How to create and use Magic Links

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How magic links work

When clicked, a magic link will automatically sign up the attendee for a specific event if they already have a RingCentral Events account affiliated with their email address. If a user does not have an existing RingCentral Events account affiliated with their email address, the magic link creates a RingCentral Events account for an attendee and, once clicked, registers the attendee for a specific event. No two magic link are the same; each is unique for every attendee at every event.

Note: It is recommended that event organizers don't register for the event via magic link and instead access the event by previewing it from the Event Dashboard. If they access an event via a magic link, a new registration will override their previously created Organizer Pass and all related data, such as created polls, messages, and scheduled meetings.

Using the magic link system

Note: An event must be published before you can register attendees with magic link. Use ticket types to manage which attendees can access/view select Stages, access/view select Sessions and meet select attendee groups in Networking.

With an external registration system:

1. Organizer creates applicable ticket types in their RingCentral event under Tickets on the Event Dashboard.

2. Attendees get their tickets on an external registration site (such as Marketo, Hubspot, Salesforce, etc.)

3. Organizer brings registrants from the external registration site into RingCentral Events manually or via one of our integrations available on the RingCentral Events App Store.  

Uploading registrants

To upload registrants manually, follow the steps below:

1. Export your list of registrants from the external registration site.

2. Split your registrants into separate CSV files (one CSV file per Ticket Type).

Tip: To ensure a smooth file upload, consider limiting your list of registrants to 5000 per file.

3. Download the Magic Link Sample CSV file from RingCentral Events to ensure you have the correct format for the CSV file.

Note: A header row is mandatory in each CSV file you upload. Header rows are case sensitive must be formatted exactly like this: Email, FirstName, LastName, Headline. There is no space between FirstName or LastName. Do not leave any rows or cells blank in your CSV upload.

4. Choose how you want attendees to receive their Magic Links from RingCentral Events in the Manage Invitations tab.

How to avoid errors when uploading CSV files

Before uploading your CSV file, we recommend using a program like VS Code, Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on Mac, or any text editor on your computer to look for possible formatting errors before uploading it. This will help you find mistakes you will not easily find when viewed in tabular form.

Here is how the CSV file will look when viewed in an advanced spreadsheet editor like Excel, Numbers, Google Sheets, etc., please note the coma delimiters are not shown:

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When opened in Notepad on Windows, or TextEdit on Mac the same CSV file looks like below, please note the coma delimiters are displayed making it easier to spot any formatting error:

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  • Always download the template (recommended) to ensure it's the most updated version of the CSV file with correct columns
  • Ensure your CSV file has only one tab or "sheet"
  • Do not have filters applied in your CSV file
  • Upload a CSV, not XLS or XLSX
  • Ensure your CSV is exported as comma-separated values, not semicolon-separated values
  • Ensure your column headers are correct: Email, FirstName, LastName, Headline (case-sensitive)
  • Please try to keep the nomenclature of the CSV file name as simple as possible and do not leave spaces in the name of the CSV file or have any unique symbols
  • It is recommended to upload your file manually and select "Choose File" to find the correct CSV file.
  • Be sure the text encoding for the CSV file is set as Unicode (UTF-8), if this is set to anything else you may experience issues displaying special characters. 

Inviting single, multiple or all registrants

Click the checkbox at the header of the invited user list to select all attendees that have been uploaded. Click the Send Invite button and every person uploaded will receive a unique email with a personal link to accept the invite and register for the event. You can also single-select registrants by clicking the checkbox next to the registrant to send invitations to specific registrants. Guests must click the link within the invite email to be automatically logged into their RingCentral Events account and access the event directly after verification, more on this below.

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Invitation Status for imported attendees will first display Not yet invited until an organizer selects Send Invite.

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Once invites have been sent, the Invitation Status will be updated to Invited.

To re-send Magic Link Invite emails to an attendee, simply single-select an attendee by clicking their respective checkbox and click Send Invite. You can also bulk select multiple attendees or select all attendees once again and click Send Invite. You can re-send Magic Links to attendees who have yet accepted their Magic Link Invite as well as attendees who have already accepted their Magic Link Invite.

Note: Declined invites cannot be resent as users will have unsubscribed from all the event emails as well as declined to register.

Inviting a single registrant

Click the Single Invite tab and input the registrant's details (i.e. Email, First Name, Last Name & Headline) and you will be able to send a Magic Link Invite email to a single registrant directly. You will have the option to send a test email first, and once you are satisfied with the email, you can send the invitation directly from this page.

Note: If you want to change the Magic Link Invites email template (available on select plans), this can be done via the Event Dashboard > Email > Customize Emails page.

What happens when the user clicks the Magic Link?

The Magic Link will act as an "access pass" into the event, it will bypass the need for attendees to log-in to RingCentral Events by bringing them directly into their RingCentral Events account and into the event.

If you've already registered for a RingCentral event before, they will receive an email prompting them to Login & Join Event. If they do not already have a RingCentral Events account, they will receive an email to Verify Registration to proceed.

Once an attendee has accepted the Magic Link invite, the Invitation Status in the Event Dashboard > People > Magic Link > Manage Invitations page will be updated to Registered.

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To learn more on how the process looks like from an end user perspective please see How to use Magic Links as an Attendee, Speaker, or Moderator.

Note: Attendees will appear as registered only after accepting their invite from the email. Also note that attendees can also decline an invite and they will appear as Declined. If the invited registrant selects "Decline invitation and remove my data from RingCentral Events" after clicking on the Magic Link, all the data associated with the user will be removed from RingCentral Events. You won't longer see this invited listed in the Event Dashboard > People > Magic links > Manage Invitations page.

 

Managing invitations

In Event Dashboard > People > Magic Link > Manage Invitations tab you will also be able to manage invites. For example, by selecting an invitee, you can:

  • Send Invite (send a new invite in case it's needed)
  • Cancel Invite (to remove the invite)
  • Edit the invitee details with the pencil button on the right (in case they have changed such as their email address)
Note: You cannot edit an invitee once they have registered to your event. 

Copying and resending the Magic Links

You can resend the Magic Link invite email from the Event Dashboard > People > Magic Links > Manage invitations tab. You will need to select your Magic Link recipient(s) or all at once using the checkboxes. Then click Send Invites. This option can be used to send reminders to the recipients who haven't accepted the invites yet. 

Once the invite has been accepted, the order confirmation email or the magic link invite can be resent from the Event Dashboard > People > Registrants page. You will need to locate the attendee on the list, open the actions menu from the ••• and click Send Event Link

Note: The default Order Confirmation and the Magic Link Invite emails contain magic links. If you have customized your emails, make sure the liquid tags to generate unique magic links are still in place. This way, attendees will be able to sign in and access the event with a click. 

The magic link can be also copied and sent to the attendee manually. Go to the Event Dashboard > People > Registrants page, locate the attendee on the list and click Copy link in the Magic Link column. The link will be copied to your clipboard so you can paste it into your message or email. 

Tip. This option is especially useful for cases when RingCentral Events emails are filtered out by security layers and firewalls installed by the attendee's organization and they don't have time to reach out to their IT team to whitelist no-reply@events.ringcentral.com.

 

Downloading Magic Links

To download a list of Magic Links invite, navigate to your Event Dashboard > People > Magic Links page and in the Manage Invitations tab, select your Magic Link recipients in groups or all at once using the checkboxes. Then click Download Magic Link Invites to generate and download the report. The report includes the following fields:

  • URL: the magic link
  • Email: the email of the recipient
  • First Name: the first name of the recipient
  • Last Name: the surname of the recipient
  • Headline: the headline of the recipient
  • Ticket name: the name of the ticket purchased
  • Used: If the magic link has been already used

Magic links are also included in the Registrants report. The report can be downloaded from the Event Dashboard > People > Registrants page by clicking Download. 

It can also be downloaded from the Event Dashboard > Analytics > Reports page.

It's important to keep in mind that each magic link is unique for each registrant and gives access to the specific event. 

Note: Anyone with the link could impersonate its owner inside the event it is sent from. Their profile dashboard won't be available. If the user needs to change their email address or password, delete their user account, or access other events they have registered to, they will need to log in with an email and password at https://hopin.com/sign_in.  

For more information, please see our guide How to send the event access link to a registrant.

Things to consider for Declined Magic Link invites as an organizer

Magic Link invites are very flexible to satisfy different user needs and scenarios, some further options to keep in mind as an organizer for Magic Link invitees who have declined their invites are described below.

  • Organizer selects declined magic links from the list and sends invitation:
    - Emails for declined invitations are not sent
  • Organizer sends single invite to a user who already had magic link invitation declined:
    - User should not receive an email with an invitation
    - User invitation status will still be displayed as declined
  • Organizer uploads CSV with users who already declined magic link invitation:
    - Emails for declined invitations are not sent
  • Organizer cancels magic link invitation which was declined:
    - Magic Link invitation is deleted
    - Organizer can re-send a new invitation

 

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