Insert/edit link

Member

Members

Forum Posts: 272

Member Since:
June 9, 2017

Offline

Hi John,

Hope all's good.

So, a tech issue: A friend of mine recently went through my funnel and had problems downloading both the free track, and the album on his phone. I then realised that all the tests I've done for downloading stuff has been on my laptop (which have been sucessful for me). And... testing on my iphone now, I also can't work out how to download them.

On my friend's phone, when he clicks to download the album from the link in the email, it gives him the option of which browser to choose, he chooses safari, then the page goes totally blank and it just says 'website name' in the search bar, and stays there.

When I do it on my phone, it gives me the options of opening it in garageband, Keynote, Numbers, Pages which presumably are all apps on my phone, but I don't see itunes (which is the obvious app for this on my phone) and when I try and click on the above apps, it doesn't get me anywhere.

Any thoughts on this ? I'm presuming that subscribers have been having similar problems- I did get an email from someone in the last round of ads I did saying they were having problems downloading it, but I didn't deal with it at the time!

I wonder if it's due to recent changes with iTunes?

Thanks,

Karen

September 11, 2019
4:36 pm

Los Angeles

Admin

Forum Posts: 4331

Member Since:
June 7, 2011

Offline

Hi Karen,

I'm surprised to hear that you are not aware of this, only in the sense that I see you as a fairly advanced MMM user. This comes up a lot in MMM and the IC and the email templates I provide in MMM reference the issue, as does the training. Most mobile phones do not allow you to download tracks without the help of a third party app. Therefore, it is important to offer instructions. This is the email template provided in MMM.

---------------

Hey {!firstname_fix},

Thanks so much for taking the time to check out my music. It really means the world to me.

You can download your free track here.

Included in the download folder you will find my recent single:

Simply unzip the folder, then drag and drop the files into iTunes or any other appropriate folder.

******************

MOBILE USERS

If you are accessing this page via a mobile device just use the download app of your choice to save the track to your phone or tablet. If you are having any trouble with the download, just hit reply and let me know.

Or if you prefer, you can stream the track here.

******************

You might also keep an eye out for future emails. I'll be sending out show notices, blog posts, and a few other little surprises 🙂

And remember, I love hearing from you guys so by all means, shoot me an email if you ever have any questions, comments, feedback, or just to say hey!

Talk soon.

----------------------------

That's a pretty simplistic explanation. You can go into as much detail as you want. But unfortunately it's just a limitation of the platform. You could also go as far as to add links to other popular file sharing platforms such as Google Drive and Dropbox. But I don't do that. I just link to the MP# for streaming from the email.

But this also goes back to the progressive web app conversation we've been having, as that allows you to offer listeners a downloadable app that has the music in it for download as well as streaming.

Let me know if you have any questions.

PS - If you like what you hear and would like to listen to more music from the album, you can do so here.

Thanks again!

Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.

September 12, 2019
2:48 am

Member

Members

Forum Posts: 272

Member Since:
June 9, 2017

Offline

Hi John,

Thanks for this. This isn't something I've given much attention to as I think I have a bit of a blind spot with phones as I do everything on my laptop personally. I think I've followed the MMM advice. I've pasted my first email at the bottom here. The friend who recently flagged up that he was struggling with it is someone who is really tech savvy. With my album, when he tried to download after purchasing, it just got stuck on a blank screen as above for ages. This could be an issue with his phone, but even when I do it on my iphone, it's a really confusing process. As a user, I'd expect it to open up easily on itunes which is on my phone. But instead it gives me various options, none of which feel familiar to me at all, and when I persist through, I can eventually open either by selecting 'icloud drive' or 'my iphone'/keynotes and I seem to be able to preview content and listen but I wouldn't know how to find the album again on my phone.

I'm guessing you've been having a progressive web app conversation on the coaching calls? I haven't spoken about it with you, though I remember hearing you mention something of that nature in one of your training videos at some point.

I feel like I'm probably losing people as a result of this, maybe without realising up til now.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

Karen

Hey Firstname fix ,

Thanks so much for taking the time to check out my music. It means the world to me.

I'm Karen Grace, a boat-dwelling songstress who likes to sing to ducks and humans :).

Deep Down Things

Please click the link above for your download*, (or scroll right to the bottom to stream the track.)

I hope you enjoy it.

Also a little heads up that I'm not on any streaming services, but there is another Karen Grace artist who is! Not to be confused with me :).

You might like to keep an eye out for future emails. And I also love hearing from you people, so by all means, fire me an email, with burning questions, comments or general observations about life – I’ll be sharing some of my own, so we may as well all get involved !

Talk soon,

Karen x

http://www.karengracemusic.net

PS - If you like what you hear and would like to listen to more music from the album, you can do so here.

Thanks again!

*Simply unzip the folder, then drag and drop the files into iTunes or any other appropriate folder.

******************

MOBILE USERS

Or if you prefer, you can stream the track here:

Deep Down Things

September 12, 2019
8:11 am

Los Angeles

Admin

Forum Posts: 4331

Member Since:
June 7, 2011

Offline

Hi Karen,

If you try to click the initial download link you will not be able to download it without an app. With thousands of albums sold using these techniques I haven't seen any issues with the process, and unless they have changed their process since I last checked, bandcamp uses a similar process of sending out the zip.

I do think that in your effort to be more conversational you may have made it a little less clear in your welcome email. For example, your mobile instructions are below your signature, so they will be easily missed. And your primary link comes before any explanation, which will result in more people clicking without knowing that it won't work if they are on their computer. You've also removed references to dragging the file to their iTunes folder, which makes it even less clear that further steps are necessary.

A simple solution would be to simply add a header to each section saying something like...

----------------------------------

Downloading to a computer

----------------------------------

and then just below it have...

-----------------------------------

Downloading to a mobile device

------------------------------------

and then include clear instructions in each section and save the personal stuff for after the instructions.

That make sense?

September 13, 2019
1:43 am

Member

Members

Forum Posts: 272

Member Since:
June 9, 2017

Offline

Hi John,

Thanks for this. I appreciate that overall this set-up clearly works, as you've been using it successfully selling thousands of albums etc. I guess I'm just balancing that against my own personal experience of having had a few people report problems, and then when I tried it myself on my phone, I also found it really confusing and only got to the point of previewing the tracks, as described above. I have itunes on my iphone 6s, but when I go throught the download steps, it doesn't come up as a download app option weirdly, and I just don't see how to get it into itunes. Dragging into itunes is something I can do on my computer but it's the mobile option that is problematic, not the laptop.

Interestingly, I bought something from bandcamp out of curiosity, and after purchasing, it instantly gives you can option of creating a free bandcamp account for instant streaming of purchases, without downloading them. It then says:

Downloading to your phone: Unfortunately, iPhones do not support direct downloading of music. Instead, you can download to your computer and then sync the music to your device. Link to more info

Downloading to your computer: Open your bandcamp email receipt on your computer and use the download link. Link to more info

(I have emailed you the screenshots of this).

I'd be really interested to know your thoughts on this- I'm sure I'm missing something somewhere... But does it make sense to you why I would be asking these questions based on my personal experience, which seems to be backed up by what bandcamp are doing?

I will definately take on board your email tips above re: prioritising the technical aspects over being conversational- that makes total sense.

Thanks as ever.

Karen

September 13, 2019
3:08 pm

Los Angeles

Admin

Forum Posts: 4331

Member Since:
June 7, 2011

Offline

Hi Karen,

I'm a little confused by your question. It sounds like you are perceiving what Bandcamp does to be different fro what I do, while I find it to be more or less exactly what I do. I just make it a little easier by including the streaming link in the email. They require you to create an account which is a total pain.

As I've said, and as Bandcamp echoes, you cannot download files to most mobile phones, especially iphones without the help of a third party app.

"dragging the file into iTunes" can only be done on a computer, which is why there is a separate section for mobile users in my email template.

You can also create a download page, or a progressive web app if you would like to do something similar to band camp and offer the personal app option. Theirs is not a progressive web app and requires users to create an account so it's much more difficult for the user. I personally think a streaming link in the email is all that is necessary.

I think the confusion you are experiencing is over the language "drag and drop" and the assumption that this could be done on an iphone. I have not found this to be a common point of confusion.

I think the user reports you experienced are likely for the reasons that I mentioned previously... I think your instructions are not clear enough, and the mobile user instructions are pushed down below the signature.

Also keep in mind that in any group of 100 people, you are going to have some odd ducks. If 100 people download your song and you only hear one or two reports, I would not see this as a statistically significant issue, and instead would just chalk it up to an expected percentage of human error.

September 13, 2019
10:34 pm

Member

Members

Forum Posts: 272

Member Since:
June 9, 2017

Offline

Hi John,

This all makes sense- thanks for clarifying all this. It's helpful for me to understand the nuances so I can write a really clear email and better help anyone who has difficulties with it. I think I hadn't really understood all this so far as I personally don't do much on my iphone- I'm a 'sit at my computer' person which I know is not the norm. I also sometimes forget to check the processes involved on my iphone.

But I feel much more confident now how this can all work- thanks :).

Karen

September 18, 2019
10:30 am

Los Angeles

Admin

Forum Posts: 4331

Member Since:
June 7, 2011

Offline