A customer bought a digital download from your Shopify store, and now they're writing in: the download email never came, or the link won't open. They've paid, and they're waiting.
ABC Digital Downloads gives you a lot to go on. Each order shows the emails ABC sent and the downloads that went through, and when ABC blocks a download, the customer sees a page that says why. Run these seven checks in order. Checks 2 to 6 are for an email that never arrived, and check 7 is for a link that doesn't work.
1. Start with the Thank you and Order status pages
The email isn't the only way to the files. ABC also lists them in a Files block on the Thank you page, right after checkout, and on the Order status page, where customers can come back to them later. Before you chase the email, ask the customer whether they saw their files there.
That only works if both blocks are on your store. On ABC's Home page, the Setup Guide marks Enable Order Status & Thank You Page as complete once both blocks are saved. And in Settings, Display download links on the Thank You page and Display download links on the Order Status page need to be on. Both are on by default. Getting started shows how to add the blocks.
2. Look at the order's Email activity
In ABC, go to Orders and open the order. Its Email activity list shows every email ABC sent for the order, with the Subject, when it was Sent, and its Status: Sent, Delivered or Opened. Viewing orders explains the rest of the page.
The download email is listed. ABC sent it. Click view to see exactly what went out, and check the email address on the order's Customer card. Then ask the customer to search their inbox, spam folder included, for the subject. Unless you've changed it, it's "Your digital download is ready! 🎉".
No download email is listed. ABC didn't send one for this order. Checks 3 to 6 cover why.
3. Check the order has an email address
If your checkout asks for an "Email or mobile phone number", a customer can check out with only a phone number. Their order then has no email address, so the download email has nowhere to go.
To find these orders, filter Orders in ABC by Customer Email and choose No email address set (see Searching orders). To stop it happening, require an email address: in your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Checkout and, under Customer contact method, choose Email.
4. Check your emails are turned on
Two settings stop the download email for every new order:
- Send order emails, in Settings. It's on by default. When it's off, ABC doesn't email customers their download links when they place an order.
- The Order Download Links email, in Settings > Email templates. A Disabled badge means it's off. Click Enable email to turn it back on.
One catch: while Order Download Links is off, resending sends nothing. ABC still confirms the resend and starts its 10-minute wait, but no new email appears in Email activity.
5. Check whether ABC held the email back
Two settings make ABC hold a download email back on purpose. Managing settings covers both.
A fraud warning. If you've ticked Block download emails for fraudulent orders, under Downloads in Settings, ABC doesn't send download emails for orders that Shopify recommends you cancel or investigate. It's off until you tick it. If you look into the order and decide it's genuine, send the email from the order in ABC: for an order the block held back, its button reads Send Download Email.
A fulfillment hold. Respect fulfillment holds, in Settings, is on by default. While an order's fulfillment is on hold in Shopify, ABC waits: it doesn't email the download links or fulfill the order until you release the hold.
6. Check the order has its files
Customers get the files connected to the product, or the variant, that they bought. A file you connect to a product later doesn't reach orders placed before, and a file connected to one variant doesn't reach buyers of another.
To find orders with no files, filter Orders in ABC by Attached Files and choose No Files. To fix one, attach the file to the order with Manually connect files, then click Send updated download email in the banner that appears. The customer gets an email listing all their files. Click it right away: the banner is gone once you reload the page. How to send updated files to specific customers has the steps.
7. "The link doesn't work": read the page's reason
When ABC blocks a download, the customer gets a page that explains why instead of the file. Ask the customer which page they see, or for a screenshot. Blocked attempts don't appear in the order's File download activity, so the page is your clue.
- Download limit reached: the file has used up its Download Limit. Every download that starts counts, even one the customer cancels in their browser. Give the order a higher limit.
- Too many devices or locations: the file has reached your IP Limit. Give the order a higher one.
- Not available in your location: the customer is outside the order's billing country. Untick the billing-country option on the order.
- Your access has expired: the order's access period is over. Click Resend Download Email on the order in ABC. It sends the links again and restarts the period (see Limit how long customers can download).
- Downloads are unavailable: the order's links were turned off with Disable all download links. Untick it to turn them back on.
- This order was cancelled or This item was refunded: when you cancel or refund an order in Shopify, its download links are turned off too.
- File unavailable: ABC can't find the file. Attach the current version to the order, as in check 6.
To change the limits for one order, tick Override global download limitations for this order in its Download Limitations card. The order's fields start empty, and an empty Download Limit means no limit for that order, even if Settings has one, so re-enter any limit you want to keep. Limit and restrict downloads lists every page. To see each page with your store's name, go to Settings > Blocked download page and click Preview.
Resend the download email
Once you've fixed the cause, send the email again, from the order in ABC (Resend Download Email) or from the order in your Shopify admin (More actions > ABC: Resend download email). Both send the same email, listing every file on the order, including files you've attached. Resending is available on the Essential, Professional and Plus plans. Resend a download email has the steps.
Three things to know first:
- The button in ABC sends as soon as you click it. There's no confirmation step, so check the address on the order first. The Shopify admin's window shows it under To.
- Once every 10 minutes. You can resend an order's email once every 10 minutes, and the two places share that wait.
- Use the button in ABC if you've set an access limit. It's the only one that restarts the customer's access period.
Then check Email activity for the new email.
Prevent the next one
Test after every change. Place a free test order with a 100% discount code and look at what your customer gets: the Thank you page, the email and the Order status page. How to test the customer experience for a digital product walks through it.
Keep the page blocks on. They're a second way to the files when an email goes astray. Download links on the Thank you page come with every plan, Free included.
Ask for an email address at checkout, as in check 3.
Connect files before a product goes on sale. Otherwise you'll be attaching them to past orders by hand. To update a file for everyone who bought it, use Replace on the file's page: links customers already have then serve the new version. See Replace a file and notify customers.
Make the email look like it's from you. On the Professional and Plus plans, you can send ABC's emails from an address on your own domain instead of ABC's (Setting up custom email settings), and edit the download email's subject and wording, for example to put your store's name in the subject (Customizing email templates).
Setting up a new product? Ship your first digital product in 30 minutes goes from upload to first sale, test order included.
Still stuck?
Contact us with the order number and the page or message your customer sees.
Not on ABC Digital Downloads yet? Resending starts on the Essential plan, and every paid plan comes with a 10-day free trial. Compare the plans.
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