Configure a Vanity URL for Sprinklr or Custom/Branded Subdomain

Updated 

A vanity URL is a unique web address that is branded for marketing purposes. It is easy to remember, share and can be used for publishing. 

Sprinklr supports two types of vanity URLs: Sprinklr Vanity URLs and third-party Vanity URLs which can be created with the pro domain of a URL shortener. 

Importance

  • Branded vanity URL helps to make it easier for visitors to remember and access your site and improve your brand recognition.  

  • It ensures that your website is secure and trustworthy for your visitors.  

  • An SSL certificate encrypts data between a visitor's browser and your website, protecting sensitive information such as secured credentials from being intercepted by hackers.  

  •  Search engines tend to favor secure websites, so having an SSL certificate can also help to improve your site's search engine ranking.  

Process of Vanity URL Set Up

  • Vanity URL setup is the process of creating a custom URL for your website that reflects your brand or business name. 

  • It involves purchasing a domain name and setting up a redirect from that domain to your website's main URL. 

  • There are various ways to obtain an SSL certificate, including through a Certificate Authority (CA) or through Amazon Certificate Manager (ACM) if you are using AWS.  

  • Once the certificate is obtained, it needs to be installed on your web server and configure the vanity URL to use HTTPS. 

Setting Up Vanity URL for the Advocacy Site 

What are the possible options? 

  • Customer prefers to use a Sprinklr subdomain (for example, {brand-name}-advocacy.sprinklr.com) 

  • Customer prefers to use a Custom/Branded subdomain (for example, {advocacy-program}.{brand-name}.com).  

    There are couple of ways to obtain an SSL certificate for Custom/Branded subdomain

    • Through Certificate Authority (CA)  

      • Certificates are paid  

      • Needs to be auto renewed on expiration. (Every year) 

    • Through Amazon Certificate Manager (ACM) (ONLY IF customer is on AWS environment)  

      • ACM certificates are free  

      • Automatically renews on expiration 

Note: Wherever possible we should go via ACM route, so that Sprinklr doesn't have to worry about the certificate renewal at all.

Vanity URL Setup for Sprinklr Subdomain 

This is a very straightforward setup which just involves 2 steps to get the vanity URL configuration up and running. 

Step 1: Confirm the subdomain with the customer. i.e. {subdomain}.sprinklr.com 

Step 2: Raise an ITOPS ticket to setup cloud-front + CNAME using the subdomain provided. 

Vanity URL Setup for Custom/Branded Subdomain (Through CA) 

Step 1: Gather CSR Requirements | Client  

Sprinklr Shares requirements with the customer to generate a CSR (Certificate Signing Request).  

Requirements: 

  • Country 

  • State 

  • City 

  • Company Name 

  • Department 

  • Domain Name 

  • Contact Name 

  • Contact Email 

Note: A Certificate Signing Request (CSR) is a message that is sent to a Certificate Authority (CA) to request a digital SSL/TLS certificate for a website.

Step 2: Generate CSR | Sprinklr 

Client confirms domain and shares the requirements for CSR. Post which, Sprinklr generates the signing request. 

Note: An ITOPS ticket needs to be raised with the requirement received from the client. ITOPS team will generate a CSR which needs to be shared with the client.

Step 3: Create CERTs from CSR | Client 

With the CSR shared by Sprinklr, Client will be able to create the CERT (in Apache / .Pem formats) for the vanity URL 

Note: This needs to be deferred to client's IT team. They need to generate the Server, Intermediate and CA Certificates.

Step 4: Apply CERT | Sprinklr 

Sprinklr applies the Server, Intermediate and CA Certificates shared by the Client using the CSR. 

Note: An ITOPS ticket needs to be raised with the certificates received from the client.

Step 5: Create CNAME | Sprinklr 

Sprinklr to create a CNAME record and set up cloud-front using the branded subdomain 

Note: An ITOPS ticket needs to be raised for setting up cloud-front and CNAME for provided vanity URL. 

Step 6: Point site domain to CNAME | Client 

After completion of the CERT process to secure the vanity URL, client needs to point it to the CNAME record created by Sprinklr. 

Note: This needs to be deferred to client's IT team. They can update their DNS mapping to point the branded subdomain to the Sprinklr CNAME record.

Vanity URL Setup for Custom/Branded subdomain (Through ACM) 

Step 1: Request for CERT in ACM | Sprinklr 

Sprinklr requests for the Certificate in Amazon Certificate Manager with the details of branded subdomain. 

Note: An ITOPS ticket needs to be raised with the branded subdomain name for which ACM Certificate needs to be set up.

Step 2: Generate CNAME record | Sprinklr 

Sprinklr generates the ACM Certificate and CNAME record in Amazon Certificate Manager for the requested branded subdomain. 

Note: Once the CNAME record is generated, it needs to be passed to client's IT team for DNS setup.

Step 3: Create DNS Record | Client 

Client creates a DNS record for the branded subdomain and points it to CNAME record generated by Sprinklr. 

Note: This needs to be deferred to client's IT team. They can update create a DNS record for the vanity URL and point it to the CNAME record created by Sprinklr. 

Step 3: Apply CERT with CDN | Sprinklr 

Once the DNS record is been successfully created by the client, Sprinklr can set up cloud-front and apply the ACM certificate generated earlier. 

Note: An ITOPS ticket needs to be raised for setting up cloud-front and applying ACM Certificate.

After Vanity URL Is Set Up

Once the Vanity URL Setup is completed using either Sprinklr subdomain or Branded subdomain, below mandatory steps needs to be completed. 

Support ticket needs to be raised for:  

Step 1: Update the Public Site URL in Project collection with the new vanity URL. 

Step 2: Update permalinks of all the posts already published on the Advocacy site to maintain consistency across post permalinks. 

Note: Above steps are also mandatory to be performed when a client updates the vanity URL in the future.