How To Host Your Referral Program On Your Own Domain (Add Your Own Domain)

Inspire consumer trust and brand recognition by hosting your referral program on your own web domain URL. Learn how to connect your domain to Referral Factory and configure your DNS records.

πŸ“Œ This feature is available on the following Referral Factory plans:

Pro, Enterprise

 

 

In this guide πŸ‘‡

1. Getting Started

2. Add Your Own Domain In Referral Factory

3. Configure Your DNS Records

4. Examples of Common DNS Settings For Different Providers 

4.1. DNS Settings for CloudFlare

4.2. DNS Settings for NameCheap

4.3. DNS Settings for cPanel

4.4. DNS Settings for Google Domains

5. Configure Your Domain Holding Page


 

1. Getting Started

 

πŸ“Œ What You Need:

To connect your domain, you will need to update your DNS records. Ensure you have login details for your DNS provider and access to the DNS records.

 

By default, your referral program is hosted on a subdomain of referral-factory.com.  These domain settings affect your campaign join link as well as your users' unique referral links. 

Here's an example of a campaign join link showing the subdomain "example" and the domain "referral-factory.com" πŸ‘‡

Screenshot of a referral program join link showing the domain and subdomain

And here is an example of a user's referral link πŸ‘‡

Although not necessary to launch your referral program, hosting it on your own domain offers several advantages. One of the main benefits is that it provides brand consistency by removing referral-factory.com from the URL. This allows you to white-label your referral program and maintain a cohesive brand experience for your users. It also means your competitors won't know you're using our referral software 🀫


     

    2. Add Your Own Domain In Referral Factory

     

    There are 2 methods to add your own domain in Referral Factory.

     

    Method 1: From the Campaign Builder

     

    β†’ From the Campaigns tab, select Edit Campaign.

     

    β†’ Navigate to the Settings section.

    β†’ Toggle on Add Your Own Domain

    β†’ Enter your domain with a subdomain. For example: referrals.website.com

    β†’ Click Save.

     

    Method 2: From the Settings Tab

     

    β†’ From the Settings Tab, select Emails and Domains.

     

    β†’ Enter your domain with a subdomain. For example: referrals.website.com

    β†’ Click Save.

     

    πŸ’‘ Are you running multiple campaigns? Once you've set up your own domain, you have the option to create a Domain Holding Page! Click here to jump to that section πŸ‘‡


     

    3. Configure Your DNS Records

     

    For the next step of the process, you'll need to log in to your DNS provider to access your DNS records. If you don't have access or are unsure how to do this, reach out to your IT team or contact your DNS provider directly.

     

    β†’ Log into the hosting platform you use to host your website/domain.

    β†’ Go to the domain settings of the custom domain you have added to your Referral Factory account.

    β†’ Find and click on the Manage button, and from there you should be able to navigate to your DNS settings (this could be called DNS Settings or Manage DNS).

    β†’ In the DNS Manager section, look for the CNAME (Alias) records, then click Add Record.

    β†’ Fill in the form fields with the following values:

    • Type = CNAME
    • Host Record =  The subdomain you want to publish your campaigns to - this will be a subdomain on your own website. For example: if your custom domain added in Referral Factory is referrals.website.com, the Host Record value must be referrals).
    • Points To or Will Redirect To value = redirect.referral-factory.com
    • TTL can be left as-is or set to a default of 4 hours, or 14400 seconds.
    β†’ Click Save to add the record.

     

    Here is an example of what you will see πŸ‘‡

    set_referral_campaign_on_your_own_domain

    ❗️ Please note that a change to a DNS record can take up to 72 hours to propagate worldwide, although it typically takes a few hours.

     

    Once you have edited the DNS settings, it will take up to 48 hours for your new domain to be enabled on Referral Factory. If you would like to speed up the process, please send our support team an email, letting them know you have added your own domain to your subscription and updated the DNS settings. One of our referral program software support agents will be in touch with you to help you get set up and check if everything has been set up correctly. 


     

    4. Examples of DNS Settings For Different Providers

     

    There are many domain hosting providers and all of them have their own user experience and setup. Below are some of the most common providers with examples of what the DNS settings should be for each. 

     

    4.1. DNS Settings for CloudFlare

     

    πŸ”— Read about how to configure DNS records on Cloudflare in their knowledge base.

    • Type = CNAME
    • Name = The subdomain you want to publish your campaigns to - this will be a subdomain on your own website. For example: if your custom domain added in Referral Factory is referrals.website.com, the Host Record value must be referrals).
    • Target = redirect.referral-factory.com
    • TTL = Auto 

    ❗️ Make sure the Proxy Status to off β€œDNS Only” otherwise Cloudflare will attempt to redirect it incorrectly. 

     

    4.2. DNS Settings for NameCheap

     

    πŸ”— Read about how to configure DNS records on NameCheap in their knowledge base.

    • Type = CNAME
    • Name = The subdomain you want to publish your campaigns to - this will be a subdomain on your own website. For example: if your custom domain added in Referral Factory is referrals.website.com, the Host Record value must be referrals).
    • Value = redirect.referral-factory.com
    • TTL = Auto 

     

    4.3. DNS Settings for cPanel

     

    πŸ”— Read about how to configure DNS records on cPanel in their knowledge base.

     
    • Type = CNAME
    • Name = The subdomain you want to publish your campaigns to - this will be a subdomain on your own website. For example: if your custom domain added in Referral Factory is referrals.website.com, the Host Record value must be referrals).
    • TTL = Auto 
    • CNAME = redirect.referral-factory.com

     

    4.4. DNS Settings for Google Domains

     

    πŸ”— Read about how to configure DNS records on Google Domains in their knowledge base.

    • Type = CNAME
    • Host Name = The subdomain you want to publish your campaigns to - this will be a subdomain on your own website. For example: if your custom domain added in Referral Factory is referrals.website.com, the Host Record value must be referrals).
    • Data = redirect.referral-factory.com
    • TTL = 3600


     

    5. Configure Your Domain Holding Page

     

    Once you've set up your own domain, you will notice that your campaign join link and all of your users' referral links will follow this format:

    subdomain.yourdomain.com/uniquecode

    For example:

    referrals.website.com/8H7gf9

    Everything before the unique code is your "domain holding page" and since different customer have different use cases, you have some choices about how Referral Factory should treat this page:

    Option 1: If you are only running 1 referral campaign, you can choose to show only 1 campaign on your domain holding page. This means that when someone visits your domain holding page, they will automatically be redirected to your campaign join link

    Option 2: If you are running multiple referral campaigns, you can choose to show multiple campaigns on your holding page. If you select this option, your holding page will list the campaigns you choose to display and you will be able to edit the design of your page. 

    Option 3: You can also choose to simply redirect your domain holding page to your main website. 

     

    Option 1: How To Configure Your Holding Page to Redirect to Your Campaign Join Link

     

    β†’ Navigate to the Settings tab and select Emails and Domains from the top navigation bar. 

    β†’ Select Show one campaign on your domain. This option does not allow you to have multiple campaigns hosted on your holding page.

    β†’ Use the dropdown list to choose the campaign you want your domain holding page to redirect to.

    β†’ Click Save.

     

     

    Option 2: How To Show Multiple Campaigns On Your Holding Page

    β†’ Navigate to the Settings tab and select Emails and Domains from the top navigation bar. 

    β†’ Select Show many campaigns on your domain, this option allows you to have multiple campaigns hosted on your holding page.

    β†’ Use the dropdown list to choose the campaigns you want your domain holding page to redirect to. Note that you need to select these one at a time.

    β†’ Click Edit Design to open the design modal. Here you can add your logo, change your colors and fonts and add a description.

    β†’ Click Save.

     

    Option 3: How To Redirect Your Domain Holding Page To Your Main Domain

     

    β†’ Navigate to the Settings tab and select Emails and Domains from the top navigation bar. 

    β†’ Select When a user lands on your holding page, they should be redirected to your main domain.

    β†’ Click Save.

     

     

     

    Referral Factory was voted the #1 software for referral marketing to use in 2023, by Influencer Marketing Hub. Marketers across the globe use Referral Factory to build, launch, and run powerful referral programs at scale. If you want to get referrals and grow your business then you've come to the right place ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️