VenueWSShort links in messages, and who opened them
Every link in a text or email to a guest goes out as a short venuews…/s/ link; each open is counted, so you can see which messages were read, by whom and when.
What goes out
Every link to VenueWS in a text or an email to a guest — the invitation, the waiver, the waiver copy, the event page — is replaced at send time by a short link that looks like https://venuews.dmsworkspace.com/s/Ab3xK9q. Two reasons:
- Texts stay one segment. A text with a 90-character invitation link is two segments (billed twice by your SMS provider); with a short link it is usually one.
- Opens are counted. When the guest taps it, VenueWS counts the open and sends them straight on to the page — there is nothing to see in between.
WhatsApp template buttons keep their original address: Meta fixes the link when it approves the template.
Where you see it
- Messages panel (event → Guests tab): each send shows N opened — how many of its messages were opened at least once.
- Send details (click a send): "N opened the link (M opens)", and per message "Opened 2× · first …". The Opened and Not opened filters find the guests to chase.
- Guest list: an opened chip next to guests who opened a link from any message; the filter Opened a message link / Never opened a link works with the others, and the export and the printable door list follow it.
- Event summary (Attendance tab, and the summary email): guests who opened a link out of those sent one, links opened by channel and by page, and opens by phone or computer.
Reading the numbers
Mail programs and chat apps often fetch a link to show a preview before anyone taps it. VenueWS tells those apart by how they identify themselves and counts them as link previews, shown separately in the summary — so "opened" means a person, as far as can be told. A few mail services open links on the reader's behalf for security; treat an open as a strong sign, not proof.
A short link never expires on its own; it goes wherever the original went, and the invitation page itself decides what the guest sees (valid, revoked, already used).
A guest who says "I never got it" and shows no open probably didn't: check the send details for a failed delivery, and send it again from the Messages panel.
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Related guides
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- Check whether an email was deliveredSee the last emails your workspace sent, what failed and why, and send one again.
- The attendance summary after each eventShortly after an event ends, VenueWS emails you one summary of how it went: invited, confirmed, showed up, no-shows and the busiest hour.
- Text messages (SMS) with TwilioConnect your own Twilio account so guests who gave only a phone number get their invitation by text, and the door can text a waiver link.