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URL parameters

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URL Redirects: Intro

SmartInterview uses URL parameters to manage redirects and preserve respondent-level information such as IDs or contextual variables.
They enable key workflows, including participant tracking, personalized interviews, and integrations with third-party research tools.
Note
This article is intended for studies that are manually distributed using your own panel/email/CRM list.
If respondents are recruited directly through SmartInterview panels, URL parameters are handled automatically and do not require manual setup.

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What are URL parameters?

URL parameters are additional pieces of information appended to the end of a URL. Example: “https://example.com/page?id=123&lang=en” includes two URL parameters: “id” (set to “123”) and “lang” (set to “en”). When a user is redirected to a website, these parameters can be read and processed by the destination platform, in this case, SmartInterview, allowing it to adapt behavior, store metadata, or personalize content.

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How URL parameters work in SmartInterview

Incoming Redirects When a respondent opens a smartinterview link that contains URL parameters, all parameters are automatically captured and stored in the response data.
URL parameters
Example https://www.smartinterview.ch/en/83286d1a-27a9-4d9c-877f-c58f8a44b373?user_id=user_1x9d&v1=1 SmartInterview will automatically store:
  • v1=1
  • user_id=user_1x9d
These values are available in:
  • The respondent transcript
  • Response-level metadata (in order to create conditional forms, for example)
  • Redirects back to external tools

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Manually Adding URL Parameters

If you want specific URL parameters to appear as dedicated columns in the Builder table, you can define them manually.
Manually Adding URL Parameters

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Intermediate Redirects

  • At the end of an interview or in the middle, respondents can be redirected to an external URL. Using multiple (here red1 and red2)
Intermediate Redirects
  • In order to do so, design a “Redirection” component in “Layout Type.”
Intermediate Redirects
When you click on “Redirection,” you can choose to redirect to example.com.

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Conditions with URL passed parameters

Once you have defined URL parameters, you are able to use them in “display” conditions per question in order to show/not to show these depending on the value
URL passed parameters

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Preserving Parameters on Redirect

  • When you clicked on “Redirection” you have to choose the redirection and pass the parameters
    • Example:
      • https://example.com/de-CH/survey/96e6fb16-79a3-49db-bece-51ab50b81b20?user_id={{user_id}}&v_1={{v_1}}&a_001={{a_001}}
      • If you want to pass user_id, v_1 and a_001 Preserving Parameters on Redirect

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Outgoing Redirects

  1. With the initial subscription “Essential”. You have to keep the smartinterview logo.
  2. With “Starter” or “Elite” you can choose another logo (yours or another)
Outgoing Redirects
In the Redirect URL field, paste the URL that participants will be redirected to.
Redirect URL field

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Next Steps

You’re now ready to start using URL parameters and redirects in SmartInterview. If you need help setting things up or have advanced questions, reach out to us at info@smartinterview.ai Start your online smartinterview survey with the button below: