Link buttons in a broadcast — with stats or direct
How to make a broadcast button open a bot, channel or website right away, with no page in between, and what you give up by choosing that.
How it works#
Every link button in a broadcast has two modes. You choose the mode for each button separately.
- With stats is how buttons have always worked, and it's still the default. The button goes through Craft: when someone taps it, we record the tap and send them straight on to your link. The broadcast report shows how many people tapped.
- Direct puts your link into the button as is. A link to a bot, channel or person in Telegram opens right in Telegram, with no browser and no page in between. We can't see taps on a direct button, so we don't count them.
💡 A button with stats first opens a Craft page in Telegram's built-in browser, and that page sends the person on. For a website link you'll hardly notice this, because a browser would open anyway. For a Telegram link it makes a big difference: instead of landing in the bot instantly, the person sees a browser, and on some phones they have to tap "Open" a second time.
How to choose the mode#
- Open Automations → Broadcasts and click "New broadcast".
- On the "Message" step, in the "Buttons" block, keep "Inline buttons" selected.
- Enter the button text and the link. A "With stats / Direct" choice appears under them. Pick the mode you want.
- If you pick "With stats" for a Telegram link, a hint under the button reminds you that the link will open through the browser.
🔴 Paste the link in full: https://t.me/your_bot, t.me/your_bot or @your_bot. If the link has a space in it or doesn't look like an address, the editor highlights the button in red and won't let you continue. This matters most for a "Direct" button: Telegram would reject a broken link together with the whole message.
💡 tg://… links only work in "Direct" mode. They don't open through a Craft page, so this mode switches on by itself for them.
What the report shows#
- All buttons with stats: same as before, how many people tapped and what share of delivered messages that is.
- Some buttons direct: the tap count only covers the buttons with stats, and a note below it says how many buttons were direct.
- All buttons direct: instead of a zero, the report says that taps weren't counted. A zero would be misleading here, because people most likely did tap. We just can't see it.
💡 If a button leads to your own bot through a link you created in a funnel's links section, you can see the people who came through it in that link's stats, where starts are counted. So choosing "Direct" for such a button doesn't cost you the number of people who reached the bot.
How to check that it works#
- Choose "Direct" for the button and send the broadcast to a small segment, for example a tag that only you have.
- Tap the button in Telegram. A link to a bot or channel should open right away, without a browser.
⚠️ A test send on the "Review & send" step always arrives with direct links, whichever mode you chose. A test shows you where the button leads, but not how a button with stats will open.
If it doesn't work#
| What you see | Cause and what to do |
|---|---|
| The button is highlighted in red and "Next" can't be clicked | The direct link is incomplete or has a space in it. Paste the full address, for example https://t.me/your_bot. |
| The button opens a browser instead of Telegram | The button is set to "With stats". Choose "Direct". |
| The report says taps weren't counted | Every button in the broadcast was direct. Choose "With stats" to see taps. |
| For some subscribers a button with stats loads slowly or doesn't open | The extra step through a Craft page can hang on a slow or restricted connection. A direct link skips that step. |
What's not available yet#
- You can't open a Telegram link instantly and count the tap at the same time. Telegram doesn't tell the bot that someone tapped a link button, so the only way to count a tap is to send it through a page in between.
- You can't change the mode of a broadcast you already sent. Editing a sent broadcast only changes the text. The buttons keep the mode they had when the broadcast went out.
- The bottom menu has no such choice. Bottom menu buttons send text and can't be links.