Using a custom domain for accessing the BrandChamp portal

A custom portal domain allows your administrators and ambassadors to access the BrandChamp portal using a domain you own rather than using the default [brand].brandchamp.io address, allowing you and your ambassadors to have a fully branded experience. A custom portal domain will also be used in any links sent via emails from the BrandChamp platform when using our email tokens.

Choosing a Domain

The first thing you need to do is choose a domain!

IMPORTANT You need a spare domain. You cannot use a domain that's already in use for another purpose

You have 2 options:

1. Subdomain: Use a subdomain on your existing company domain. For example "ambassadors.yourbrand.com", where "ambassadors" is the subdomain part. You can use whatever subdomain you like as long as it is not already in use for anything else. Please check with your IT department.
2. Dedicated domain: A domain for use solely to access the BrandChamp portal. For example "www.myambassadors.com". If you do not already own a dedicated domain for that, you will need to purchase one using a domain registrar.

Note: Not all domain registrars support mapping a dedicated domain without the "www." part, such as "myambassadors.com", to another website like BrandChamp. For example, it is not possible with GoDaddy domains. For these cases, you will need to include the "www." subdomain, such as "www.myambassadors.com", and follow the subdomain process here.

Configuring DNS For Your Chosen Domain

Once you have chosen a domain, you must add DNS records in your own domain hosting provider before you can access the BrandChamp portal with it.

If you are using a subdomain

For example "ambassadors.yourbrand.com"

You will need to add a CNAME type DNS record with:

• Host value equal to the subdomain you are using (For example "ambassadors", if using "ambassadors.yourbrand.com")
• A value of "proxy.brandchamp.io"

If you are using a root domain

For example "myambassadors.com". Note: there is only one period (".") in a root domain. If you want to set up www.myambassadors.com, use the example above with "www" as the subdomain.

You will need to add a  CNAME type DNS record with:

• Host value equal to "@". This is a special value used to indicate the root of a domain.
• A value of "proxy.brandchamp.io"

How do I add DNS records?

Each hosting provider is a little different, so you will need to consult their documentation.

Here are some links for common hosting providers:

• Amazon Web Services
• Bluehost
• DreamHost
• GoDaddy
• Google Domain
• HostGator
• Namecheap

Add Domain To Your BrandChamp Account

Once you have chosen your domain and added the DNS CNAME record, go to the Settings area in your BrandChamp admin portal, and go to the Domains section:

Enter your chosen domain in the "Custom Portal Domain" field and click Add. If your DNS record has been set up correctly, and the change has had enough time to update everywhere, you will see a "valid" label beside the DNS Status:

As soon as the DNS record for your domain has validated for the first time, you can access the BrandChamp portal using that domain and the BrandChamp system will use that domain when filling in the values for URL-based email tokens. For example in the default Applicant Accepted email, we will now use your custom domain to link people to the portal rather than the [brand].brandchamp.io one.

If there are any errors validating your domain, they will be displayed below. Feel free to reach out to support@brandchamp.io if you have any trouble.