision now, not a guess."— Eastside Market Organiser</blockquote><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="text-primary underline" href="https://app.uselinkkit.com/sigup">Linkkit is FREE to start, TRACK your 500 clicks today.</a>

A local market used separate Linkkit QR codes per print channel — flyers, posters, press ads, and social. The data changed where they spent their budget for every event after.

How a local event used Linkkit QR codes to measure offline campaign ROI

The team at Kova — a direct-to-consumer skincare brand — had a problem they didn't know they had.Their email campaigns were performing below industry average on click-through rate. Open rates were solid. Subject lines were working. But somewhere between opening the email and clicking the link, they were losing people.Their links looked like this: bit.ly/3xK9pQ<h2>The hypothesis</h2>Priya, their head of marketing, had a simple theory. Their audience — health-conscious consumers who'd paid £80 for a moisturiser — were being sent links that looked like they could come from anyone.<blockquote>"We were asking people who'd paid £80 for a moisturiser to click a link that looked like it was from a 2012 spam email. It doesn't make sense when you say it out loud."— Priya, Head of Marketing at Kova</blockquote><h2>The test</h2>Priya ran a clean A/B test over four email sends. Control: links using the existing bit.ly domain. Variant: links using Kova's branded domain — shop.kovaskin.com — through Linkkit. Everything else was identical.<h2>The results</h2><table class="border-collapse table-auto w-full" style="min-width: 100px;"><colgroup><col style="min-width: 25px;"><col style="min-width: 25px;"><col style="min-width: 25px;"><col style="min-width: 25px;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">Metric</th><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">Control (bit.ly)</th><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">Variant (branded)</th><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">Change</th></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Click-through rate</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">2.6%</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">3.5%</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">+34.6%</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Clicks per send</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">1,820</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">2,450</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">+630 clicks</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Revenue per send</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">£4,100</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">£5,520</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">+£1,420</td></tr></tbody></table><blockquote>"When I saw 34% I went back and checked the data three times. But it held up across all four sends. Of course people are more likely to click a link from kovaskin.com than from bit.ly."— Priya</blockquote><h2>The takeaway</h2>Branded links aren't just about aesthetics. In an environment where email clients flag suspicious links and readers are cautious — a branded domain is a trust signal that directly impacts click-through rate. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="text-primary underline" href="https://app.uselinkkit.com/sigup">Linkkit is FREE to start, TRACK your 500 clicks today.</a>

A skincare brand A/B tested branded Linkkit links vs generic bit.ly links in email campaigns. Branded links won by 34%. Here's exactly how they ran the test.

How branded links increased email click through rate by 34% a Linkkit case study

Sarah had been using Bitly for two years when she finally did the maths.She was a freelance marketing consultant — running email campaigns, social media, and paid ads for a handful of small business clients. One person. Doing good work. Paying Bitly $29 per month.Not $29 total. $29 per user per month. For a one-person operation, that was $348 per year — just to track links.<h2>What she was getting for $29 a month</h2>In fairness, Bitly's Business plan gave her what she needed. Branded custom domains. Full analytics. More than 10 links per month.But she was also paying for team collaboration tools for a team of one. Enterprise integrations she'd never touched. A dashboard with more features than she had time to learn.<blockquote>"I was using maybe 20% of what I was paying for. Every time I logged in I'd see tabs and menus for things I'd never touched. It started to feel like I was paying for a platform built for someone else."— Sarah, Freelance Marketing Consultant</blockquote><h2>Finding Linkkit</h2>Sarah found Linkkit through a search for 'Bitly alternative free analytics.' She signed up in about two minutes, connected her branded domain, and created her first short link.<blockquote>"The first thing I noticed was how fast it was. Not the redirect speed — the dashboard. I opened it and immediately saw what I was looking for. No orientation required. I just knew where everything was."— Sarah</blockquote><h2>What changed</h2><table class="border-collapse table-auto w-full" style="min-width: 75px;"><colgroup><col style="min-width: 25px;"><col style="min-width: 25px;"><col style="min-width: 25px;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">Area</th><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">Before (Bitly)</th><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">After (Linkkit)</th></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Monthly cost</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">$29/month</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">$0/month</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Annual cost</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">$348/year</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">$0/year</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Branded domain</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Yes — paid</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Yes — free plan</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Full analytics</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Yes — paid</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Yes — free plan</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">QR codes</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Limited</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Every link, automatically</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Dashboard experience</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Feature-heavy, complex</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Clean and immediate</td></tr></tbody></table><h2>One year later</h2>Sarah has been on Linkkit's free plan for just over a year. She's saved $348. Her analytics are just as good — arguably easier to read. And she's finally using QR codes in client campaigns.<blockquote>"I genuinely don't miss Bitly. I think I was staying because switching felt like effort. The actual switch took an afternoon."— Sarah</blockquote><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="text-primary underline" href="https://app.uselinkkit.com/sigup">Linkkit is FREE to start, TRACK your 500 clicks today.</a>

A freelance marketing consultant was paying $29/month for Bitly. She switched to Linkkit's free plan and got the same analytics, branded links, and QR codes — at zero cost.

How a freelance marketer replaced Bitly with Linkkit and saved $348 a year

When Marco's Kitchen — a mid-sized Italian restaurant with three locations — switched from printed menus to digital menus, they did what most restaurants do. They generated a free QR code from a random online tool, stuck it to the table, and hoped for the best.They had no idea how many people were actually scanning it. And when they updated the menu for a seasonal refresh, they had to regenerate a whole new QR code and replace every single table card.<h2>The problem: no visibility, no flexibility</h2><ul><li>No scan data — no idea how many scans happened per day or which location performed best</li><li>No ability to update — every menu change meant new QR codes and new table cards across all three locations</li><li>No connection between digital and physical — online marketing had analytics, in-restaurant experience had nothing</li></ul><h2>The solution: dynamic QR codes with Linkkit</h2>The switch to Linkkit took about an hour across all three locations. The team created three short links — one per location — each pointing to the digital menu. Separate slugs per location meant scan tracking was split cleanly:marcos.link/menu-city-centre marcos.link/menu-north marcos.link/menu-south<h2>The results: 5,000 scans and real insights</h2><table class="border-collapse table-auto w-full" style="min-width: 75px;"><colgroup><col style="min-width: 25px;"><col style="min-width: 25px;"><col style="min-width: 25px;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">Finding</th><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">Data</th><th colspan="1" rowspan="1">Action Taken</th></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">City centre drove 62% of scans</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">3,100 of 5,000 total scans</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Prioritised server training at other locations</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">73% of scans: 6pm–9pm</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Peak dinner service window</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Menu updates timed for midday</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">98% of scans on mobile</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">iOS and Android split evenly</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Continued mobile menu investment</td></tr><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">Menu updates became trivial</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">One update in Linkkit, all locations updated instantly</td><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">No reprinting required</td></tr></tbody></table> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="text-primary underline" href="https://app.uselinkkit.com/sigup">Linkkit is FREE to start, TRACK your 500 clicks today.</a>

A restaurant group switched from static QR codes to Linkkit's dynamic, tracked QR codes — and discovered which locations were performing, when scans happened, and how to update menus instantly.

Stories

How a creator used Linkkit to discover which platform actually drives affiliate traffic

How a local event used Linkkit QR codes to measure offline campaign ROI

How branded links increased email click through rate by 34% a Linkkit case study

How a freelance marketer replaced Bitly with Linkkit and saved $348 a year

How a restaurant tracked 5,000 QR code menu scans with Linkkit

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