Tracking a Marketo hosted file?

[Anonymous]

Hi there: there were a few previous discussions about this but from a few years back, so I'm optimistically hoping the answer is different now... Here's the situation:

We have a software trial that we'd like to track the downloads of. Engineering suggested hosting in Marketo so that we can better report, but from what I see we can't report on images/files within design studio?  I've tried 'clicked link' within the landing page for the 'download' link, but that didn't seem to pull the info. 

Ideally, we'd like to track who downloaded, including IP info so we can filter our IPs.

Any suggestions?

[Jenn_DiMaria2]

Hi Lisa!

Are you gating the download behind a form?  If not, the people downloading the software trial may be anonymous. Try adding another Smart List filter of "Is Anonymous  = TRUE". So you'd have the "Clicked Link" filter and the "Is Anonymous" filters.

You can then add the IP Address field to your Default View so you can export and filter the report.

Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

We're trying to do this as well. I've uploaded a PDF to Marketo hoping that I could track the number of times people visit it. But the link is going to be distributed through manual emails or through our help site, so visitors won't be going through a Marketo tracked webpage or email. Can I still track the number of visits to the PDF? The "Clicks on Link on Webpage" doesn't recognize the URL and neither does "Visits Webpage".

Any ideas?

[Jenn_DiMaria2]

Hi Emily!

Unfortunately, I don't think there's a way to track visits to a PDF if the link isn't being sent through a Marketo email.  Are you using SFDC?  You may be able to host the content there.  You'll be able to track downloads/views, though not necessarily see who viewed the file unless you generate a new link each time.

[Emily_Poulton1]

Do we know if this is now possible?

[SanfordWhiteman]

No change on this.  It's always recommended that you send people to a true web page, then redirect to (or let them click) the downloadable file, because otherwise you'll lose tracking in multi-device environments (that is, all modern environments). I'm meaning to write a blog post entitled "Direct download links considered harmful."

[jgorman]

Hi! Is this still the case? We'd like to start promoting more ungated content but don't want to lose the engagement traceability.

[SanfordWhiteman]

---

Hi! Is this still the case?

---

Yes.

You don’t have to gate content unless you consider clicking a button a gate.