Problem

In some of my articles, I offer content as a free download OR as a paid download – it’s a process which can be technically called as checkout. The challenge is to deliver the right files to the right customers no matter if they go via the free or the paid route.

I had been a long term user of Easy Digital Downloads (aka “EDD”) until April 2022. EDD is a set of plug-ins for WordPress which lets you distribute your content (free or paid). If you really want to use important features of EDD, you need to opt-in for a paid version. Since last year, EDD decided to raise prices by 100%. Even though I was able to negotiate keeping my old price with their friendly support (I had been a long time user of EDD) I still decided to move away from the product and build my own custom solution purely with Make and tools available for free. I did not want to be dependent on a 3rd party product for such crucial part of my site. On a 3rd party product which could significantly raise prices again.

Look, I don’t mind paying for things but 100% YoY increase is just excessive. And yes, I could just shut up and pay the extra and it would still be cheaper for me than designing the whole distribution solution from scratch but I now at least have a cool case study to write about. Plus as always – I learned something new. 🙂

Free Downloads

The process of fulfilling a free download consists of these steps:

1. A page visitor clicks on a button.
2. The visitor requests a file from the site.
3. The visitor fills a form to give me his email address.
4. A download link is delivered to his email address as soon as the form is submitted.
5. Data about the download is recorded into a Google Sheets spreadsheet.

The most challenging part was to deliver the file as soon as the form is submitted – there is not an easy way in Make to watch for Google Forms submissions in real time.

Paid Downloads/Content

The purchase process is even more complicated:

1. A page visitor clicks on a buy button.
2. The visitor is taken to a Stripe payment link.
3. The visitor pays with his card.
4. A download link is delivered to his email address as soon as the payment goes through.
5. An invoice is also generated and delivered to the customer along with the download link.
6. Payment and download data need to be recorded into a Google Sheets spreadsheet.
7. The invoice is also saved to my Google Drive.

And all of those steps need to happen automatically without my involvement. So how did I solve the challenge? Watch the videos below to find out!

Solution and Scenarios

Since the solutions are quite complicated, I’ve decided to record 2 videos explaining each process (free downloads vs paid downloads).

Free Downloads Step by Step

Paid Downloads/Content Step by Step

Conclusion

A few years ago, automating both processes would require a developer and probably thousands of dollars in costs. Luckily these times are over – you can automate fairly complicated processes like these with little to no cost with free available tools and Make.

Do you want to replicate this for your business yourself? 
GO TO MAKE

Or looking for someone to build your integrations?
HIRE ME