A quick guide on what link actions are, where to find them and how to use them

You asked:

“How can I add an automatic link to my email, so that subscribers are added to the new segment & workflow with one click?”

“How can I automate removing someone from a workflow and segment? I want to give people the option to change their minds after my sequence starts, and not keep getting the emails [without unsubscribing from my entire list].”

Whether you want to allow subscribers to opt out of your Mother’s Day emails or your seasonal sales sequence, or segment your readers based on which link(s) they click in your emails, link actions help you achieve that. And much more!

Link actions allow you to add automations to every link in your email—workflow emails included. Anywhere you can add a link, you can add a link action.

You may have heard elsewhere referred to as “link triggers.” The link action feature allows you to automatically organize your subscribers into segments or add them to workflows based on which links they click.

The available actions you can assign to any link in your emails include:

• Adding subscribers to one or multiple segments

• Removing subscribers from one or multiple segments

• Adding subscribers to one or multiple workflows

• Removing subscribers from one or multiple workflows

• Tagging subscribers with a custom field

A custom field is a subscriber data field that isn’t First name, Last name, or Email address. It can be data such as their geographic location, Enneagram type, Instagram handle, or wedding month.

As link actions are tied to “links”, all you need to do is add a valid link to your email, and you can assign the link actions you need.

Step 1. Within Flodesk’s email builder, click on the text, button, or block you’d like to add a link action to.

You can turn on link actions for any link within these block types on both standalone emails and workflow emails:

• Text block

• Layouts block

• Image block

• Video block

• Instagram block

• Link bar block

• Button block

• Countdown block

• E-commerce block

For example, click the link icon 🔗 to add a link to inline text.

To add a link to a button or any other block type, navigate to the Link tab on the right-hand side of the builder.

Step 2. Add a valid link. Make sure to add links starting with “https://”. Do not use any link shortener services to create your links.

Step 3. Choose what action should take place when subscribers click your link. And that’s it!

For inline text links, click the lightning bolt icon ⚡️ next to the URL link.

For other link types, such as buttons, layouts, or images, click into the Link actions section of the Link tab.

You can add multiple link actions to a single link. When subscribers click the link, you can add them to one or multiple segments, remove them from one or multiple segments, add them to one or multiple workflows, remove them from one or multiple workflows, or tag them with a custom field.

Note: You can only set one custom field value per link.

Although you can select multiple segments and workflows for each action, there’s a maximum limit of 10 segments and workflows you can set for a single link action.

Link actions will always execute the action in the following order, regardless of the order which you added the link actions in the email:

1. Remove from workflow

2. Remove from segment

3. Add custom field

4. Add to segment

5. Add to workflow

Link actions are optional and not “required”. You don't have to assign link actions to all links in your emails. You can leave the link actions empty.

Link actions will not work in test email sends, only when your email goes out live to your selected audience.

When you favorite (heart) or duplicate a block or an email, the link actions will be saved to the new blocks and new emails and automatically enabled. This includes the link action settings (i.e., selected segments, workflows, etc.).

However, shared email templates won't include link actions if there are any. The link actions will be cleared from the template and not be imported into the importing member’s email.

If many of your subscribers have .org, .edu, or .gov email addresses, their organizations' security settings might use bots to automatically open or click links in your emails to protect their employees or members from malicious emails. These automatic link clicks can affect link actions, so use this feature with caution.

To lessen the impact of automatic clicks and opens, especially from subscribers with such strict domains, you can ask them to use a personal email address when signing up.

If you’re planning to send more emails than usual during a given period, like a launch or seasonal sale, you can give your subscribers the option to opt out of receiving certain types of emails rather than unsubscribing from your list.

Let’s see it in action!

For example, if you’re sending a series of Black Friday sales emails, you can include a message like, “Click here to opt-out of my Black Friday emails, but continue receiving my weekly newsletter.” Then, add a link action that automatically removes anyone who clicks on the link from your Black Friday workflow.

You can also connect the link action to a button or layout block, not only to inline text, as we show in the example below.

Add this link action to each of your workflow emails. Some may opt out after the first email, and others may opt out later in the email workflow series.

Note: you need to select the link action “Remove from workflow(s).” If you only choose “Remove from segment(s),” they will continue to receive the workflow emails.

Where should that link point to? You can set up a hidden page on your website that says something like “Thanks for letting me know!” or something similar. Then, use the URL of this page for your link action.

If you don’t have a website, you can link, for example, to a relevant GIF from Giphy, like this one.

Give your subscribers the option to opt in to receive emails about various topics or create a fun and engaging poll within your email. All you need to do is generate link actions that automatically add subscribers to one or multiple segments in your list that correspond with what they’ve clicked on.

Let’s see it in action!

If you want to poll your subscribers on how often they want to hear from you, first create the relevant segments (weekly, biweekly, monthly).

To do that, go to your Audience > Segments dashboard and click the “+New segment” button to create those segments.

Next, create the poll in your email with the help of button blocks. Make sure each button block links to a separate URL. You can use hidden pages on your website that say something like “Thanks for letting me know!” or something similar. Alternatively, you can direct them to a relevant GIF from Giphy, like this one.

Pro tip: you can create the same setup to build polls asking your subscribers what they want to hear about in your newsletters—like listing your content topics, sales promotions, and specific offers, for example.

You can assign link actions to any link in your emails, single emails or emails in a workflow. After adding a valid link to a

• Text block

• Layouts block

• Image block

• Video block

• Instagram block

• Link bar block

• Button block

• Countdown block

• E-commerce block

You can use specific link actions that include:

• Adding subscribers to one or multiple segments

• Removing subscribers from one or multiple segments

• Adding subscribers to one or multiple workflows

• Removing subscribers from one or multiple workflows

• Tagging subscribers with a custom field

Link actions help you leverage advanced segmentation, get hyper-targeted with your list, and automate your email strategy.