Hi, client needs user to fill out info before they download [ or get access to .PDF ] and the larger project is Marketing automation [ using Zapier connected to a Marketing automation platform - but in the interm ] what solution could I do that
Submit form > push them to download or view PDF in browser [ it’s rather large at 18MB b’c they used Canva - I know ]
WHAT we don’t want is the ability for people to post this URL to other to get the file, they want to capture the lead, I read somewhere, where you can put in a unique URL that only loads once? is there a solution that someone else has put in play that could help this challenge I’m running into?
thanks for taking the time to read and help Much appreciated!
Try running it through a PDF optimizer, there are many online. Webflow’s limits are 4MB for images and 10MB for documents.
That’s an unusual requirement. There are three approaches you could do to help deter abuse - time limit the URL, IP-limit the URL, or hit-limit the URL, and depending on how much time you want to invest in that deterrent feature, you can use those in combination. However of these, I favor IP-restriction, it’s the cleanest and easiest to implement, and I think it offers the right capabilities in this scenario, unless it creates GDPR issues in your target market.
If you’re wanting to build this in Webflow, it’s a bit involved, and will require custom coding, Airtable, and automation, working together.
The basic parts you need are;
FORM PAGE
Captures lead info
Captures auth info, IP,
Generates auth token
Submits the auth & token to an automation to an automation Webhook, that inserts it into your Airtrable base
Redirect, to your PDF page, e.g. /get-pdf?auth=39dd9019-b548-44ca-820d-cad1d6988e3e
PDF PAGE
Starts with a “please wait” animation
Uses a webhook endpoint to get your auth record from airtable, if it can find one. times out after 4 sec if not, and displays a “register to access this… click here to report a problem…” message.
When the webhook returns with data, compare the IP, timestamp, etc to determine access
People with access are shown the PDF
People without access are redirected to a marketing page to sign up
Features involving security tend to get complex quickly, but this is a pretty clean way to do it.
Another popular pattern, slightly more complex, is to email a password to the user. They then have to check their email to get that, and click that link or paste that ID into a new page.
The mechanism here is similar but the added email step lets you verify the email is real and point to them, if avoiding fake emails is important to you.
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Much appreciated!