Custom domains can allow the organizer of the event to brand their event experience by customizing the URL that attendees will see when accessing the event.
What are Custom Domains (aka Custom URLs)?
Custom domains give flexibility to organizers to enable them to express their brand identity with the URL of their event website and event page
With a custom domain you can share a branded URL with your audience for example https://mybigevent.mycompany.com or https://live.hybridworking2022.com
The pages that can use the company domain are:
- Event page (inside the event)
- Canvas pages
How many Custom Domains can you have?
Customers on Advanced plans will have access to up to 10 custom domains per contract, however these may need to be purchased separately.
You can only use one custom domain at a time, per event. You will be able to reuse custom domains for different events, as long as you delete it from their previous event, as there can only be one custom domain in use at a time.
How to setup your Custom Domains
Follow this step-by-step guide on how to set up your custom domains so that your attendees can access your event using your customized URL. Select a tab to complete the DNS setup, as well as what you have to do within your Hopin Event Dashboard.
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Event Experience
Create a CNAME record for your custom domain and point it to proxy-ssl.hopin.com.
Usually this will be a sub domain of your actual domain, for example https://live.myevent.com (where “live” is the sub domain you would like to use for the event experience).Note: In some cases you may be able to use your root domain without a sub domain if desired, but this is dependent on your domain hosting provider. DNS specifications do not strictly support pointing a root domain to a named URL which is required here.Canvas Registration Page
Create another CNAME record for the registration page and point it to proxy-ssl.hopin.com. For example https://tickets.myevent.com
Note: This is optional if you are not using a Hopin Registration page for your event, however we do not support a custom domain URL with the Hopin Classic Registration page.Contact your Hopin Customer Success Manager
Once the Organizer has completed Step 1, and optionally Step 2, please inform the Organization's Hopin contact.
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To complete your custom domain setup on Hopin, visit your Event Dashboard > Advanced > Custom Event URL. You will need to enter the CNAME record(s) you previously pointed at the Hopin proxy so that we can provision SSL certificates from DigiCert after you click Save.
Note: If the Organizer has a Certification Authority Authorization (CAA) record, ensure digicert.com is listed in the record so the SSL certificate(s) can be provisioned or renewed. Currently Hopin does not support pre-provisioned SSL certificates.Enter the information shown below to finish setting up your Custom URLs.
Click Save to save the current custom domain configuration. This will automatically set up the DNS record on Hopin.
If everything has been setup correctly and verified by Hopin, the status indicators (the "hostname status" and "SSL status") for both the Domain and the Canvas Domain will turn green. This may take a few minutes.
Once they are green and you are ready for your event pages to be live, you can toggle the Active Domain to "on" to activate the domain. This toggle will enable the branded URL for users so anyone can access it publicly. However, the checkbox should not be activated until the Event Domain and Domain status indicators are green to prevent a broken attendee experience.
Finally, you can add a Custom Favicon (Optional). You can upload a custom favicon related to this event. The favicon will be displayed when accessing the event and, if enabled, on the Hopin Canvas Registration page.
- File format: .ico
- Image sizes: up to 64x64 pixels
- File size: Less than 150 kB
How to delete your Custom URL
If you would like to delete the custom domain configuration and associated DNS and SSL configuration data on Hopin simply click the Delete button. The Organizer will need to modify/delete the DNS entries they made in Steps 1 and 2 during the DNS configuration.
Is there any difference in the event experience in a white-labeled event?
Yes, there are a few differences that you will experience to help maintain continuity of your brand throughout the event experience:
- My Account is removed from the top-right menu
- Add to calendar: the link for the event that is pre-filled in the calendar event description is also white-labelled
- Hopin logo (top-left): Clicking on the Hopin logo usually redirects the user to hopin.com, however this click will be disabled, so nothing happens
- After logging out, we redirect the user to the organiser website, or to the Canvas registration page, as long as this has been filled out and set up on your Organization's profile settings.
- At the end of the event, the attendee will be prompted to fill in a post-event survey. After which, the attendee will be redirected to the organisers website or to the Canvas registration page, if it has been set up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Are the magic-links for a white-labelled event branded with the custom domain?
R: Yes, as long as they are sent after setting up the custom domain. If they are sent before, when the custom domain is set up we will redirect the magic-link to the branded URL. But the magic-link in the sent email won't be branded.
Q: Does the client need to have Canvas?
R: No, but we do recommend. Although you do not need to use Canvas to have a white-labelled event, you will need to use Canvas if you would like a custom-domained registration page.
Q: Do custom domains support SSO events?
R: Yes, it does! After signing on through SSO, the attendee will be taken to the Canvas registration page.
Q: Will emails be white-labelled?
Emails are not yet supported therefore they will still be sent from the noreply@hopin.com.
Q: Do we support vendor magic-links for white-labelled events?
R: At this time, no, we do not. Unfortunately, any organizer using a Custom Domain for their event will have to set up their Expo Booths themselves and are unable to give Exhibitors access to their booths beforehand. This is due to the nature of the links sent in the Exhibitor access emails.