I've been experiencing a 50% leak of users that after filling out a form and signing up to a trial, don't even click on the "download" button. It's only a 500kb zip file that launches a msi installer so is really not a hassle to do so. The company I work for is a leader in the field, with a solid user base and years in the market, nothing that could make it look shady, and no credit card asked whatsoever. So is the average user scared of downloading software overall? is this common? I'm running out of ideas.
1 Answer
This is pretty common (from experience) - and there are a few common reasons:
- couldn't identify the download link
- didn't realise they needed to click the link but expected some magic to provide the file
- browser/user failed to click the link
- user got distracted "Oooh - look, a youtube video of cats"
- user found an alternative in another tab and downloaded it instead
- user realised the software was not what they wanted
You need to take the user action out of the equation as much as you can, or else make it blindingly obvious. Perhaps even send them a follow-up email to remind them to download the software.
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Thanks Rory. Thanks for your help. The download button is obvious already and we even send a follow-up email with the link. Seems like its a problem of non-qualified leads... what are your thoughts on downloading an .exe (or .msi) file instead of a zip? Commented Jan 9, 2014 at 19:31
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.msi doesn't seem to scare people as much as .exe - through the usual misunderstanding of risk that non-techies have, so I'd suggest that as an option. Commented Jan 9, 2014 at 23:28