What Feature Would Be Used to Collect how many times users downloaded a product catalog?

Almost every online shop has a product catalog.

It is an important tool for the marketing of your e-commerce company. The better a customer knows your product catalog, the more likely they will be to fall in love with your products. An e-shop without a product catalog online or information on its products is not going to perform at all.

That’s why you should stay on top of things. If you start tracking how many times the product catalog was downloaded you will ensure that the number is growing and conversions are moving your business forward.

So, if you are wondering what tool or a feature would be used to collect how many times users downloaded a product catalog, just read below.

Who downloaded a product catalog?

The most common way to collect how many users downloaded your product catalog is via Google Analytics. Simply go to > Behavior > Events > Product Catalog. This feature would provide you with very basic data on the performance of your product catalog. It will tell you how many times users downloaded a product catalog from your page.

The problem with this method is that it doesn’t provide the exact download information. Here are some scenarios where the number of downloads won’t be accurate:

How? Consider this scenario:

Mike lives in a rural area, where his internet connection often fails him. He downloads your pdf catalog, but he loses internet connection halfway through. So he clicks “download” again. This time the download is successful. The problem is, that in this case, the Google Analytics report would show you, that 2 users downloaded your report.

Now, imagine that you have 100 “Mike’s” on your website every month-it’s a quick way to get your results distorted.

Pdf download vs open in the browser – which method is better

Answer yourself this: what is the main purpose of making your catalog available for download?

It’s to let them see your products, right?

And once they see something they like, they will buy it from you? WRONG!

The truth is: as soon as someone leaves your page, they forget about your brand.

Why?

Because the internet is full of distractions. Once someone leaves your page, they will check their Facebook feed, watch a Youtube video, or share a funny meme with their best friend. In the midst of all this, they will forget about the PDF they just downloaded. You don’t believe me?

Well, then check your “downloads” folder. I bet you’ll find there at least a couple of files that you have never opened.

Chrome open pdf vs download

The problem of forgotten files is not new. In fact, it was already solved.

Google Chrome offers a free plugin that allows its user to view PDFs instead of downloading them. If you are a Chrome user (and there’s a 60% chance that you are ) all you need to do is to click “install” on the plugin page.

What a great idea! A similar feature can be found in both Safari and Edge.

Now that anyone can view your PDFs, is there even a point in making them available to download?

Recommended: Embed your Catalogs into your website with Publuu

If anyone can browse your PDFs, does it make a difference for your business? Absolutely!

Normally, the only data you would collect is the number of downloads. After that, there’s no way to tell how your catalogs were used. But with viewings? You can see who is looking at your PDFs and what product is attracting most of the attention. And the best part? You won’t need Google Analytics individual qualification to see it. All you need is Publuu .

See the example of embedded catalog with Publuu below:

Why would you be better off with Publuu over Google Analytics? There are two reasons.

Reason #1: Custom Report Event Tracking

The name “custom report event tracking” might sound a little intimidating at first, but it’s actually really simple.

Remember our example with Mike? Now imagine that instead of downloading your product catalog, Mike decided to read it directly on your website.

If that was the case, this feature would be used to collect how many times Mike opened your catalog, how much time he spent on it, and which pages did he spent the most time on. All in one report, thanks to publuu- PDF tracking solution

And the best part? With Publuu, you can get that information without needing to pass a complicated test for Google Analytics individual qualification!

Reason #2: Better control over your content

Let’s be honest.

If someone looks through your catalog on their computer you have no control over what they see.

Sure, your pictures can look good and your headlines are engaging. But it won’t matter if someone uses an old PDF viewer, that is showing your catalog at 25% of its original size. Not to mention, that in order to direct readers to your products page, they would need to copy the link and paste it into their browser.

With Publuu, you can turn your regular PDFs into an interactive catalog , that looks and even sounds like a real magazine . And since it’s all embedded online , every single feature would be used exactly as you intended it. Every link, every anchor, and every animation would be there to show what’s best in your product.

The best part? It’s all automatic.

With Publuu’s drag and drop interface, you can embed your catalog faster than you would drink a cup of coffee. Would you still prefer to spend 6 hours preparing for your Google Analytics individual certification? The choice is yours.

Also check “Other methods od sharing online catalog”