Hypertext of encrypted link in customer email gets cut off

[njevic]

Hi – the email my customer receives cuts off the encrypted link. In the email below, the link is not hyper-linked after “http://www.realestatecapitalpro.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-cart-for-digit”

Also, when I sent the link (properly formatted) the customer could not open the link – they are using MS Explorer. I, on the other hand could open the link (using Firefox). Any ideas (beside user error) why that occurred (the second time now).

Thanks,

Nick

===================email=================

From: Real Estate CapitalPro [mailto:nick@realestatecapitalpro.com]

Sent: Friday, September 10, 2010 4:04 PM

To: NAME

Subject: Thank you for the purchase

Dear NAME

Thank you for your purchase of

Distressed Real Estate Fund PPM – Option B x 1 – $288.00 (USD)

Your

Distressed Real Estate Fund PPM – Option B x 1 – $288.00 (USD) is

available for immediate download from the encrypted link below:

Distressed Real Estate Fund PPM – Option B –

http://www.realestatecapitalpro.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-cart-for-digit

al-products/download.php?file=etRt%2FvGJwPOI6ovR

Best regards,

Nick

=======end email=======================

[wzp]

Since you said they use MSIE, I’ll take a guess that they are using some kind of web mail interface to read the message. Some web mail systems are not very good with line wrapping very long links. That’s why the link looks “cut off.”

There are 2 things you can do.

1. Customize the download instructions for the e-mail, suggesting that they can also copy and paste the link into the address bar of their browser.

2. Customize the URL of the download validation script, in order to make the download links “shorter,” per these instructions:

http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/ecommerce/how-to-customize-the-encrypted-download-url-224

***** UPDATE *****

eStore now supports URL shortening.

[amin007]

@wzp, Thank you for the response.

[njevic]

Thanks. two follow-up questions:

1. What is the target url (second paragraph: … you will need to copy the following files to the target URL:)? Is that where the download files are or is that the default directory where the eStore script is?

2. Will this still maintain the hidden directory?

Thanks,

Nick

[njevic]

Also, the second question in the original post – even when I generated a new encrypted link and emailed it, she could not access the file.

When I look at the screen shot she sent, it appears that the email program is Outlook.

Thanks,

Nick

[wzp]

The “target URL” refers to the directory in which you are trying to fool the user into thinking the files are being downloaded from. So, if you want the user to think that the download files are in yoursite.com/downloads you follow the instructions and copy those 4 files there, edit download.php as required, and set the download validation script field in the eStore settings.

In the screen shot you refer to, is the URL wrapped onto a second line, and only the first line is hyperlinked? If so, Outlook did that. Shortening the link, as described should fix most of the problems.

The other thing of course, is to edit the e-mail message with some detailed suggestions on how to handle special cases. Here is what I use in my “Buyer email body” message…

Dear {first_name} {last_name}

Thank you for requesting, or purchasing, a digital product download from my website.

{product_details}

***** IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS — PLEASE READ BEFORE DOWNLOADING *****

You use the following encrypted link(s) to begin the download process:

{product_link}

1. Encrypted download links expire 24 hours, from the time this e-mail message is sent.

2. Please ensure that your Internet connection is reliable. Download links expire after four (4) attempts.

3. Do not use any fancy download programs. They may not work, because the link(s) first point to a script that must first process your download request.

4. If you are reading this message from your Internet browser, do a “right click” on each download link and then “left click” on the “Save Link As…” or “Save Target As…” menu options, to begin the download process.

5. Alternatively, you can copy and paste the download link(s) into the address bar of your Internet browser.

Thank You,

Hope this helps

[njevic]

Got it – thank you.

I’ve adjusted the customer email and instructions on the Thank You Page.

With regard to the screen shot – the customer was not able to download from the link I sent, which was a complete link, i.e. not broken like in the email. I do not have a limit on the number of downloads. So this still has be perplexed.

Regards

[wzp]

It’s been awhile since I last used Outlook, but there are 2 things that come to mind…

I seem to remember that Outlook had some kind of security setting to disable links. The other thing I remember is that Outlook had the ability to force all messages into plain text mode, thereby not presenting the user with links that can be clicked on or any other rich text.

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