#Deep Linking

#What is deep linking?

Deep linking refers to the process of passing parameters through a URL and is exclusively used with the WebApp solution to direct users to a pre-populated or pre-determined page.

#Why use deep linking?

You may want to use deep linking as part of your integration of the sherpa° WebApp solution if you want to pre-fill search parameters for a user or direct them to a specific product page based on their travel itinerary.

#eVisas

When directing users to the sherpa° eVisa WebApp, you may want to pre-populate their passport. If you also know their destination, you can link them directly to the appropriate product page where they can immediately see whether an eVisa is needed or available for purchase without having to perform a search or input their information.

#Travel Requirements

When directing users to the sherpa° Travel Requirements WebApp, you may want to pre-populate their passport, vaccination status, origin and destination countries, connections, travel dates, etc. Alternatively, if you know all these things, you can link them directly to the travel requirements for their exact itinerary and traveller details without them needing to perform a search or input their information.

#Use case examples

Below are some examples of common WebApp use cases that implement some amount of deep linking.

#eVisa examples

The following 2 examples apply specifically to the sherpa° eVisa WebApp.

#1. Linking directly to a product page

In this example, an airline is sending pre-departure emails to its travellers, reminding them to check the visa requirements for their upcoming trips by clicking on a link in the email that directs to a co-branded sherpa° eVisa WebApp. As part of the email creation logic, the link presented to each recipient is customized to include their passport and destination countries. This ensures that each recipient is directed to the correct product page for their passport/destination combination.

That link may look like this for a traveller with a German passport travelling to Egypt:

#2. Pre-filling the passport field

In this example, a tour operator wants to include a button in their site directing users to a co-branded sherpa° eVisa WebApp to check visa requirements for any upcoming trip. Since they won’t be creating a custom link for each traveller, they will be directing users to the initial eVisa search page. Knowing their most common traveller passport country is the United States, they decide pre-fill that passport.

That link will look like this:

#Travel Requirements examples

The following 2 examples apply specifically to the sherpa° Travel Requirements WebApp.

#1. Pre-filling the passport and origin fields

In this example, a button is placed on an airline home page with a call to action directing users to a co-branded sherpa° Travel Requirements WebApp to find out more about travel requirements for their desired destinations. The airline knows that the vast majority of their travellers are travelling from Canada with Canadian passports, so we will deep link the button URL to pass those details (nationality and originCountry) along to the WebApp. Any parameters not defined will revert to their default values.

That link will look like this:

#2. Passing a full itinerary

In this example, an airline wants to provide a link from their “manage my booking” page directing users to a co-branded sherpa° Travel Requirements WebApp where they can see all the travel and visa requirements for their upcoming trip. Since the airline knows the traveller’s details and full itinerary, they can create a custom link as part of the web page's logic by deep linking all those pieces of information, allowing the traveller to skip the search process and go right to the travel requirements and visa information for their trip.

That link may look like this for a traveller with a Canadian passport, who is fully vaccinated for COVID-19, for a one-way trip to Turkey on May 1, 2023:

#3. Multi-Transit Trips

In this example, we will build out a full itinerary and leverage the multi-transit feature of the Webapp. To do that we will add &transitCountries=<<transiting countries,separated by commas>> to our URL.

Our traveller has a GBR passport, is fully vaccinated, and will be traveling on a one-way trip from CAN (Canada) -> USA (United States of America) -> GBR (Great Britain) -> UAE (United Arab Emirates) -> JPN (Japan) on February 13, 2023.

Here is the URL we can build based on these values:

In this example, we are using &transitCountries since we are using country names. If we want to use regions or airports we can use &transitRegions and transitAirports respectively.

#Localization

The optional language parameter can always be included as part of any link to a sherpa° WebApp. As long as the value passed is the correct code of a sherpa° supported language, the WebApp will automatically be translated into that language.

#Origin & Destination Specificity

The sherpa° Travel Requirements WebApp supports various levels of specificity when defining origins and destinations. Those levels are country, region, and airport. Only the most specific level is shown in the WebApp, but a country must always be defined.

For example, if you wanted to create a link to the travel requirements for a traveller flying one-way out of Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ) in Canada to South Africa, the link would look like this:

Notice that both originCountry and originAirport are defined in the deep linking but only the airport is displayed in the results. Something similar can be done with originRegion:

#Improving analytics tracking with UTM parameters

To improve reporting, we encourage the use of UTM parameters when linking to your sherpa° WebApp whenever possible.

For more information, check out the Using Placement and UTM Parameters page.

#Default values

Some parameters of the WebApp can have their defaults set by sherpa° at your request. Simply contact us if you want to make a change to your defaults for any of the following parameters:

#Query Parameters

Below is the complete list of possible query parameters for deep linking to the sherpa° WebApp.

#Query Parameters for Connections

These parameters can be used to define countries, regions, or airports that will be used as transit or connection locations for a particular segment (departure or return).

#More eVisa Examples

#Canadian passport holder travelling to Turkey

#Spanish passport holder travelling to Canada using Spanish language

#eVisa search page with USA passport pre-filled

#More Travel Requirements Examples

#India landing page (user will be prompted to enter their passport country)

#Pre-populate origin for restrictions with USA as origin

#One-way trip from Canada to Turkey

#One-way trip from Canada to Turkey with a Canadian passport

#Round trip from Canada to Turkey

#Round trip from Spain to India in Spanish

#One-way Trip from Munich, Germany to Toronto, Canada via London Heathrow, UK as a fully vaccinated traveller with a German passport