Jun 16

Custom Subdomains

Custom Subdomain / CNAME Support for Hosted Event Pages and Attendee LinksWe run industry-facing events where trust, brand consistency, and link recognition are important. Many attendees are senior email, deliverability, SaaS, CRM, and platform professionals. A branded URL helps make the registration and viewing journey feel official, trustworthy, and consistent with our broader event and membership ecosystem.This is especially important when links appear in email. Our audience is naturally cautious about unknown domains, redirects, tracking links, and webinar links from third-party platforms. A custom branded domain would make the attendee experience cleaner and more credible.It would also help with campaign consistency across our website, email newsletters, LinkedIn posts, partner promotions, calendar invites, and post-event replay communications.Core use caseWe want to use HeyStream as the hosted webinar / broadcast platform while presenting the public attendee experience under our own domain.A typical event flow might be:We promote an upcoming broadcast from our website, newsletter, LinkedIn, or partner channels.The visitor clicks through to a HeyStream-hosted registration page.The URL they see should be on our branded subdomain.After registration, all confirmation and reminder links should continue to use the same branded subdomain.Calendar invite links should also point to the branded domain wherever possible.The live watch page and replay page should ideally also use the branded subdomain.Any post-registration or replay access links should preserve the same branded domain experience.Pages and link surfaces that should support the custom subdomainIdeally, custom domain support would cover the full public attendee journey, including:1. Hosted landing / registration pagesThe main hosted registration page for a broadcast or series should be available on the custom subdomain.Example:events.emailexpert.com/broadcast-nameorevents.emailexpert.co… is the most important requirement.2. Registration form / registration flowIf the registration form opens as part of the hosted page, modal, embedded flow, or separate registration route, that flow should remain under the branded subdomain.The attendee should not start on our branded domain and then be moved visibly to a HeyStream domain during registration.3. Confirmation pageAfter someone registers, if they remain on the HeyStream-hosted confirmation view, that confirmation page should also use the branded subdomain.If a custom confirmation URL is configured, that existing feature is useful, but it does not fully replace custom domain support because many event flows will still use HeyStream’s default confirmation experience, including add-to-calendar links and event access information.4. Add-to-calendar linksCalendar links generated after registration should ideally reference the branded event URL in the calendar description or location field.For example, if the calendar invite includes “Join event” or “View event” links, those should use:events.emailexpert.com/...rather than a default HeyStream URL.5. Confirmation emailsAll links in attendee confirmation emails should use the branded custom subdomain where possible, including:View eventJoin eventManage registrationAdd to calendarRegistration confirmationAny magic-link or attendee access link6. Reminder emailsReminder emails sent before the broadcast should also use the branded custom subdomain for all attendee-facing links.This matters because reminder emails are often where people actually click to attend. The link should look like part of the event brand.7. Replay emailsPost-event replay links should use the custom subdomain as well.For example:events.emailexpert.com/replay/broadcast-nameor an equivalent HeyStream route under the mapped domain.8. Hosted watch pageIf HeyStream hosts the live attendee watch page, that page should ideally be available on the custom subdomain.The live joining experience is one of the most visible attendee touchpoints, so keeping this branded is important.9. Replay watch pageIf replay access is hosted by HeyStream, replay pages should also support the custom subdomain.10. Series pagesIf a broadcast belongs to a recurring series, the series-level registration page and individual broadcast pages should both support the mapped custom domain.11. Speaker / presenter invite links, if applicableThis is less important than attendee-facing links, but it would be useful to understand whether presenter/studio invite links are in scope.At minimum, attendee-facing links are the priority.Preferred configuration modelA workspace-level custom domain would be ideal.For example:Workspace: EmailexpertCustom domain: events.emailexpert.comDNS: CNAME record pointing to HeyStreamHeyStream handles SSL / TLS provisioning automaticallyOnce configured, each broadcast, series, registration page, watch page, replay page, and attendee email generated from that workspace would use the custom domain by default.It would also be helpful to have the option to choose the default domain per workspace, and possibly override it per broadcast or series later if needed.DNS / setup expectationsA simple setup flow would be ideal:User enters desired subdomain in HeyStream, e.g. events.emailexpert.com.HeyStream provides a CNAME target.User adds the CNAME record at their DNS provider.HeyStream verifies the DNS record.HeyStream provisions SSL automatically.HeyStream shows the domain as active.Future public links generated by the workspace use the custom domain.Important behaviourOnce a custom domain is active, the branded subdomain should be used consistently wherever an attendee sees or clicks a public event link.Important expected behaviours:Existing default HeyStream URLs should continue to work.Branded custom-domain URLs should resolve to the same event pages.Email templates should automatically use the custom domain.Calendar invites should use the custom domain in visible event links.Replay links should use the custom domain.Registration and watch links copied from the dashboard should use the custom domain once enabled.Analytics and attribution should continue to work normally.UTM parameters should be preserved.Existing custom confirmation URL functionality should continue to work.If the custom domain is removed or DNS breaks, there should be a safe fallback to the default HeyStream domain.Example attendee journeyA user receives a newsletter from Emailexpert promoting a broadcast.They click:events.emailexpert.com/future-of-email-deliverabilityThey register on that page.They receive a confirmation email where the “View event” and “Add to calendar” links also use events.emailexpert.com.On the day of the event, they receive a reminder email with a join link on the same domain.After the event, they receive a replay email linking back to a replay page on the same domain.At no point in the standard attendee journey do they need to see or trust an unfamiliar HeyStream-hosted URL.Acceptance criteriaA first version would be very useful if it supported:One custom subdomain per workspaceCNAME-based setupAutomatic SSLHosted registration pages on the custom domainConfirmation and reminder email links using the custom domainCalendar invite event links using the custom domainHosted watch page links using the custom domainReplay links using the custom domainDefault HeyStream URLs remaining functional as fallbackUTM and tracking parameters preservedClear setup and verification status in the workspace settingsA later version could add:Per-series or per-broadcast domain selectionCustom path structuresAPI / webhook awareness of the custom-domain URLSupport for separate domains for registration pages, watch pages, and replaysPriorityThe highest priority is the hosted landing / registration page and the links attendees receive in emails and calendar invites.For our use case, a custom domain only on the landing page would be helpful, but incomplete if reminder, calendar, join, and replay links still point to the default HeyStream domain.The ideal outcome is a consistent branded attendee journey from first click through registration, reminder, live attendance, and replay.

Planned