Can Clickbank Gravity Tell You Anything About a Product's Revenue?

[Oppimus Prime]

When you look at the gravity of a Clickbank product, how much gravity does it need to consistently have to be producing, say, $30,000US per year?

Thanks

[winebuddy]

Revenue for Whom?

Gravity is an indication of how many affiliates are selling the product at the current price and commission split. It CAN be an indication of revenue for the product owner but not for any one individual affiliate.

[Oppimus Prime]

Revenue for the product owner. If gravity for a product is 100 and making 2 million dollars, a gravity of 50 would be making in the vicinity of 1 million?

[winebuddy]

unless the product is priced at over $1,000, a gravity of 100 won;t produce the product owner anything near $2 million.

for example - if its a $47 product and 100 affiliates sell it in an 8 week period (sort of what a gravity of 100 means but not entirely) at a split of 50%, then the owner makes about $2300 IN 8 WEEKS.

not exactly a 2 million a year enterprise.

[timpears]

Gravity is a fictitious number made up by Clickbank to give the illusion of some kind of popularity. The number has little if any relevance to anything of value.

I don't know the exact formula they use to generate the number, and I don't think anyone else does, outside of Clickbank. But as best as I can determine, from what they tell us, if a hundred affiliates sell one of an item a month, a product will have about the same gravity as it would if one hundred affiliates sold a thousand of an item in that same month.

[JaniG]

the higher the gravity, the more affiliates are making sales

but a high gravity does not definately mean high sales, although it generally means its selling well.

for example (these are not exact numbers):

100 affiliates made 1 sales each = Gravity: 100

1 affiliate makes 100 sales = Gravity: 1

so as you can see in that example, the same revenue was generated, but gravity was totally different.

These are not exact numbers but just an example.

Jani G

[redrossero]

Lol...many merchants try to manipulate the gravity so it is not a real number of how much they sell per month or how many affiliates they make a sale during that period. For example, that acne product that has higher gravity may lead you believe that it sells very well. Many affiliates can tell you otherwise. It is easy to manipulate the gravity in Clickbank, especially in IM niche. A way to look how much they make per month if you have an idea of conversion rate for that product is to look at how much traffic the website has. Quancast can tell you that. Then you do the math.

[DonDavis]

Somebody can correct me if I am wrong, but here is the way I understand it.
I gravity point means one affiliate has made at least one sale in the last 8 weeks.


So 100 affiliate making 1 sale in the last 8 weeks equates to a gravity of 100

50 affiliates each making 3 sales each in the 8 week period and 50 affiliates each making 1 sale each within the 8 weeks still equates to a gravity of 100.

I agree that the gravity rating doesn't mean a whole lot other than that is how many affiliates made at least one sale in the past 8 weeks. I don't see what that tells me other than that.

Just because a product has a high gravity certainly doesn't mean it is converting well.

[jitterbug978]

When browsing for a product to promote... I ignore clickbank statistics... Look at the sales page etc. Buy the product. Then you can really find the winners. Some of em are pretty low on competition as well.

[Vaan]

I'm agree with jitterbug,

When I choose which product to promote, I don't really need a high gravity or the low ones,

What's I need is a vendor with Unique product + professional sales letter which consist of optin form to capture the visitor and also "A Call To Action" sentence in the last Sentences to ensure HIgh Conversion..

Usually a product with that kind of salesletter will convert well...

Thinks out of the box, and you will make easy money..

Vaan

Originally Posted by jitterbug978

When browsing for a product to promote... I ignore clickbank statistics... Look at the sales page etc. Buy the product. Then you can really find the winners. Some of em are pretty low on competition as well.

[Kevin Williams]

I also agree. I tend to look for products with NO gravity first. That's where you find some pretty cool niches that lots of people don't think about. Just gotta find one with a good salesletter.

[KarnEvans]

Hey,

From what I knew the gravity on click bank is semi accurate figure to the amount of people currently marketing that product in it's current pricing structure. There is no real way to determine how much an affiliate earns.

Thanks to some of the other commenter's I learnt something awesome. Do not always focus on the high gravity products focus on the sales page. Great advice.

Thank you,

Karn

[Platinum Matt]

Originally Posted by teamfire

the higher the gravity, the more affiliates are making sales

but a high gravity does not definately mean high sales, although it generally means its selling well.

for example (these are not exact numbers):

100 affiliates made 1 sales each = Gravity: 100

1 affiliate makes 100 sales = Gravity: 1

so as you can see in that example, the same revenue was generated, but gravity was totally different.

These are not exact numbers but just an example.

Jani G

Don't quote me on this but I think this is incorrect.

If my memory serves me right and often it doesn't...

100 affiliates make 1 sale each = gravity 10

1 affiliate makes 100 sales gravity = 1

Maybe?

[Platinum Matt]

Originally Posted by ishansoni

Wow. I just learned something new.

I thought Gravity was how many affiliates promoted the product (NOT how many sales were generated).

Thanks for clarifying it Jani.

Ishan

Nope, gravities of 100 would typically mean *way* over 1,000 affiliates (productive and non-productive) promoting it.

It doesn't take into account non-productive affiliates that send traffic but no sales (the VAST majority)

[tecHead]

Taken from a post by Terra Goeres, Manager - Client Account Management on Clickbank's Blog on January 8th, 2009 - "Sort Your Way to Success"

High Gravity: Sort by ‘High Gravity’ if you are looking for products that have a proven track record for converting well. Gravity refers to the number of affiliates who have earned a commission by promoting a particular publisher’s product(s). Therefore, if a publisher has a high gravity score, it means that the publisher has lots of affiliates earning money by promoting their product. This, in turn, should be an indicator to you that the product sells well. The downside to promoting products with a high gravity score is that you will encounter lots of competition in promoting it.

Low Gravity: If you are looking for hidden gems and want to be one of the first to market with a product promotion, sort your Marketplace search by “Low Gravity.” This is a bit of a high risk/high reward option. Low gravity means little competition from other affiliates, so you may be able to spend less time and money promoting that product than with a high gravity product. If the product converts well, you can win big as one of the only affiliates promoting it. This is the high reward side.

When in doubt/debate, go to the source.

PLP,
tecHead

[blogginvixen]

Originally Posted by teamfire

the higher the gravity, the more affiliates are making sales

but a high gravity does not definately mean high sales, although it generally means its selling well.

for example (these are not exact numbers):

100 affiliates made 1 sales each = Gravity: 100

1 affiliate makes 100 sales = Gravity: 1

so as you can see in that example, the same revenue was generated, but gravity was totally different.

These are not exact numbers but just an example.

Jani G

Thanks for that breakdown. I've always wondered about this. I've often left certain products on the table because I figured they weren't worth the time and effort due to their gravity. (How silly of me...)

It's nice to have a little bit more insight into how gravity is calculated.

[Harvey Segal]

Unfortunately this thread is riddled with wrong assumptions.

Originally Posted by ishansoni

Wow. I just learned something new.

I thought Gravity was how many affiliates promoted the product (NOT how many sales were generated).

Thanks for clarifying it Jani.

You'll have to unlearn that. It's not based on sales.

Originally Posted by Platinum Matt

If my memory serves me right and often it doesn't...

100 affiliates make 1 sale each = gravity 10

1 affiliate makes 100 sales gravity = 1

Maybe?

Where did you pull the figure of gravity 10 from ?

Originally Posted by Platinum Matt

Nope, gravities of 100 would typically mean *way* over 1,000 affiliates (productive and non-productive) promoting it.

It doesn't take into account non-productive affiliates that send traffic but no sales (the VAST majority)

You can't necessarily say it's over 1000 affiliates, and non-productive affiliates
don't come into the equation.


The definition of gravity is

Number of distinct affiliates who earned a commission by referring a paying customer to the vendor's products. This is a weighted sum and not an actual total. For each affiliate paid in the last 8 weeks we add an amount between 0.1 and 1.0 to the total. The more recent the last referral, the higher the value added.



Some people have interpreted it like this.

If an affiliate has made a sale in the past 8 weeks, he has a score of 1.
To this we add a weighting reflecting how recent the sale is.
Let us assume 0.1 for the earliest week, 0.2 for the next week and so on.

This would imply that if gravity is say 30 then it means a minimum
of 30 affiliates have made sales in the past 8 weeks.

However what we don't know is whether in addition to the weekly weightings
the final figure is also adjusted/weighted.

I have asked ClickBank the question

"Can we say that gravity equals the MINIMUM number
of affiliates selling the product in the last 8 weeks."

Their reply was 'that is not necessarily accurate'.

Harvey

[Platinum Matt]

Yup, you're right Harvey.

Ignore my posts above lol.

You CB expert you!!!

[garwil200]

I remember one of my mentors who specializes in Clickank telling me that he doesn't always choose the highest gravity to market. However, he turns down any product whose gravity is not above 50. His reasons are that there is too much risk in the lower gravity products, you usually don't find enough good affliate support either. He suggests that competition isn't always a bad thing. That's why you can usually find 10 or more shoe stores in the same mall, in any mall in the US.

I look for the percentage of each sale paid, and the actual dollar commission paid. Then I use MicroNicheFinder software to get readings on the conversion rate, and other vital indicators, to pick a product to Hoplink. Of course I give a great deal of consideration to the Affilite tools and promotions.

Jerry Garner

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by garwil200

I remember one of my mentors who specializes in Clickank telling me that he doesn't always choose the highest gravity to market.

All of my mentors in Clickbank told me that they almost never choose the highest gravity to market. And the day I learned that (and a few other things) and started acting on it was the day I started earning some real money through being a Clickbank affiliate.

Originally Posted by garwil200

However, he turns down any product whose gravity is not above 50.

He can have all the ones I wouldn't touch, then.

Originally Posted by garwil200

His reasons are that there is too much risk in the lower gravity products, you usually don't find enough good affliate support either.

I'm not remotely interested in "affiliate support" (whatever that means). I'm interested in conversion-rates for my traffic, and in numbers of sales. Gravity doesn't tell you either of those things, and doesn't pretend to.

I stay away from high gravity products because (as Clickbank now advise affiliates openly on their site) the one thing you know for sure about a high gravity product is that it's going to be competitive to sell.

Here's a little example, which might possibly clarify the issues for a few people:-

Clickbank Product A
- Sales-page conversion-rate 2.8%
- Solid product from well-known marketer
- Product has almost no refund requests
- He has 20 affiliates of whom 10 are superaffiliates who sell huge numbers of the product
- Product is easy to promote and sell
- Sales numbers are therefore very high, but the gravity figure is obviously very low (maybe around 10)

Clickbank Product B
- Sales-page conversion-rate 0.2%
- Crappy product from scammy marketer
- Refund request-rate is higher, of course
- Product had a "professional launch" with 100 "temporary affiliates" (accounts used once each to buy one product, privately refunded, and/or the figures were massaged in one of the other "customary ways")
- Product is obviously a complete and utter nightmare to promote and sell because the sales-page doesn't convert well
- Gravity figure starts out at about 110, and rapidly rises to 150/200 because gullible affiliates are attracted by the gravity figure, believing wrongly that it "validates the fact that the product is selling very well", and they all struggle and waste time/money, but eventually they obviously make 1 or 2 sales each anyway, and for this reason the gravity figure rises still further to 250/300 as the inevitable consequence of its self-fulfilling prophecy for the naive.

Obviously enough, product "B" is the high gravity product. Obviously enough, product "A" is the one for which I want to be an affiliate. These examples are in no way contrived. They're both realistic and common.

[yourreviewer]

Originally Posted by teamfire

the higher the gravity, the more affiliates are making sales

but a high gravity does not definately mean high sales, although it generally means its selling well.

for example (these are not exact numbers):

100 affiliates made 1 sales each = Gravity: 100

1 affiliate makes 100 sales = Gravity: 1

so as you can see in that example, the same revenue was generated, but gravity was totally different.

These are not exact numbers but just an example.

Jani G

Holy Crap! Are you serious? I didn't know that. I have a product on Clickbank and there is this one affiliate who is making all the sales for me. I check my gravity everyday and it hardly increases. If this is true, it gives me a peace of mind.

Thanks,
Dan

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by yourreviewer

I have a product on Clickbank and there is this one affiliate who is making all the sales for me. I check my gravity everyday and it hardly increases.

Well, it won't, will it?

That one affiliate might be able to make another 10,000 sales without it affecting the gravity figure at all.

Gravity does not measure sales or conversion-rates.

[yourreviewer]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Well, it won't, will it?

That one affiliate can make another 10,000 sales without it affecting the gravity figure at all.

Gravity does not measure sales or conversion-rates.

I didn't know this fact till now. I have to find other ways to attract more affiliates now.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by yourreviewer

I didn't know this fact till now. I have to find other ways to attract more affiliates now.

"Boosting" the gravity figure is probably still a pretty good way of attracting affiliates, to be honest, because there are so many gullible ones around who think it's better to be an affiliate for high-gravity products. And as long as people continue to believe that, vendors will continue to "massage" their gravity figures in various ways, including the one I've commented on above.

The whole thing is a self-fulfilling prophecy: gravity attracts affiliates (most of whom know no better), and however bad the conversion-rate, they usually make a sale or two eventually, so affiliates therefore continue to boost gravity! Meanwhile, of course, the product can have a revolting conversion-rate (unpublished, of course), a really poor number of sales considering how many affiliates there are, and it might generally suck, big time!

I'm making real income out of nice, solid products with good, non-leaky sales pages and single-figure gravities, myself.

[Kevin Williams]

Originally Posted by chadtimothy

Yes gravity is a good sign. Always look for it.

I'm going to assume you haven't read this thread at all.

[Christophe Young]

Wow, the conflicting information in this thread is REALLY startling. I'm just going to assume that the TRUE super affiliates know what to promote taking ALL factors into account.

[yourreviewer]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

"Boosting" the gravity figure is probably still a pretty good way of attracting affiliates, to be honest, because there are so many gullible ones around who think it's better to be an affiliate for high-gravity products. And as long as people continue to believe that, vendors will continue to "massage" their gravity figures in various ways, including the one I've commented on above.

The whole thing is a self-fulfilling prophecy: gravity attracts affiliates (most of whom know no better), and however bad the conversion-rate, they usually make a sale or two eventually, so affiliates therefore continue to boost gravity! Meanwhile, of course, the product can have a revolting conversion-rate (unpublished, of course), a really poor number of sales considering how many affiliates there are, and it might generally suck, big time!

I'm making real income out of nice, solid products with good, non-leaky sales pages and single-figure gravities, myself.

Have a question, if there are a number of sales coming in directly (non affiliate sales), would that increase the gravity?

[Harvey Segal]

Originally Posted by yourreviewer

Have a question, if there are a number of sales coming in directly (non affiliate sales), would that increase the gravity?

No.

All Marketplace stats are based on affiliate sales

Harvey

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by DonDavis

So 100 affiliate making 1 sale in the last 8 weeks equates to a gravity of 100

This isn't necessarily quite right, Don - it really isn't.

100 affiliates each making one sale in the last week may equate to a gravity of 100. 100 affiliates each making one sale 7 weeks ago will equate to a much lower gravity figure than that.

Originally Posted by DonDavis

50 affiliates each making 3 sales each in the 8 week period and 50 affiliates each making 1 sale each within the 8 weeks still equates to a gravity of 100.

Again, it's not quite as simple as this. I accept, of course, that 50 affiliates making 1 sale each might give the product the same gravity as 50 affiliates making 3 sales each, but don't forget that each affiliate's "component" of the product's gravity total depends on when, during the 8 monitored weeks, their sales were made, with a "weighting" (between 0.1 and 1.0) for "how recent".

Originally Posted by DonDavis

Just because a product has a high gravity certainly doesn't mean it is converting well.

That's for sure. And in fact the exact opposite can easily be true. Even though it's contrary to what many people believe and try to teach others!

[juanenjoyslife]

Gravity deals more with popularity of a product, ie. how many affiliates have sold the product within a period of time. It does not mean that the product converts well or would be a great product to sell.

Unfortunately there is no true way to measure whether a product will be profitable for you until you test it. Minimum of 300-500 qualified visitors (meaning targeted to that niche) sent to the affiliate site will tell you very quickly how well the product will convert and what type of ROI to expect for every dollar spent (or sweat equity for free methods) on marketing.

Once you have those figures, you can decide that it will work for you or to move on to test something else you think may work better. There is no other way to do it, unless you already know someone marketing with certain products and they can share their results with you. Good luck.

Juan

[rickybuitrago]

Well, short answer is NO, but the gravity tells you the number of affiliates that have made a sell for the product in the last 8 weeks, so that gives you an idea, but have this in mind: Two different products may both have a gravity of 5. So around 5 affiliates made a sale for that product in the last days, but for product #1, those 5 affiliates may have made 10 sales each in the last 8 weeks, and for product #2, only 1 sale each in the last 8 weeks...so guess who has the greater revenue...

[Steven Wagenheim]

IMO, Gravity may be one of the most useless stats the CB marketplace
has to offer IF you are trying to determine how well a product converts
OR how much money it is actually making.

However, and even this is not a sure thing, if you look at the extremes,
very high gravity versus very low gravity, it WILL give you some indication
of how much competition you're up against IF you decide to sell the product.

I won't get into the pros and cons and different opinions of whether high
gravity is good or bad. The pro high gravity people say it's good because
it shows that the product sells or converts well. I could easily poke holes
in that theory, but won't for the purpose of this thread.

The cons against high gravity say it means too much competition and
therefore will be harder to sell. However, this isn't always true either IF
the sales page converts well AND the marketer actually has some marketing
smarts under his belt. I have sold high gravity products with no problem,
though my preference is to sell a lower gravity product IF there is a clear
demand for it AND the sales page meets my expectations.

Ultimately, gravity is what YOU make of it and is no hard and fast stat
that will indicate anything other than a weighted average of how many
affiliates have made a sales in the last 8 weeks.

Take that for whatever it means to you.

[whateverpedia]

The products I look for have (usually) 0 (zero) gravity.

Brand new releases in other words.

It also has to have an active market, and a decent sales page.

Get in before the crowd.