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I am the victim of my own success at the moment. I have a Photoshop Plugin that is selling well… however I am still suffering from a simple method to distribute updates for the plugin and I’m asking for advice / help.
Is it possible – using existing components – to build the “email+transaction ID” method of distributing updates as is done for Tips and Tricks HQ product (https://support.tipsandtricks-hq.com/automatic-update-request)
I assume that method will send only the updates for the specific transaction and that’s what I’d want. No sense in sending the customer all of the other purchases they may have made as happens with the [<b>wp_eStore_download_link_sender</b>] extra short code.
Here are some options I’ve explored:
1. Create a coupon for a specific product, price the coupon out so that the customer gets an upgrade for $1 and time limit and quantity limit the coupon. Send the coupon to purchasers.
2. Same as one, but the coupon is “free”.
3. Leave [wp_eStore_download_link_sender] open to all.
4. Implement the Tips & Tricks method based on email and transaction ID.
5. Don’t offer upgrades.
Here are the problems as I see them.
1. > this is OK, the upgrades can be reasonably priced. One problem is keeping track of who has what version without creating new products for each new version. It *MIGHT* work OK if I could use a link that would put the item in their cart AND apply the discount automatically. There is always a risk that the coupons will be cast into the internet wind on e.g. coupon mountain and I’ll lose a fortune.
2. > I haven’t been able to get “free after coupon” to work, and I don’t want the customer to have to select a different “payment processor” for a zero payment. And see 1. about losing a fortune.
3. > Too many people have big PDFs. Leaving the page open is asking for lots of wasted bandwidth *and* people could use it to annoy someone whose email address they know.
4. > Not sure how to do this method.
5. > Not really popular with my customers to not offer upgrades, plus I’m missing a chance to monetize.
Anybody have another idea?
Nothing wrong with #3, because if they aren’t in the customer list, they won’t get anything. Bandwidth is only used if they actually download the file. Perhaps you are thinking of “wasted resources” if the files require stamping but you shouldn’t need that for photoshop files. If you simply update the current products with the most recent version; all you’d really have to do is periodically make some kind of announcement.
So you should be good to use #3. Try it first and see if you actually face an issue.
Thanks, wzp, there is yet one additional problem with option 3: when [wp_eStore_download_link_sender] is used it behaves like the “Squeeze form” download and doesn’t send all of the “Additional Information”.
By wasted bandwidth, I mean if someone has previously purchased a dozen PDFs they will get them all re-stamped and links resent. That’s mondo space used for the stamped files and additional download time if they chose to click the download links. There is also nothing that would prevent a malicious customer from requesting new links until the cows come home and forwarding those links to all of their friends for “free”. (I suppose that’s true of using the transaction number, too – #4). If the stamper only created stamped files when the file is actually requested via the download link, I suppose that wouldn’t be as much of an issue.
Since not all of my content (can) be stamped, that’s pretty scary for me. It would be uber cool if I can limit the number of times per week/month that someone could invoke [wp_eStore_download_link_sender].
Lastly, I’m not sure if someone requesting the [wp_eStore_download_link_sender] will also do all of the responder registrations. Logically it shouldn’t be needed…
Can’t you do the following when you have an update for a product?
1) Go to the “Admin Functions” menu of the eStore plugin and generate an encrypted link for the product in question.
2) Go to the manage customers menu to get a list of all the customers who purchased a particular product.
3) Send an email to them with the link.
When they download it, they will be downloading the latest copy of the software/application/product (given you have updated the file for the product in question).
If you were using an autoresponder integration then you can send the email broadcast to the list that corresponds to that product.
Are you using the eMember plugin by any chance? What you explained could be handled with a membership type system integration too. So a user can log into the site and see the items he/she purchased. Kind of like this:
http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/wordpress-membership/how-to-display-a-members-purchase-history-158
Interesting… sending the encrypted link. It might work for some scenarios except:
1. The number of downloads allowed is limited to say 10. I have 100s of customers. Does the encrypted link bypass the limit of downloads allowed? Indeed, if that worked, I’d expect you guys to use that process instead of having the customer run to check if some product has been updated.
2. One part of the content includes a pdf that is being stamped. Since the stamp includes their name and email, I couldn’t have that in this case. Fortunately the pdf portion doesn’t change very often.
3. If the encrypted link is forwarded to someone who didn’t purchase the product… then what? Yes, I realize they could always download and email the product – but people being lazy aren’t as likely to do that as to forward the link.
Each encrypted link will always have a download limit. You can temporarily change that globally or for a specific product. Lets say you are giving an update to product ID 1. You could edit product ID 1 and specify a download limit count of 1000 and a time limit of 48 hours. Then you generate the link send to all your customers of that product. 48 hours later you can edit the product and change the values back to whatever you had.
A+ for that suggestion! I didn’t realize I could change the product limits individually!
I do need to change that download failure page, though. It’s pretty scary and non-specific.
You can manually edit the download.php file messages.
https://support.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forums/topic/customizing-error-messages
I have been using a different tactic for upgrades lately. It’s a bit more pain, but there is some benefit to it as well.
I DUPLICATE the product as a new product. I then create a page with a squeeze form in it for this product and send my prior customers a link to the new page. They can then “request the upgrade” for free. I can also close the door on the special upgrade page and/or offer the upgrade free for a week and then start charging a fee. One bonus for me is that I can tell from which product they order which version they last got.
The downside to this, of course, is that my customers must fill out the squeeze form again (have a question open on that)
Ideally they could just “click a link”.
Perhaps a better solution would be to have a page with a “download link sender” that ONLY sends updates for s specific product. Or better yet, be able to send out an email that allows a “one-click” re-get of a specific product.
Here is a question: How can I PREVENT someone from getting a refresh of certain product(s)? If I delete the customer record(s) for a transaction does that prevent the “download link sender” from sending a link again? I assume so.
Also, what if I delete the product?
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