Smart link FAQs

what’s the difference between smart links and roster’s legacy referral links? smart links are an enhanced version of roster’s referral links that allow for better tracking, customization, and analytics unlike legacy referral links, smart links support features like customer discounts, dynamic url parameters, and link variants for sharing specific products or for tracking performance across different social channels what is a legacy referral link? a legacy referral link is roster's term for roster's original referral links legacy referral links have the form https //brand com/?rstr=alicejones whereas smart links have the form rstr co/brand/alicejones legacy referral links will remain functional after a brand migrates a program to smart links, but the legacy referral links but won’t benefit from smart link's advanced features in time, all roster brands will fully migrate to smart links at that point in time, however, any legacy referral links out in the wild will continue to work what is the difference between a referral link and a smart link? referral links refer to any link that gives attribution back to the ambassador as such, roster's legacy referral links and roster's new smart links are both considered referral links smart links in roster are program specific, whereas legacy referral links are brand specific while we refer to them as smart links in the brand portal (where brand team members use roster), we simply refer to them as referral links to ambassadors, so as not to add unnecessary jargon what should we expect during migration to smart links? the migration process ensures ambassadors’ legacy referral links continue to work seamlessly while introducing smart links for enhanced functionality existing ambassadors can optionally update the places they have shared their referral links (e g social bios, linktree, blogs, etc) to the new format, but this is not mandatory as both versions will coexist can we disable or deactivate a smart link after it’s been created? yes, brands can disable smart links by removing them from the program’s settings for brands that started using roster before november 1, 2024, your ambassadors will most likely revert to having a legacy referral link when they are not in a program with smart links enabled be sure to check with your customer success manager to confirm before removing smart links from a program for brands that started using roster on or after november 1, 2024, ambassadors will only have a referral link if they are a program with smart links enabled if smart links are removed from a program, ambassadors in that program will no longer have referral links what is the difference between a destination url and a redirect url? a smart link's destination url can also be thought of as the redirect url if the program's smart link is set to use short links as the link appearance (e g rstr co/brand/referral id), then customers will be redirected to the destination url however, if the program's smart link is set to use the destination url as the link appearance, then no redirect happens and the customer is taken directly to the destination url we simply opted to refer to the referral link's end destination as the destination url because depending on the link appearance setting, a redirect may or may not occur can each program have a distinct destination (redirect) url? yes, brands can set a unique destination url for each program, allowing flexibility for deciding the best url per program for example, some brands segment their ambassadors by country and each country might have a different store url another example is a brand that has dedicated landing pages for each influencer in their influencer program, requiring dynamic destination urls for that program, but a default home page for their ambassador program can the destination url be changed after the smart link is enabled? absolutely! one of the main features of smart links (with short links enabled) is that brands can update the destination url without ambassadors needing to update their shared links, as the ambassadors' link appearance remains the same this also means that you can change the utm parameters or attribution window at any time, no to mention the customer discount is the rstr co short link required to use smart links? no, while the rstr co short link is recommended for its simplicity and tracking benefits, brands can opt to use their full destination urls instead we strongly recommend brands use the short link, however, as this makes it significantly easier to make changes to the smart links without the need to ask ambassadors to change their url structure can we update the brand handle in smart link urls? yes, but with a big caveat the brand handle in the smart link url can be updated by creating a support ticket, but you should be aware that the brand handle is used in both smart links and ambassadors magic (login) links if you already have an active program, changing the handle will break existing smart links and magic links reach out to your customer success manager if this is something you are considering how do we notify ambassadors about updates or changes to their smart links? roster provides an email notification option when changes to a programs smart links are made such that it changes the visual structure of the links for example, if you change the link appearance from short link to destination url, it will prompt you to message the ambassadors when this prompt occurs, you can customize the email template to inform ambassadors of their updated links, as well as safe the smart link changes without notifying ambassadors at any point in time, you can email your ambassadors and include the contact referral link email token which when sent to each ambassador will display their referral link in the email how does the attribution window work for smart links? the attribution window specifies the time frame (e g , 30 days) during which a click on a smart link will attribute conversions to the ambassador this window is configurable per program what are smart link variants and can brands create them for their ambassadors? smart link variants allow ambassadors to create customized links for different products or channels for example, an ambassador might want to promote a specific product on their blog and can create a link variant to that specific product all clicks and orders from the link variant will be displayed in the ambassador's link variant stats alternatively, an ambassador might want to create link variants for each of their social network profiles (e g tiktok vs instagram vs facebook ) this will allow them to compare how each social channel is performing how do ambassadors generate smart link variants for specific products or collections? ambassadors can navigate to the referrals tab in their ambassador portal profile and click the add link variant button to open the dialog to create a new link variant from there, they simply select to create a link variant to a specific url, give the variant a name, and paste in the url of the product or collection they want to promote how do ambassadors create smart link variants for each of their social channels? this works the same as creating link variants for products or collections ambassadors can label variants for different channels (e g , instagram, tiktok) during the creation process, enabling channel specific tracking can brands view and/or manage ambassadors’ smart link variants? brands are not able to see or create link variants for ambassadors at this time, but it's something we have on our roadmap be sure to reach out to your customer success manager if this is something important to your brand how are shareable codes different from leakproof codes when used with smart links? from an ambassador's and a customer's perspective, the two types of smart link discounts are identical a customer click an ambassador's link, a discount code is automatically applied to the customer's shopify order, and the ambassador gets link click attribution for the order from the brand's perspective, the two discount types are quite different shareable codes are still vulnerable to getting leaked, so brands using shareable codes need to keep an eye on code usage if leaked codes are a concern whereas with leakproof codes, there isn't a concern about any individual discount code getting leaked since code can only be used once do you recommend using leakproof codes over shareable codes with smart links? leakproof codes are recommended if your brand is concerned about code misuse however, shareable codes might still be appropriate for brands who have ambassadors who prefer vanity codes for ease of sharing if you use shareable codes, consider using https //www veeper com/product/coupon blocker feature to prevent leaked codes from being added by honey, capital one, and other similar coupon apps and sites can non shopify brands use the customer discount feature of smart links? unfortunately, the customer discount feature of smart links is currently limited to shopify brands reach out to your customer success manager if you are not on shopify but would like the option to add discounts to smart links can brands track the performance and traffic sources of smart links? while it's possible to track link clicks, there are a number of referral link and smart link metrics that brands have requested we're working on adding some additional metrics in the coming months but would love to hear your specific needs reach out to your customer success manager and share with them how you would like to better measure and analyze referral link metrics what types of analytics can we access for smart links? if you have utm parameters added to your smart links, you are able to get a rich set of metrics from your website's analytics platform (e g google analytics) as per the aboe question, we're currently working on adding additional referral link metrics for brands if i move an ambassador into a new program, will they receive a new referral link? it depends on the structure of the programs if both programs use the same referral link structure (e g , both use smart links with short links enabled), the ambassador will keep the same referral link if the new program uses a different link structure (such as moving from legacy referral links to smart links, or changing the link appearance from a short link to a destination url), the ambassador will get a new, program specific referral link smart links are always created on a per program basis, so each program can have a distinct referral link for its participants the ambassador’s previous link will remain active as long as the previous program is still running does changing just the discount attached to a referral link (in a smart link program) affect the ambassador’s referral link? no if your brand is using smart links with short links enabled, changing the customer discount does not affect the appearance of the ambassador’s referral link the link remains the same, and the discount can be updated behind the scenes without requiring ambassadors to update or receive a new link can each program have a unique referral link or landing page? yes each program can have a distinct referral link structure, including a unique destination (redirect) url this allows brands to create program specific landing pages and tracking, further differentiating ambassador links between programs if desired