Automate pdf download upon form submit

[Anonymous]

I'd love to know how to automatically kick-start a pdf download at the sametime as redirecting the visitor to a thank you page.

I've never liked how we send visitors to a landing page with a form, then they click "submit" and get redirected to a "thank you page" where they have to click another button to begin downloading the pdf/content. Too many clicks required, and a waste of the thank you page. Because the thank you page disappears when they click the button to download the pdf, you don't really want to put anything important on that page because it disappears anyway.

But if I could send visitors to a landing page with a form, then they click "submit" and from there 2 automated functions happen;

     > Redirects the visitors to a thank you page, that has other useful content for download, or an announcement that relevant for them, and

     > Automatically begins downloading their pdf/content and has a small message on the thank you page saying "your download will begin automatically, if it doesn't, click here", and then the pdf begins downloading and opens automatically using adobe instead of in a browser tab.

Is this possible?

Thank you

[Josh_Hill13]

You can create javascript to create a pop up with the PDF. I believe another thread has example code.

My issue with this is that the pop up is not always immediately  obvious to the user or it can be jarring to have this pop up and force itself in their face. It's pretty common to have that extra click so the lead controls what happens to their computer. Up to you of course.

[Ravi_Ansal2]

Hi Julia,

Instead for Pop Up, i would suggest if you try sending a trigger email with the download of that particular PDF as Pop-Ups can be blocked for some browsers.

Or you can create a JavaScript to Pop on Submit form trigger.

Let me know if you need a code.

[Anonymous]

Hi Ravi

I might need that code, could you please send me.

[Anonymous]

Julie

From a UX perspective (I'm not a Marketo expert, but know a bit about UX) more understood and predictable clicks are better than fewer clicks that are less expected. In your case this means a Thank You page with a link to download may perform better than a single click that "registers" the user and downloads the PDF automatically. I'd suggest you A/B Test both approaches to see what works best for your customers.

Hope that helps!

Lee

[Anonymous]

I see that style a lot with software downloads. I wonder if a simple or modified hide/show script could achieve that.

Generally if we gate a piece of content with an email only form, upon submission we hide the form and replace it with thank you text rather than taking the user away from an article or whatever page they're currently on. Within that thank you text we put a link directly to the PDF.

If we gate a piece of content that we see as higher value and require a few additional fields, we usually do as Ravi had mentioned and send the link within a confirmation email to validate the email address.

[SanfordWhiteman]

Julia, the other replies (which I otherwise agree with!) seem to gloss over this requirement:

then the pdf begins downloading and opens automatically using adobe instead of in a browser tab

Gonna stop you right there, because modern browsers with built-in PDF viewers (which is now Chrome, Firefox, and Safari) really want to open files in their viewers unless a user has deliberately taken action to set Adobe's reader (or another third-party reader) as the default for opened files.  In practice, you need to give up, as a webpage author, on having any control over how and where a PDF will open.

And you see, there's the rub: assuming your assets are being stored in Marketo, the browser will open (not save) them by default.  In order to force saving, you need to have control of the webserver so that specific HTTP headers can be set.  Only in Chrome is there a workaround for that on the client side, and through Chrome is very popular that isn't enough surface area for you to really say you're doing this on a wide scale.

In essence, then, you have an underlying need that can't be met due to circumstances well outside of Marketo's control.

I second Ben's method of replacing the form element with the thank you text, and including the link in the thank you text.  Certainly there's no reason to refresh/redirect the entire page.  And let the user control whether they right-click and Save As, or just left-click and open the PDF in whatever reader the browser feels like using.

[Robb_Barrett]

Hi, I like this method but I'm wondering if there's a way to use this one page multiple times with a URL parameter  that's set as a token name that would be used to call the ThankYouURL.  For example, let's say I want

http://foo.com?link=Link1

And when the page is rendered, it pulls the 'Link1' from the parameter and then reads the {{my.Link1}} token to make it into http://bar.com

​I'd like to be able to manage a single page with all of the assets being set through parameters.

[SanfordWhiteman]

Sure, why not?  The onSuccess has access to the query string.

[Robb_Barrett]

Not sure I follow.