Group invites: landing inside the group, not at a 'join a group' screen

Any product with groups — classes, teams, workspaces, challenges, family plans — has the same onboarding cliff. The organiser invites people. The invitee installs. The app asks them to sign up, then asks if they'd like to join a group, then asks for a code the organiser sent in a message they've now closed. Every one of those steps loses someone, and the organiser is the one who notices when the group is half empty.

What problem does this solve?

The invite link should carry the group across the install, so the new user arrives already in it — or with a single 'join?' confirmation, if joining needs consent — with the sign-up flow shaped around the group they're joining. The organiser sees the group fill; the invitee never touches a code.

How do you set the links up?

The organiser's invite action generates a link with the group and, if you use them, a one-time or expiring invite token in the payload. The app consumes it at first open. The source tag tells you which invite method — in-app share, copied link, email — organisers actually use.

{
  "deepLinkPath": "/groups/g_7742/join",
  "customData": {"invite": "inv_a91k", "role": "member", "src": "organiser-share"}
}

What if the group is private?

The payload carries an invite token, and the token is what the server validates — the group ID alone grants nothing. Tokens can be single-use or expiring, and the server decides at join time whether it's still valid. The link's job is to get the right person to the right join screen; the server's job is to decide whether they're allowed in.

• Expire tokens. A group link that works forever is a link that eventually gets posted somewhere public.
• Handle the already-a-member case. The organiser will tap their own link to test it; it should open the group, not offer to join it.
• If sign-up is required, do it after the join confirmation, not before. The person wants the group; the account is the price of admission, and it should look that way.

Which metric should you watch?

Invite-to-member rate: of the people who tapped an invite, how many ended up in the group. It is the number organisers care about, and it is usually the single biggest activation lever in any group-based product.