Limited Time Offer Page - HELP

[cdp103188]

Ok, so for my bussiness I want to create a limited time offer page that will not let the user return to it after they leave.

I figure I could probably use some kind of cookie that will trigger the page to redirect when it is recognized, but if they cleared their cookies they would be able to return to the page, is there maybe a way to do some kind of ISP detection to prevent them from ever coming back to the limited time offer page?

I know nothing about cookies and have never used one before, so there is a good possibility that what I just said makes no sense at all, if that is the case just let me know and I will go do some more research before posting again.

[gil davis]

Cookies are not the way to go. You would really need to do something creative on the server side to prevent a knowledgeable user from defeating your purposes.

[cdp103188]

I agree with you, I was trying to avoid cookies.

Only problem is, I don't know a good alternative to this problem, any thoughts?

[gil davis]

Saving something for each visitor on the server would be problematic and non-deterministic. You probably really only want those visitors that are really interested in your offer (although "limited time" does not match your explanation; it is more like "limited visit" - "limited time" would imply you don't care how many times the same one visits, he just has to beat the deadline which would be much easier to manage).

Taken to the evident next level, you would need to require the visitor to register, and for ultimate security you would need some sort of identity verification either by email token method or by security certificate, both of which are complex.

Try this guy's page: http://visitonceonly.com/ that I found on Google.

[cdp103188]

It would appear that website only uses a cookie because I was able to revisit the site by clearing my cache and my cookies.

I guess this may be impossible, but it was worth a shot, thanks anyway guys.

[vanny]

Ok here is how I would look at solving this problem. You have already identified that cookies and tracking IP address wont work (for good reason).

If you are sending out invites to see the page personally, then I would create a database table and allocation random codes.

Email each person an invite to view the once only offer, and in the link pass their once only offer random and unique code from the database.

When they click the link. check that the code is in the database and has not been used, if it passes both these checks then show them the page (and mark them in the database as viewed). if it fails either you can take them to the appropriate error page. Using this technique also allows you to track the success of you offer to see how many people (and how) are looking at your offer.

You may also consider adding a time limit to the offer. EG add a column to the database called expires on, so that if they click your once only offer after a certain date, then that offer is no longer valid for that user.

What you have to be careful off is if the person is interested in the offer and accidently closes their browser they cannot come back. So you might want to consider adding a time frame for say one hour from first entered they can come back and view it.

There are lots of possibilities you need to work out from a business percpective what you want to achieve from this.

[cdp103188]

That is an excellent idea.

You know everytime I have a problem with anything that has to do with a website I can always find an answer here, this forum is a very valuable resource to some such as myself who is a novice at web development.

I would like to thank you for another excellent solution.

-Cameron