The DREADED Clickbank problem.. some facts

[freelikehell]

Hi Warriors,
I'm a vendor with clickbank, and I'm about to reveal some facts about my experiment with clickbank .

Lately, MANY vendors/affiliates with CB have been complaining that their conversions have gone way down, and many are running into ppc losses due to pathetic conversion rates.

Even my conversions were WAY down the average for the past 2-3 weeks and I attributed it to the current financial crisis. But, as many people started complaining, so I though ill take matters into my own hands to investigate the situation

I put a tracking code on the 'Order Now' button on my sales page.

Now, everytime, a buyer would click on the 'Order Now' button, my code would store the IP and click number and then redirect the buyer to the CB Payment Page.

I have been testing it for quite a while now, and I've received about 32 such UNIQUE clicks, from prospect buyers (who came via PPC ), and not a single sale occurred according to CB.

I further investigated these prospect buyers and found out that these people read the entire sales page for about 3-4 minutes and THEN clicked on the 'ORDER NOW' button.

Logically, if a person comes to your site after searching for it, and then goes through your entire sales page, and then clicks on the 'order now' button, and DOES NOT purchase, then there is definitely something fishy going on. And this is the case with not 1, or 2, or 5 people..

32 different people read my page and clicked on 'order now' and not a single one of them bought (according to CB).

I definitely smell something fishy going on here and I would like to hear your views on this...

[JayXtreme]

I hate to say I told you so... so I won't

[freelikehell]

So, that's it? Shall I remove the product from CB? Shall I abandon the current affiliates promoting the product? Is there any solution?

[James Schramko]

keep testing get at least 200 clicks

[TimRobinson]

Are you showing the price on your button? A Lot of people are probably just click on it to see how much your product costs.

[freelikehell]

Yup. Showing the price. Everything explained on the sales page. But, 32 people landing on the CB payment page, and not a single one buying.. Hmmm...

[John S. Rhodes]

Any chance that you've contacted Clickbank about this?

Have you tested the entire process to ensure Clickbank is processing correctly? (Test purchase.)

~ John

[affiliateppc]

Like James said, get some more data first.

If you get the same conclusion:

Start using a different payment processor and start your own inhouse affiliate program.

Why don't you setup a different domain with the site but on the new site use a different payment processor. Then using PPC, send half to clickbank and half to new payment processor. Compare stats after 250 clicks to each.

AffiliatePPC

[TheNightOwl]

Do you have the price on the page?

What I mean is: Could it not be people just clicking through to find out how much it costs, deciding it's too expensive, and then bailing?

I've also heard other more experienced marketers talk about "shopping cart abandonment rates" which I've always thought was weird. Some odd psychological quirk we have, I guess. Sort of a pre-buying buyer's remorse, where we have the option to bail out on our commitment to buy by virtue of being online, thereby not losing face. Or some other such unfathomable human behaviour.

So perhaps it's that. I guess you need more robust data.

Also, to assume that they are "prospect buyers" as you call them may not be accurate. It depends on your PPC ad to some degree.

Do you, for example, have the price clearly stated in your PPC ad?

If not (and even worse, you have a free offer being promoted), then obviously they're not particularly hot prospects, really.

If, on the other hand, you have the price in your PPC ad, your salespage delivers what the ad claims it will, you have the price clearly stated on or near your OrderButton, they're sticking around for 3-4 minutes then clicking the button, and you're still not getting any sales, then, yeah, something might be, well, not right here...

Please let us know, eh?

TheNightOwl

P.S. Readers of this thread might also find the following one food for thought: Another ClickBank thread

[athena08]

Have you contacted Clickbank about this problem? Most likely you are not the only merchant with this problem so they may have received complaints from others as well. Maybe it's something in their system that can be fixed.

Good luck to you in getting this resolved. Very concerning to say the least.

[TheNightOwl]

Wow! You guys are quick!

By the time I wrote that a dozen people had posted!

I like affiliateppc's suggestion. Elegant.

[freelikehell]

Already done all that. My product is a few months old, and prior to these 2-3 weeks, there had been sales via CB. The entire process works correctly and I have tested it a few times.

The amazing thing is, I do run two payment processors.. PayPal and CB. Although less visitors come to the PP sales page, there have been many sales via PayPal, but the CB sales page has had pathetic conversions.

The visitors to both PP and CB pages are targeted and prospect buyers. Yet, there is substantial conversion rate difference, for over 2-3 weeks. And I get about 300-400 uniques each day.

[affiliateppc]

Do you offer PayPal seperatley? Is the button on the same page as the CB order button?

Setup 2 different pages. One with only CB order button and one with only PP button. Send PPC traffic 50% to one page and 50% to other. Compare stats after 250 clicks.

You will just confirm what we already know to be true :-)

AffiliatePPC

[freelikehell]

Originally Posted by TheNightOwl

If, on the other hand, you have the price in your PPC ad, your salespage delivers what the ad claims it will, you have the price clearly stated on or near your OrderButton, they're sticking around for 3-4 minutes then clicking the button, and you're still not getting any sales, then, yeah, something might be, well, not right here...

1) Yes. The PPC ad stated the price tag, and even the 'call-to-action' : such as 'Purchase Now', or 'Order Now'

2) The price is clearly mentioned on the sales page.

3) The thing is confusing..

Update: The number has gone upto 34 now.

[freelikehell]

Originally Posted by affiliateppc

Do you offer PayPal seperatley? Is the button on the same page as the CB order button?

Setup 2 different pages. One with only CB order button and one with only PP button. Send PPC traffic 50% to one page and 50% to other. Compare stats after 250 clicks.

You will just confirm what we already know to be true :-)

AffiliatePPC

Yes, I have two separate pages for CB and PP (otherwise I would be cheating my CB affiliates, no? )
Although, we have to wait until 250 clicks happen, but I'm on the task of driving more traffic to both PP and CB pages now to confirm the validation.
Thanks for the tip, AffiliatePPC.