What are vanity links and how to set them up

What is a vanity link?

A vanity link is a unique referral link that includes a participant’s vanity ID (participant's first name + GrowSurf ID). This makes the link more memorable and appealing for anyone who receives it, increasing the likelihood they’ll try your product or service.

Note: If a participant’s first name is not available when they are added to your program, a vanity link will not be generated. Instead, their unique GrowSurf ID will be used as the default identifier.

Examples:

• A participant's default vanity link would look like this: https://yoursite.com?grsf=emily-a1jk28   
• Before vanity links, Emily's link would look like this: https://yoursite.com?grsf=a1jk28. (The a1jk28     is the participant's GrowSurf ID that is used by default if the participant does not have a vanity ID).

How to create vanity IDs for participants

When a new GrowSurf participant is added, a vanity ID is automatically generated if their first name is available. The format combines their first name with their unique GrowSurf ID.

Vanity IDs can be created and customized by both GrowSurf participants and admins:

• Participants can update their vanity ID(s) in the Embeddable Form element, GrowSurf window, and referral portal.
• GrowSurf admins can create/update vanity IDs from the GrowSurf admin dashboard on the participant detail page.
• GrowSurf admins can create/update participants' vanity IDs via the REST API.

Note: To bulk create or update vanity IDs for all participants in your program, you will need to use the REST API endpoints /POST Update Participant by ID or /POST Update Participant by Email.

How to manually create/update a participant's vanity ID

To create/update a vanity ID for a participant, you will need to do the following:

1. Click on the participant you want to update
2. Click the DETAILS tab
3. Add a vanity ID, then click the save button

How to enable participants to update their vanity ID

1. In your admin dashboard, click Program Editor > 2. Design 
2. Share > Social Share

3. Scroll to "Customize Vanity Link Section', enter the text you’d like to appear above the copy button, then click the save button

   

Once you have saved the changes to your program, a participant can go to your referral portal and do the following:

1. Click Customize

2. Delete default vanity ID

3. Update referral link

4. View the new referral link

Vanity links are case-insensitive. For example, any variation ofemily , such as EMILY  or Emily   would work.

Note: Anytime the participant's Share URL is shown in API responses and in UI elements, the referral link will always contain the participant's first available vanity ID, if present. In addition to containing their first available vanity ID, whenever their vanity IDs are updated, the Share URL field (e.g., https://yoursite.com?grsf=emily) will also be synced with any active integrations (e.g., Mailchimp, Intercom, HubSpot).

Limitations

• Participants cannot have more than 5 vanity links at a time.
• Vanity IDs must be between 1-20 characters.
• Vanity IDs can only contain numbers, letters, underscores, and hyphens.
• Vanity IDs must be unique and cannot be identical to another participant's GrowSurf or vanity ID.