You gotta give people enough time to get your product

[Scott Ames]

I don't know what the best length of time would be for a download link to expire, but it has to be more than 24 hours for me. One would think that someone that just purchased would download right away but that's not what happened for me....

Recently I purchased something which combines a PDF and Video. Right after purchased I downloaded the PDF but I really didn't have time to grab the videos. I was ordering between meetings and such and had to run.

Life is busy and before I knew it the day was gone. When I went back to get the videos the next day the download link had expired. I think it was set for about 8 hours. Can I get them, sure, but i will require a help desk ticket.

This has taught be something. I used to set my download links for a few hours, but people would write back the next day saying they couldn't download. At that time I thought: "Why would anyone wait hours or days to get something they purchased?" Well now I know, it happened to me.

[CDarklock]

Originally Posted by Scott Ames

At that time I thought: "Why would anyone wait hours or days to get something they purchased?"

Sometimes I'll be out talking to someone about something they'd like to do for a website. And I'll think "I just saw a product about that the other day." And I have good web access on my mobile phone, so I'll go look it up and think "the price is good, I'll buy it."

Having bought it on my mobile phone, I don't want to watch the videos on it right this second, and if the PDF content is in a ZIP file I can't download it.

Now, personally, I tend not to be away from the computer for more than a couple hours... but I was planning to be in Vegas this weekend for a seminar, and it's entirely possible I could have purchased something on my mobile - and not had the chance to actually get it for three days.

Food for thought. Especially because I'm notoriously resistant to wireless and mobile technology, so if I'm doing something on my mobile, pretty much everyone else on the planet is probably doing it.

[NeilC]

You can also use a membership site to deliver your products, the only downside can be that a few might not want another opt-in for registration but it's good if it adds value to your product.

[tommygadget]

Scott, I totally agree with you, especially regarding the video downloads. Sometimes there is a big promotion and the servers are slow so I would want to come back in a day or so. Weirdly, some big names just have a link that does not expire and is not password protected. What's up with that?

TomG.

[Tyson Faulkner]

That's a really good point. I always wondered why people don't download right away all the time, but not everyone is as OCD as I am .

One of the hardest parts about marketing for me is getting into other people's shoes and figuring out how the people in my market act and how they do things. I've come to the conclusion that I'm definitely an odd-ball...

[JayXtreme]

76 hours is my fave....

It's so easy for people in regular life to be away from the computer for long periods of time, even days... so it's best to give them good time to get back to digest the content.

Jay

[ArticlePrince]

I don't know if there's a way to do this, but it would be great if you could give a download link that worked for their IP address only, with no time limit... though again, people purchasing from their phone would have a problem. Hmmm...

[docmac]

A minimum of at least 72 hours is ideal. As a customer many of my purchases are made impulsively or when I am trying to move on to other task, leave work at end of day, or spend time with family or others doing things offline. There are times that I am not able to get back online to complete the download, due to unexpected demands of every day life and frequently find myself missing the deadline if it is 24-48 hours. Some of the marketers do not have their sales system set up for efficient automation. It is not always clear, after paying with paypal, if you are going to be redirected to a download page or emailed the links. There are times when I just assume the links will be emailed and inadvertently do not pay attention to what action you are instructed to take after purchasing. I then find their system was not automated to send an email with links, since the entire process had been designed to redirect you to a download page. This ultimately requires contacting the seller for a download link.
I am certainly aware of the risk of someone other than the purchaser getting access to the download link or the purchaser giving away the download link resulting in the loss of potential revenue.
So, after that lengthy response, I think at least 72 hours is fair for both the seller and buyer.

[Thomas]

Just remove the time limit altogether (or make it very long; mine is set at 720 hours) and limit them to 3 (or 5) download attempts.

In my experience, that takes care of the problem altogether (or 95%, at least; you'll still get some people with problems no matter what you do).

Regards,
Tommy.

[he_august]

I don't think a 24 hour is a problem :>
if you ever missed the time, you can contact the vendor to provide you the link again :>
thats what i do mostly lol... and luckily, they all respond, and send the link again lol...

If they not respond, errrm... i don't know what do to though... lol

[JacksonPollock]

Why expire at all?

Just limit the download attempts and license the product...