Branded Links
Branded Links in Smartico.ai CRM System
Smartico CRM lets you to use branded links allowing you to customize the domain used for tracking links in the emails sent through our CRM system. Instead of using our default tracking domain, you can replace it with your own custom domain with subdomain (CNAME). This enhances brand consistency, improves email deliverability, and allows for better alignment with your brand's identity.
Benefits of Using Branded Links
Brand Consistency: Maintain a professional appearance by ensuring all tracking links reflect your brand's domain.
Improved Deliverability: Aligning tracking links with your domain reduces the risk of your emails being flagged as spam.
Reputation Control: By using your own domain, you protect your brand’s reputation, isolating it from any issues that could arise from shared domains.
How to Set Up Branded Links
Follow these steps to set up and configure Branded Links:
Choose if you would like to configure domain per Brand or Label:
It's essential to make the choice if you manage multilple brands with Smartico, if each brand will have it's own domain or you will use same domain for all brands.
Configure CNAME sub domain record
Log in to your domain registrar’s control panel and add the CNAME records.
We support only the following names for subdomain (CNAME)
click.yourdomain.com
email.yourdomain.com
CNAME values for production
ENV-2 - paras-1656398261.eu-west-1.elb.amazonaws.com
An additional option for a CNAME subdomain record: 'eu-b'.
ENV-3 - env3-channel-765730091.eu-central-1.elb.amazonaws.com
An additional option for a CNAME subdomain record: 'eu-c'.
ENV-4 - prod4-channel-1612906600.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com
An additional option for a CNAME subdomain record: 'us-d'.
ENV-5 - prod5-channel-1797681357.us-east-2.elb.amazonaws.com
An additional option for a CNAME subdomain record: 'us-e'.
ENV-6 - prod6-channel-1018282000.eu-west-1.elb.amazonaws.com
An additional option for a CNAME subdomain record: 'eu-f'.
Set Up Your Custom Domain:
Very your configurations using this tool: https://www.whatsmydns.net/#CNAME/ and make sure that the CNAME values are what you have expected
Once CNAME records are created, contact your Customer Success Manager to make verification and confirm the setup in the system.
Best Practices for Branded Links
Maintain a Positive Domain Reputation: Ensure that your domain is not blacklisted to maintain high deliverability rates.
Monitor Link Performance: Regularly check the performance of your branded links to ensure they are functioning correctly and analyze their impact on your email campaigns.
If you encounter any issues setting up Branded Links or have any questions, please contact your Success Manager for assistance.
Add a Custom SSL Configuration
To add a custom SSL configuration:
Prepare a proxy server that will receive all inbound traffic at your link branded domain and forward it to a respectful server depending on your setup location (don't forget to include all request parameters)
prod2: https://eu-b.smarticoaimail.com
prod3: https://eu-c.smarticoaimail.com
prod4: https://us-d.smarticoaimail.com
prod5: https://us-e.smarticoaimail.com
prod6: https://eu-f.smarticoaimail.com
You can set up a proxy with services and tools such as NGINX , Amazon API Gateway , and others.
Configure the proxy to use HTTP or HTTPS.
For HTTPS, you must provide your proxy with a valid SSL certificate for your link branded domain.
Point the CNAME record at your hosting provider to your proxy. For example, CNAME click.example.com proxy.example.com
SMS Short Branded Links
SMS short trackable links can follow the same principles as email branded links, with one key limitation: a CNAME record cannot be configured on the root domain (also known as the apex domain or zone apex, e.g., trk.ly). According to DNS standards, a root domain cannot have a CNAME record.
However, some DNS providers, particularly cloud services like AWS Route 53, offer proprietary solutions such as ALIAS records or ANAME records that allow you to point the root domain to another domain name without violating DNS rules:
AWS Route 53 supports ALIAS records, which function similarly to CNAMEs but are allowed at the root domain.
Cloudflare provides CNAME flattening, which lets you point the root domain to another domain without using a CNAME.
Other DNS providers may offer similar solutions, such as ANAME records.
Given these constraints, we can use a subdomain (e.g., a.trk.ly) with a CNAME record pointing to the same domain used for emails. The final tracked link would look like: http://a.trk.ly/iuuhd3.
For HTTPS/SSL usage, a similar approach as with email domains should be taken. Ensure that the root domain’s A record points to your proxy SSL server to handle SSL certificates properly.
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