When someone lands on a product page on your site, you want them to have a frictionless path to gifting that exact product. Product permalinks make this possible — a single link that opens your Zest storefront with the right product already in the cart, ready to send. No hunting through a catalog, no extra steps. Just a smooth experience from your product page straight to gifting checkout.
This guide covers how to create product permalinks, add them to your product detail pages (PDPs), use them in marketing campaigns, and build multi-entry-point gifting experiences.
Before you start, make sure:
You have at least one published storefront in Zest.
The product you want to link to is listed in that storefront.
What Are Product Permalinks?
A product permalink is a specially formatted URL that opens your Zest Storefront with a specific product pre-selected. When a shopper clicks a permalink:
Your storefront opens.
The product is automatically added to the cart or the product details modal opens for variant selection.
The cart drawer slides open, ready for checkout.
Permalinks use two URL parameters:
pid: the product ID (your Zest product ID, a Shopify product ID, or a Shopify GID)
vid: the variant ID (your Zest variant ID, a Shopify variant ID, or a Shopify GID)
How pre-selection works:
If you provide both pid and vid for an available, in-stock variant with no required custom fields, the product is added to the cart automatically and the cart drawer opens.
If you provide only pid (typical for multi-variant products), or the variant requires custom input, the product details modal opens so the shopper can complete their selection.
How to Create a Product Permalink
The easiest way to get a correctly formatted product permalink is directly from your storefront settings.
Go to Storefront Settings and open the storefront you want to link from.
Click the Products tab.
Find the product you want to permalink.
Click the ⋮ (more options) icon on the right side of the product row.
Click Copy Product URL.
Your permalink is now on your clipboard, formatted with the correct product ID and variant ID already included.
Note: If Copy Product URL is grayed out if you have unsaved changes to your storefront. Save your changes first, then copy the URL.
For single-variant products, the variant ID (vid) is included automatically. For multi-variant products, only the product ID (pid) is included — the product modal will open for shoppers to choose their variant.
Adding Permalink Buttons to Your Product Pages (PDPs)
To connect your Shopify product pages to a storefront, add a link, button, or banner on each PDP that points to your product permalink. Your development team is responsible for adding these elements to your Shopify theme — Zest provides guidance, templates, and examples but does not make changes directly to your site.
Popular CTA copy:
"Send as a gift"
"Send to multiple recipients"
"Group gifting"
Common CTA placement options:
Below the Add to Cart button.
As a separate content block on the PDP.
In the product description area.
Heads up! If you switch Shopify themes or work with a new development agency, PDP gifting buttons may disappear. The underlying code may still exist in your old theme — your development team needs to copy it from the old theme templates to the new ones. The product IDs and storefront URL remain the same; only the theme template needs updating.
Using Dynamic Product IDs in Shopify Templates
Rather than creating a separate permalink for every product manually, you can use Shopify's Liquid templating language to dynamically generate the correct gifting link on every product page automatically.
Use the following permalink redirect URL format in your PDP template:
https://app.zest.co/brand/{YOUR_ORG_ID}/permalink?pid={{ product.id }}&vid={{ variant.id }}&storefront={YOUR_STOREFRONT_SLUG}
Replace {YOUR_ORG_ID} with your Zest organization ID and {YOUR_STOREFRONT_SLUG} with your storefront's slug.
Zest accepts:
Shopify numeric product IDs (e.g., 7382947382)
Shopify GIDs (e.g., gid://shopify/Product/7382947382)
Zest internal product IDs
Once your developer adds this snippet to your PDP template, every product page on your site automatically generates the correct gifting link — no manual configuration needed per product.
Your development team handles this update. Share your organization ID and storefront slug with them and they can implement the template change.
Multi-variant products: The {{ variant.id }} in the URL will populate the currently selected variant on the PDP. If the shopper hasn't selected a variant, they'll see the product details modal in the storefront to make their selection.
Using Permalinks in Email and Marketing Campaigns
Product permalinks work across every marketing channel:
Email campaigns: Link from a product callout to that product's gifting page.
SMS: Share a direct gifting URL.
Social media: Use in link-in-bio or in posts.
QR codes: Print on packaging, cards, or in-store signage.
For product-specific campaign callouts, always use a product permalink rather than your general storefront URL. This ensures shoppers land with the right product pre-selected — creating a much smoother experience for targeted promotions.
Using Storefronts for Consumer Multi-Recipient Gifting from PDPs
One of the most powerful uses of product permalinks is enabling consumer gifting directly from your product pages.
Here's how it works:
A shopper visits a product page on your site.
They see a CTA like "Send to multiple recipients" or "Send as a gift."
They click the permalink, which opens your Zest storefront with that product pre-selected.
They complete multi-recipient gifting through the Zest self-service storefront checkout flow.
You can create a dedicated storefront just for consumer gifting — with its own pricing, messaging, and incentives — at no extra cost. Zest supports unlimited storefronts.
Note: Cart contents are not transferred. Zest storefronts use a separate cart from your main ecommerce site. When a shopper clicks from a PDP to your storefront, their existing cart is not carried over. The permalink pre-selects the specific product they were viewing, keeping that experience seamless — but other cart items are not passed through.
If you have both a Zest consumer multi-ship checkout integration and a storefront gifting button on the same PDP, shoppers may be unsure which gifting path to take. Review your UX carefully before enabling both entry points at the same time.
Creating Multiple Entry Points and Storefronts
You can create as many storefronts as you need, each with different products, pricing, and branding. This lets you build highly targeted gifting experiences across your site.
Examples:
Separate storefronts for 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month gift subscriptions, each with its own CTA on the relevant PDP.
A corporate gifting storefront with bulk pricing alongside a consumer gifting storefront with individual-friendly messaging.
Seasonal storefronts for holiday campaigns that you activate and deactivate independently.
Each storefront has its own unique URL and its own set of product permalinks. Link to any of them from different parts of your website, email campaigns, or social channels.
Limitations and Known Constraints
Single-product permalinks only.
Each permalink pre-selects one product at a time. There is no way to pass multiple products via URL to pre-populate a multi-item cart. Shoppers can add additional products from the storefront catalog after they land.
Cart contents from your ecommerce site are not carried over.
When a shopper moves from your Shopify, BigCommerce, or other ecommerce site to a Zest Storefront, their existing cart does not transfer. The Zest Storefront cart is separate.
Category and collection links are not supported.
You cannot link directly to a category-filtered view within a storefront. Use separate storefronts as a workaround.
Troubleshooting and Common Issues
The product isn't being pre-selected when someone clicks my permalink.
Verify the product ID and variant ID in your URL are correct. Use the Copy Product URL button in your storefront settings to get the validated link rather than constructing it manually.
Make sure the product is published and available in the storefront.
If you're using Shopify IDs in a Liquid template, preview the rendered page source to confirm the IDs are populating correctly.
If the issue persists, contact Zest support with the specific URL that isn't working.
My PDP gifting buttons disappeared after a theme change.
When you switch Shopify themes, PDP customizations are not automatically carried over. Your development team needs to copy the relevant code from the old theme to the new one. The product IDs and storefront URL remain the same — only the theme template needs to be updated.
I'm on Magento and having trouble adding storefront links to my PDPs.
Magento PDP integration can be more complex. If you're running into issues, consider setting up a dedicated gifting landing page first and tackling the PDP integration during a lower-traffic period.
I'm on BigCommerce and want to use dynamic product permalinks.
BigCommerce does not support Liquid templating natively, but you can attach Zest product IDs to your BigCommerce products using custom product fields and dynamically generate permalink URLs from those values. Contact the Zest team for guidance on this approach.
I copied my permalink but it's not working.
Check that no extra characters or tracking parameters were added when pasting the URL (common in some email clients or chat tools). Always use the Copy Product URL button for the most reliable result.