Connect a custom domain

By default your surveys live on a ScatterSpoke subdomain — acme.scatterspoke.com. A custom domain serves them from a subdomain you control instead, over HTTPS, so participants only ever see your brand.

Custom domain is part of the white-label entitlement.

Before you start

You need a subdomain, not an apex domain. surveys.acme.com or feedback.acme.com work; acme.com does not — the setup issues a CNAME, which cannot sit at the apex.

You also need access to your DNS provider to add records.

1. Add the domain

Go to Settings → Branding → Custom domain, type the subdomain, and select Add Domain.

ScatterSpoke generates the exact DNS records you need and moves the card to Pending DNS.

2. Add the DNS records

The records table lists each record’s type, host, and value, each with a copy button. There are usually two kinds:

• A CNAME pointing your subdomain at the ScatterSpoke edge target.
• One or more ownership records proving you control the domain.

Caution

The ownership records are only returned once, by the request that added the domain. Reload the page before copying them and they disappear — the CNAME row is rebuilt from stored values, but the ownership rows are not. Copy everything into your DNS provider before navigating away. If you lose them, remove the domain and add it again.

If you use Cloudflare, set these records to DNS only, not proxied. A proxied record breaks ownership validation.

3. Wait for validation and SSL

ScatterSpoke checks automatically about once a minute, and Check now forces a check. The card walks through these states:

State	Badge	What is happening
Pending DNS	Pending DNS	Waiting for your records to appear
Verifying domain ownership	—	Records found; ownership being confirmed
Issuing SSL certificate	Almost there	DNS resolved; certificate being issued
Live	Live	Connected and secured
Domain setup failed	Action needed	Validation or certificate issuance failed

DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate, though under an hour is typical.

4. Confirm it is live

The live state reports four things: the SSL certificate (Active · auto-renews), the date the domain was verified, the DNS target it resolves to, and a health check.

From that point every survey link, email, and share card uses your domain.

If setup fails

The failed state lists the usual causes:

• A record’s host or value does not match exactly.
• Cloudflare records are proxied instead of DNS only.
• DNS has not propagated yet.

Fix the records and select Check now to retry. There is no separate retry button.

Remove a domain

Remove Domain asks for confirmation, then deletes the domain and revokes its SSL certificate. Links on that domain stop resolving immediately, so make sure nothing in flight — an open distribution, a printed QR code — still points at it.