On this page6 sections
Your page does most of the work
The biggest loss happens before anyone taps anything. Four in ten visitors look at the page and leave. That’s more than every step after it combined.
Those people decide on what they see: the title, the cover, whether it looks like the thing from your video. Fix that first, before you think about which steps to ask for.
- Open the link100
- Tap step 159
- Finish step 146
- Finish step 244
- Finish step 343
Averages across all links. Your own links will differ.
The first step is the hard one
People drop at the first step, whatever it is. A YouTube subscribe is finished 76% of the time as the first step and 94% when it comes later. A like on the video: 79% first, 96% later.
Once someone has done one step, they’ve decided they want it. The rest is easy.
So put the step you care about most at the top. The people who quit halfway still did that one.
Ask for one to three steps
Links with at least 50 starts. Grey: more steps than a free link allows.
The second step costs you some people. The third costs almost none, so if you ask for two, a quick third one is a free win. The fourth costs as much as the second again. More in how many steps your link should have.
Quick steps finish more
A like or a comment on the video someone just watched takes seconds. A subscribe or a follow means finding a button on another page. An email means typing.
Comment on videoYouTube95% Follow artistSpotify93% Join channelTelegram91% Like videoYouTube91% Join serverDiscord91% FollowInstagram91% Follow artistSoundCloud90% Visit a pageAny website89% FollowTikTok83% Subscribe to channelYouTube78% Email70%
Subscribe is often the first step, which pulls it down. Email is the slowest to fill in.
In-app browsers cost you
A link tapped inside TikTok or Instagram opens in that app’s own browser, where logins and app switching are clumsy. Steps finish there 68% of the time, against 86% in a normal browser. A TikTok follow started inside TikTok finishes only 41% of the time.
- of steps finish in a normal browser
- 86%
- finish inside an app’s browser
- 68%
- for a TikTok follow inside TikTok
- 41%
If your link lives in a TikTok or Instagram bio, keep it to one or two steps.
Put it together
- Make the page look like what they came for. A clear title and a cover from the video.
- Ask for one to three steps. A third is nearly free. A fourth is not.
- Put the step you care about most first. Almost everyone who starts finishes.
- Favour quick steps for small freebies: a like, a comment, a Discord join.
- Keep TikTok and Instagram links short. In-app browsers lose more people per step.
How we measured
We looked at steps started and finished on Rekonise links over three weeks in October and November 2026. A step counts as started when someone taps it and the platform opens, and as finished when they come back after the wait. We can’t see inside YouTube or Spotify, so we can’t tell whether they actually subscribed or followed. We only share rates, never anything about a single creator or visitor. You’re welcome to use these numbers: please link to this page.
Questions
Why do people leave an unlock link without finishing?
Most leave before tapping anything: the page doesn’t convince them it’s what they came for. Of those who start, most finish. The first step, long lists of steps and in-app browsers lose the most people.
Can I use these numbers?
Yes. Please link to this page as the source.
Do people really subscribe when a link asks?
We can see that they opened YouTube and came back after the wait, not what they did there. Steps that ask for something quick and specific get finished most.