Has pros and cons (read the review)

  • I was looking for a plug-in for what we call “Gated Content”: The website visitor has to fill in a form with some personal information before he or she is able to download a PDF document. Since this is very common in B2B marketing I expected a wide range of plug-ins, but I found very few options.

    The first plug-in I found was “Email Download Link”. It’s very efficient to set it up, and it sends a download link to the visitor by email, so the email address gets kind of verified. But it asks only for name and email which is too little information in the B2B environment where you need at least a company name and preferrably fields like department, position or phone number.

    This is the big advantage of “Before And After”: Since it integrates with two very popular form plug-ins you can ask for any information you like.

    The biggest disadvantage on the other hand is the fact that the download link is not encoded. If someone shares or publishes this link, then your content gate is useless. To avoid this you need to send the download document as an email attachment, but then you don’t need “Before And After” at all.

    There are some usability issues in the backend as well, and the paid version is advertised quite obstrusively.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Plugin Contributor richardgabriel

    (@richardgabriel)

    Hey Martin!

    Thanks so much for the feedback – it is truly appreciated!

    We do have an option to stream the download to the user, without a link, but you are right if the download is provided as a link and that link is shared it can bypass the gated content. That being said, they could also just download the file and share it as an attachment, which will bypass the website altogether.

    Thanks again for the feedback – we do read these posts and take them into consideration when working on updates and new features.

    All the best,
    Richard

    Plugin Contributor richardgabriel

    (@richardgabriel)

    Hey Martin!

    I just wanted to post a follow up.

    After reviewing your feedback, we found several areas in which to improve our plugin. As of version 2.6.4, we now offer Protected Downloads!

    Downloads are now streamed through a scripts, so users who receive the link via sharing will be taken to the goal and forced to complete it before downloading the file.

    Additionally, in the Pro version we have added a file download log to our Conversion tracking functionality, so you can track how many times and by whom, and where, your files are being downloaded.

    Thanks again for your feedback, we truly appreciate it!

    All the best,
    Richard

    Thread Starter Martin Sauter

    (@martinsauter)

    Hi Richard

    Good to know! Thank you for this important improvement of your plug-in.

    Best regards,
    Martin

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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