How to Use the ID Paramater to Identify Who Submits a Funnel

Starfish Funnels are focused on giving people with positive feedback the shortest (least amount of "friction," as we say) route to leave a review. That increases the chances they'll actually leave a review (aka a "conversion"). So because of that we don't ask them for their email or any identifying information. If you don't require an email with the negative feedback, then the same is true there: you might end up with Feedback who you have no idea who submitted it.

The ID Parameter

We included a solution for this from one of the earliest versions of Starfish Reviews. It's called the "ID parameter" and one of the best-kept secrets of our plugin. You can customize the URL you send to people to help identify them. It's pretty simple, just add ?id=whateveridyouwant on the end of the funnel URL. So for example if you want to ask someone named "Jamie" for a review, you could send them a link like this: https://yourdomain.com/feedback/funnel1/?id=jamie so you know who submitted it. Then the funnel will record "jamie" in the ID column of the Feedback, whether the feedback is negative or positive.

You can set the "ID" to whatever you want. The funnel will then record that ID of "jamie" or whatever you put in there, so you know who it was. You can easily put in their email or phone number or even a customer number. 

Setting the Email as ID on Popular Email Platforms

If you're bulk/auto emailing using an email platform, you can use the "shortcodes" or "merge tags," (whatever your platform calls it), to automatically input something into the URL that will identify them. Here are the shortcodes you would use to insert the recipient's email address as the for the ID on popular email marketing platforms, to automatically set the email address as the ID on each message sent.

• MailChimp: *|EMAIL|* - add this to the funnel URL: ?id=*|EMAIL|*
  URL looks like this: https://yourdomain.com/feedback/funnel1/?id=*|EMAIL|*
• MailPoet: [subscriber:email] - add this to the funnel URL: ?id=[subscriber:email]
  URL looks like this: https://yourdomain.com/feedback/funnel1/?id=[subscriber:email]
• SendinBlue: {{ contact.EMAIL }} - add this to the funnel URL: ?id={{ contact.EMAIL }}
  URL looks like this: https://yourdomain.com/feedback/funnel1/?id={{ contact.EMAIL }}
• Drip: {{ email }} - add this to the funnel URL: ?id={{ email }}
  URL looks like this: https://yourdomain.com/feedback/funnel1/?id={{ email }}

If you don't use one of those we've arbitrarily chosen to list above, you can Google something like "aweber shortcodes" or "constant contact merge tags" and you should be able to find the email merge tag for your platform to insert. 

You could also use the first and last name shortcodes as identifiers. Whatever you want! The funnel will record it in the feedback as long as they visit the funnel and click either the positive or negative feedback button.

A Note About GDPR, HIPAA, & Privacy

Since the ID is stored on your site, it's your responsibility to understand and implement this (and all Starfish Reviews features) in a way that's compliant with the laws of your location, profession, etc, and the laws of those submitting the funnel.