How to Make a Squeeze Page Using the WordPress eStore Plugin
Categories: Featured, Installation and Usage
You can use the WordPress eStore plugin to make squeeze page type pages to collect emails and build a list for email marketing. According to Wikipedia – “Squeeze pages are landing pages created to solicit opt-in email addresses from prospective subscribers”.
Why Should You Use The Squeeze Page Form of eStore Plugin?
There are many reasons but the following is an example of the most obvious one. If the following sounds like you then this page has your solution:
I want to allow a customer or visitor to my website to get a free download of my digital content (e.g a pdf or mp3 file). Right now I use a widget from my Autoresponder (e.g MailChimp, AWeber) on my WordPress site and the website visitor gets directed to a download area that is not encrypted or secure and though the stuff is free, I do want to capture an optin to my mailing list in exchange for the free stuff. I don’t want the link to be passed around or be posted to a forum.
How it works?
You use a shortcode in a post or page to display a form that lets the user download a free product (eg. an ebook or a mp3 file) after they fill in their names and email addresses. Once the visitor fills in his/her details (name and email address) and hits the ‘Download’ button the plugin sends an email with the encrypted link that can be used to download the product. The plugin adds the name and the email address of the visitor in the customer database.
How to Add a Squeeze Page Type Form in a Post or Page
Add a new product to your products database using the ‘Add/Edit Products’ menu. (Don’t forget to fill the ‘Button Image URL’ field when you add the product. this image will be shown as the ‘download now/Get Now’ button. The plugin comes with a download button (download_icon.png) that is stored in the images directory of the plugin)
There are two (Ajax/JQuery Powered and Normal) types of squeeze type form you can add using the WP eStore pluign. The main difference with the Ajax powered form is that it doesn’t refresh the page so it’s cooler. You can only put one Ajax powered squeeze type form in one page though. So if you want to put muliple forms (one in header, one in footer, one in sidebar etc) in one page then you will have to use the normal one.
Ajax/JQuery Powered Squeeze type form
To use the Ajax/JQuery powered squeeze type form use the following trigger text in a post or page:
wp_eStore_free_download_ajax:product_id:5:end]
5 is the product id of the product I configured. Below is the form that you get when you add the above trigger text in a post or page… feel free to put your details to find out how it works and how cool the Ajax powered form is 
Normal Squeeze type form
Use the following trigger text where you want the normal form to appear:
wp_eStore_free_download:product_id:5:end]
5 is the product id of the product I configured. Below is the form that you get when you add the above trigger text in a post or page.
How to Use the Squeeze Page Type Form from a PHP file
To use the squeeze page type form from a PHP file (eg. the sidebar.php) use the following PHP function:
eStore_free_download_form_ajax($product_id)
or the following for the normal one
eStore_free_download_form($product_id)
So the following line of code will add a squeeze type form for a product who’s product id is 5:
or the following for the normal one
How to Add CSS style to the Squeeze Page Form
The squeeze form is written in a div class named “free_download_form”. Simply add the style definition to the ‘wp_eStore_style.css’ file to add styling to the form. For example, the following will add a background image to the form:
background: url(http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/ecommerce/images/some-background-image.jpg);
}
May 28th, 2009 at 12:59 am
Rahul, I think you happened to remove the trigger from this page somehow as the page isn’t showing the working Squeeze Page form sample at this moment.
Qs: In the respect to this plugin, it’s very handy that the eStore plugin adds the name and the email address of the visitor in the customer database. Would there be a way then to send an email to all of these people automatically? Instead of sending emails one by one. Or how to send the emails in the easiest way, how can it be practised to send them say every month? This is great because if these people filled out a Squeeze form; means they already are interested in your service, therefore they are or can be potential customers.
May 28th, 2009 at 6:52 am
Can I have editable (psd) download icon?
Please let me know (via emai is best)
May 28th, 2009 at 7:45 am
I edited it by hand, so don’t mind.
My problem now is:
How can I put this image as widget background? (I put phpcode and installed exec-php)
http://infoprodotti.it/images/optin-box-voodoo.jpg
May 28th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Hey guys, looks like there are few comments that require my attention so I just wanted to quicly say that I am going overseas on business and right now I am in Singapore in Transit… I will answer your comments after I reach my destination.
May 30th, 2009 at 6:49 am
@Angelo, The the squeeze form is written in a div class named “free_download_form”… try adding the following to the ‘wp_eStore_style.css’ file:
.free_download_form{
background: url(http://infoprodotti.it/images/optin-box-voodoo.jpg);
}
May 30th, 2009 at 6:57 am
@Rado, At the moment this plugin doesn’t have bulk emailing functionality… It only allows you to build the list so I would recommend using the “Display customers email list” button to generate the comma separated email list and then use an email sending plugin eg. ‘wp email’ to send emails. There are already a lot of bulk emailing plugins/programs out there so I didn’t implement this feature in this plugin yet.
May 31st, 2009 at 8:53 am
wow, thank you so much. I think I have to adjust something, but the code you gave me works.
The plugin is just unbelievable, and your support is great.
your plugin = the best 9 dollars I’ve spent in my life!
May 31st, 2009 at 4:36 pm
@Angelo, Nothing feels better than a happy customer’s feedback
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Kudos for the plugin. It is very helpful.
I’ll second the bug that squeeze page not working in IE (both IE 7 and 8 according to the reports I have received).
And, I’ll submit a feature request to be able to modify the free download email. (The paid download Buyer email is editable, but I couldn’t find a means to edit the free download Buyer email.)
Thanks and keep it up,
Ryan
July 3rd, 2009 at 12:13 am
Hi,
Love the plugin but also having problems with the squeeze box – still doesn’t display the form fields or the download button in I.E. 8 – is there a fix for this yet??
cheers
Tracey
July 6th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
@Tracey, This has been fixed in version2.2. I plan to send out an email to the existing customers with a link to download the new version in the next 24 hours
July 24th, 2009 at 12:15 am
Hi Ruhul,
How to put squeeze box into the sidebar widget?
I’ve tried to put the php code in the file sidebar.php, but it won’t come up.
Thanks,
Riva
July 24th, 2009 at 3:45 am
Hi Riva, can you please post what code you put on the sidebar.php so I can see if you made any mistake?
July 24th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Hi,
My WP theme is using sidebar1.php, so I tried to insert the code into the file (my product id is 7):
But it never show up, even when I looked into the page source. There was no such code in there.
Then I put the code into the text widget, it don’t show up either. But I can find the code in the page source.
I do not really know about php coding, so could you please tell me where the mistake is?
Thanks
July 25th, 2009 at 8:21 am
@Riva, The text widget can’t execute PHP code so it won’t do it. You can use the PHP Exec plugin which is just like the text widget but executes PHP code too. There is a link to the PHP Exec plugin page from my list of useful wordpress plugin list post. Let me know if this helps.
July 30th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
This is very cool. I will try this function shortly with one of our sites. Thanks!
p.s. I just sent you some more money as we discussed earlier.
p.s.s. I see you added the “notify” option. Are others finding it helpful too?
August 1st, 2009 at 6:01 am
Hi, I’m just about to launch my site.
Unfortunately,after inserting name and email into the squeeze box, clicking on the download button makes no effect.
Additionally, trying to buy something drives the customer to the thank you page, but
- it doesn’t send a notify to the seller
- it doesn’t send the email with the download link to the customer.
I’m using 2.3 version
(this also happened with previous versions, but I thought it was only a settings problem)
Can you help me? Bye
August 1st, 2009 at 8:08 am
Hi Angelo, There can be many reasons for the emails to not get sent out (The IPN validation failed, product verification failed, wrong email address etc). The best way to find out the main reason is to enable debug and do a test transaction. The following URL should help
WP eStore Troubleshooting
Let me know how you go.
August 1st, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Thank you, good infos! I’ let you know
August 2nd, 2009 at 1:24 am
I want a download now type button or Free with no form input need if possible
August 2nd, 2009 at 10:02 am
@Ken, What do you mean by Free with no form input? You need to collect the person’s email address to be able to send the encrypted link to him.
If you just want to let a visitor download an item from your site you don’t need to use this plugin. you can just make a normal link that points to the file and they should be able to download it clicking that link.
August 13th, 2009 at 12:57 am
Hi Ruhul,
The PHP Exec plugin works great. I can now use the squeeze page on the sidebar.
Thanks
August 19th, 2009 at 9:22 am
Nice tool and will help be get a site going.
One thing that would be nice is a way to add custom fields for a squeeze page. If you’re going to use the email for marketing, then you should really have the person’s permission that you may contact them…
Likewise, you might want to have alternative contact methods. Unfortunately, because it’s a free download – you don’t get the Paypal info.
August 21st, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Hi! After a while, I tried applying your suggestions.
So, using paypal sandbox the plugin generated a log file.
Here it is:
http://www.zumodrive.com/share/FoENzIwOG
as I understood, all seems to go ok.
But I still don’t receive any notification of the item sale, and no download link for the buyer
Can you help me, please?
Angelo
August 22nd, 2009 at 4:01 am
Hi Angelo, does dimple PHP mail work on your server?
August 22nd, 2009 at 10:13 am
hi, can you tell me how I can verify that?
August 23rd, 2009 at 2:37 am
@Angelo, I will contact you via email.
September 4th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Hi
I am trying to implement a squeeze page on my site and the ajax squeeze doesn’t even show (I jets get the shortcode showing as plain text). The normal box shows but when I enter details I get the message ‘Could not send the download link!’ and when the page refreshes everything on the page is thrown into dissarray with boxes going over each other etc. Any idea why this may be? I am using the convergence theme, and the latest version of WP.
September 5th, 2009 at 1:01 am
Hi David, if it’s not showing the Ajax powered squeeze page type form then that means the WP eStore version your are using is a little old. I will send you a copy of the latest WP eStore release.
September 5th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Thank you so much. Some of the ‘fancy’ functions are now working fine. I am still having problems with the squeeze page though. It shows fine and looks great, and appears to work, but no email is being sent (I am not receiving the email). It may be that I have misconfigured something. Any ideas why this might not be happening the way it should?
September 6th, 2009 at 1:21 am
Your web hosting is probably blocking the mails sent by the Simple PHP mail script. Try using the WordPress mailing system (You can set this from the settings menu of this plugin)
November 20th, 2009 at 12:53 am
Hi,
I have a really dumb question here. I use the AutoResponder called GetResponse. Is there a way to transfer the person’s e-mail to my GetResponse account. Then from there they would do the double optin and then get the free product?
Thanks!
November 20th, 2009 at 7:06 am
@md, yes, you can get a comma separated list of all the emails of your customers from the eStore plugin then copy and paste it into your AutoResponder service. Each customer will then get the double opt-in message in their email.
December 2nd, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Thank you so much for your fast response re: my problems with items not deleting from the shopping cart. Haven’t tested it yet, because of the following:
Before installing it over the top of my extant one on my not-yet-live site, I tried it on a related (live) blog just for the squeeze/freebie function. I put in the code, and it appeared normal on the page. I tested it and instead of the “check your email” notice I got the following error message:
Warning: Division by zero in /home/MY DOMAIN/wp-content/plugins/wp-cart-for-digital-products/eStore_classes.php on line 21
The site is:
http://www.cherryh.com/WaveWithoutAShore/
Help?
Thanks
December 2nd, 2009 at 6:49 pm
update…doesn’t appear to be a different version. They both show v 2.9.6.1 so I’m not sure what that download was you sent me. But, re: the eStore_classes.php error…did I forget to flip a switch somewhere? Until this is resolved, I’m hesitant to change my extant installation.
December 2nd, 2009 at 10:16 pm
Hi Jane, looks like you never saved the settings on this other blog where you installed a fresh copy of the plugin. Remember after you install the plugin fist time you should be going to the “Settings” menu of the plugin and check to make sure all the settings are set to your liking then save it by hitting the “Update Options” button (you need to save it even if you decide to just use the default values that you see there).
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Oi! Do I feel stupid. Thanks so much for the quick response. I thought I’d done that, but obviously not. Working like a charm now. (blush)
December 15th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
Hi,
is it possible to block some eMail sender (like trash-mail.com) ?
On my site, the customers get an eBook (or something like that) for free!
And after one week, I´ll send him/her a feedback-eMail.
But with the trash account……. ;-(
December 16th, 2009 at 9:30 am
yep… all you gotta do is setup a filter on your mail client or server. I personally use Gmail and use filters to block stuff I don’t want. This post might be of some help to you:
http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/email-management-tips-how-to-setup-email-filters-293
December 16th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Sorry,
I want to block this customers to use the sqeeze-page on my site.
Everyone with such an eMail-account should be blocked.
December 17th, 2009 at 9:08 am
ah I see, in the code you can add a condition so if an email is entered like that then it doesn’t get processed.
December 17th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
OK, thanks.
But where can I find this?
BTW – where are the eMail language files? I would like to translate some things to german.
December 18th, 2009 at 7:54 am
That depends on which squeeze page form you are using… look at the “ajax_process_download.php” file for the ajax based one. Search for the following in the “wp_eStore1.php” file for the normal one:
if ($_POST['eStore_free_download'])
There is not language files for the emails yet… you will have to manually use german language on those
December 29th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
In which file can I change the email text (subject: Free download link)?
I want to translate it into German.
December 29th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Does the eStore plugin work with wordpress mu?
December 30th, 2009 at 1:20 am
Hi Ramona, change it in the “eStore_includes2.php” file. change it in both places on that file. Yes the eStore plugin work on WordPress MU.
December 31st, 2009 at 9:03 am
Thank you for the new version, it wokrs well!
January 18th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Hi Ruhul,
I just added the squeeze page but it is not showing the download icon. Just a question mark instead of the image. I’ve tried both, Ajax/JQuery and normal type, but it is the same with both.
Thanks
Linda
January 19th, 2010 at 6:15 am
Did you put the URL of the image that you want to use as your “Download Now” button in the “Button image URL” of the product?
January 23rd, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Sorry, that’s what was missing. Thanks
January 30th, 2010 at 11:37 pm
Does this plugin require Paypal pro or just a regular PayPal acct. Any advantage to PP Pro account with this?
Thanks
January 31st, 2010 at 12:23 am
Hi Ed, The eStore uses Paypal or 2 checkout. As of right now Paypal Pro is not supported by eStore. We do have plans to add this payment gateway in the future. With Paypal pro you can except credit card payments directly from your site (no redirection to Paypal). This is the major difference between Paypal and Paypal Pro.
Ivy
April 8th, 2010 at 4:14 am
Could you please provide the code to block a domain name from the Squeeze form? eg to block the domain:
trash-mail.com
I can see where to add the code but I dont know enough programming to generate the code & know its right….
thanks
tim
April 8th, 2010 at 11:54 am
@Tim, if you know a bit of PHP then it is very simple… the following example might help:
if (preg_match(“/trash-mail.com/”, $customerEmail))
{
//don’t let this email subscrible
}
April 9th, 2010 at 1:39 am
Hi Tim, Can you please send us a link where this issue is happening so we can take a look at it?
Cheers,
Ivy
April 9th, 2010 at 1:48 am
the site launches next week so its password protected,
but it also applies to my last new site
http://dub45.com
I added the code where I thought it should go but then got divide by zero errors….
so i removed the code again
I think it is a necessary feature for the squeeze form and would be great if there was an actual setting/preference for adding domains to block… Editing the code gets lost as soon as you do the next upgrade huh?
April 9th, 2010 at 7:35 am
Yeah I know but then once you start adding all these features then you turn this plugin into a full featured autoresponder plugin (which it’s not)
April 10th, 2010 at 8:08 am
I totally appreciate that, but with the great integration you have already done with AWeber & Mailchimp I don’t think there is any danger of that being a problem….
The use of sites like trash-mail totally undermines the whole reason for having a squeeze form, and I get the impression that with your expertise & the example above that it wouldn’t be a huge task to implement via an extra setting/preference…
with dub45 site I’d say so far 5-10% of people use mailinator/trash-mail
& it sucks
April 11th, 2010 at 6:02 am
Hi Tim, not a problem.. I will add something so you can place all the not wanted “domain names” in the settings area and it will ignore requests from email addresses containing those domains.
April 11th, 2010 at 9:52 am
Hi admin,
please send this code to me too
April 12th, 2010 at 9:34 pm
thanks so much – for anyone checking out this plugin, it is brilliant & the support is excellent! I wish all developers were so active & supportive
I launch my new site tomorrow so am doing final testing, one thing I noticed with big downloads is that the download progress bar in my web browser doesn’t say how big the file is, or display progress eg one file is 200MB and it currently says:
38Mb of 0 bytes
is this due to the encryption?
April 12th, 2010 at 10:04 pm
I have another problem: the digital download is stopping as though its complete at exactly 50.2 MB, even though I have verified the source .rar file is 213MB in one case and 390MB in another… this is happening every time with files larger than 50MB, but the download works fine with files less than 50MB
I have verified the download via ftp & the source file is 100% fine
April 12th, 2010 at 11:13 pm
I’ve also checked in different browsers – same problem with Safari or Firefox
April 13th, 2010 at 1:21 am
Hi Tim, Thank you for your kind words. We did add the feature that displayed the download information but this was causing a problem with IE and had to be removed until we can take a look at why this issue is happening.
The download problem I answered on your forum post here: http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forum/topic/downloads-stopping-at-502mb
If you have anymore questions please let me know.
Cheers,
Ivy
April 23rd, 2010 at 1:47 am
When someone submits their info for the squeeze page download, can they be automatically added to an autoresponder such as aweber or the like?
Thanks.
Velma
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:33 am
Yeah, if you have AWeber integration setup then when they submit their info the email address will be added to the AWeber Autoresponder.
May 19th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Hi. This is my first time here and it won’t be my last!
Some very good information indeed and I will subscribe to you
because I always seem to have problems with my Blog ( thru’
my fault not theirs) and I hope to learn a few Tips and Tricks.
Thank’s, John.
Please send me a link (or Widget) that I can add to my site to
recommend you.
May 20th, 2010 at 8:19 am
Hi John, glad to hear you like the site.
August 22nd, 2010 at 1:41 pm
Hi,
I’m hoping I’m not the first person to ask about this… !
I’d like to use this squeeze method to add people to an email list. But I also want these people to come from my affiliates, so I want the visitors “cookied” when they visit. Now, I realize the cookie is only good for the browser they are in when they visit. This will be far from perfect.
But – can this be done? Is there a better method you can suggest to both get a visitor some warm-up material, and cookie them for the affiliate that referred them? (I know I can set cookies to live 365 days, for example.)
Thanks!
Tim
August 23rd, 2010 at 5:53 am
@Imgigclub, when an affiliate send the visitor to your squeeze page with the affiliate ID appended in the link they will automatically get cookied. You don’t need to do anything special for this.