Campaign launch without broken links

The most expensive mistake in a campaign is a link that does not work on day one. The ad is running, the budget is being spent, and nobody notices that the landing page shows an error or that the parameters get lost on the way. A short, fixed check before launch prevents that.

What can go wrong before launch

• The landing page does not respond or shows an error because the address was mistyped or the page was moved.
• A redirect drops the parameters. /offer?utm_source=... becomes /offer/, and the source is gone.
• Tracking is missing on the landing page. Visitors arrive, but nothing is counted.
• The certificate has expired or the page can only be reached with a warning.
• The link points to the wrong language or environment, for example a test site.
• The link was changed on the way, for instance by the newsletter service or a link shortener.

The launch checklist

1. Brief complete: goal, period, channels, websites and a responsible person are settled.
2. One measurable goal: there is at least one metric with a target value that shows later whether it worked.
3. Every link checked: open each link in a private window and check page, language, redirects and parameters.
4. Tracking ready: everything that should be measured (goals, events, ad pixels) is implemented and tested, with the consent banner as visitors see it.
5. Values match the convention: source, medium and campaign follow your standard.
6. Arrival confirmed: a test visit shows up in your analytics with the right values. What that looks like in Matomo is described in the article Campaign tracking in Matomo under "The 60-second test".

Who checks what

Decide in advance who signs off the launch. In agency projects that is often someone at the company who ticks off the checks before the agency goes live. Record who checked what and when. If something is off later, you know where to look.

An example

Nordlicht Media is running an autumn campaign for Lindenholz Küchen. The check the day before shows that www.lindenholz.example/autumn redirects to www.lindenholz.example/autumn/ and loses the parameters on the way. The agency enters the address with the trailing slash, checks again and only then goes live.

Feinwerk Campaigns

Feinwerk Campaigns checks every link for reachability, redirects and lost parameters and shows the start checklist on the campaign. More in the handbook under Start checklist. How you work with it in the pilot is on the pilot page.