Scheduled & Expiring Links: Time-Limited URLs for Launches and Flash Sales

A launch has a start time. A flash sale has an end. Yet most links ignore the clock entirely — they point to the same place whether someone clicks an hour early or a week late. Scheduling fixes that: you tell a link when to be live, and it takes care of the rest.

What availability windows do

A Smart Link can carry a schedule with two moments:

Go-live: the link starts sending visitors to the offer at the exact time you set.
Expiry: after this time, the link stops sending visitors to the offer.

Outside that window, visitors do not hit a broken page. They are sent to a fallback URL you choose — a "coming soon" page before launch, or an "offer ended / see what's next" page afterwards. The link is always valid; only the destination changes with the clock.

One link, three moments

The same short link behaves differently depending on when it's clicked:

When it's clicked	Where it goes
Before go-live	your teaser or waitlist page
Inside the window	the live offer
After expiry	your "ended" page or regular catalogue

Nobody ever hits a dead link — early and late clicks still land somewhere useful, and still count in your analytics.

Why this matters for launches

Picture a product drop at 9am. You share the link the night before so your audience is ready. Anyone who clicks early lands on a teaser or a waitlist — not a 404, and not the live checkout before you are ready. At 9am the same link flips to the real offer automatically. You are asleep or on stage; the link handles the timing.

Why it matters for flash sales

A 48-hour sale should not keep taking orders at the old price on hour 49. Set the expiry and the link closes the offer on time, sending late clicks to your regular catalogue or a "sale ended" page. No manual swapping at midnight, no discount leaking past the deadline.

Tip

Set a fallback for both early and late clicks. The window is only half the job — where early and late visitors land is what turns a dead link into a second chance to convert them.

Seasonal and evergreen use

Scheduling is not only for big moments. Use it for:

Seasonal campaigns — a holiday guide that goes live in November and retires in January.
Event links — a webinar registration that expires when the session starts.
Rotating promotions — line up this month's offer to retire exactly as next month's begins.

It works with everything else

A scheduled link is still a full Smart Link. Inside its window it can route by country and device, block regions, run an A/B test and carry a dynamic QR code. Print the QR on a poster for a timed event and it simply stops pointing at the offer when the event is over — no reprint required.

Key takeaway

Scheduling takes the one manual step you always forget — flipping the link live at launch, or killing it at the deadline — and hands it to the clock.

Set it once and forget it

The point of scheduling is to remove a manual step from your busiest moments. Decide the window in advance, choose a sensible fallback for early and late clicks, and let the link run itself.

Want to time your next drop? Create a link and set its availability window — and see how the rest of Smart Link routing works around it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if someone clicks before a scheduled link goes live?

They are sent to the fallback URL you choose — for example a teaser or waitlist page — rather than a broken link. At the go-live time the link switches to the real offer automatically.

Can a link expire automatically?

Yes. Set an expiry time and the link stops sending visitors to the offer after it, redirecting late clicks to a fallback such as your catalogue or a 'sale ended' page.

Do scheduled links still route by country and device?

Yes. Inside its window a scheduled link is a full Smart Link — country and device routing, blocking, A/B testing and a dynamic QR code all keep working.

Can I schedule a printed QR code to switch off after an event?

Yes. The QR points at a Smart Link, so when the link's window ends the printed code simply stops sending scans to the offer and routes them to your fallback instead — no reprint.

Does an expired link show a 404?

No. An out-of-window link sends visitors to the fallback URL you set — a teaser, a waitlist, or your regular catalogue — so they always land somewhere useful and the click is still recorded.