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Anyone had Clickbank Conversion Rate as Bad as this?

by UMS
15 replies
I've had a mini-site promoting a CB product in the entertainment niche. Site is currently ranked at #1 and averages around 100 unique visitors per day.

I haven't made any affiliate sales from it for quite a few weeks now and was looking at my Clickbank analytics which absolutely suck!

Looking at my stats from 1 Nov to today, it shows:

hop count: 1181
order form impression count: 117
Order form submit count: 14
Initial sales count: 1
Order form sales conversion: 0.85%

Looking at the period Sep-Oct, the sales conversion rate was almost 9%, which isn't great, but certainly a lot better.

In that period, nothing has been changed on my site and as far as I can see, nothing has changed on the sales page of the site I'm promoting.

I should point out that this was one of my very early sites I created before I knew a lot more about keyword research.

I realised later on, that the primary keyword I was targeting wasn't very good for the US market (Pakistan was the #1 country using the keyword). That obviously has a huge impact on the conversion rate (particularly for the product I'm promoting), so I'm sort of flogging a dead horse, although the site does make me a small profit, so I'm not going to get rid of it yet.

Anyway, just wondering what experiences other people have had with poorly converting CB products.

Can you beat 0.85% conversion rate?
#bad #clickbank #conversion #rate
  • Profile picture of the author gppierson
    Wow. You may want to consider the traffic you are receiving, is it targeted. Your offer may be fine.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by UMS View Post

    order form impression count: 117
    Order form submit count: 14
    Initial sales count: 1
    Have I understood you correctly, Peter?

    117 order form impressions produced 14 order form submissions, only one of which resulted in an accredited, processed sale?! :confused:

    Clearly something is very wrong, there!

    Originally Posted by UMS View Post

    I should point out that this was one of my very early sites I created before I knew a lot more about keyword research.
    Ok, but it's not easy to imagine how that would reduce so dramatically one's reasonable expectations of a sale after the order form has been completed and submitted?! :confused:

    Originally Posted by UMS View Post

    Anyway, just wondering what experiences other people have had with poorly converting CB products.
    Well, a long time ago, I've had some shocking experiences with poorly converting products (you can imagine: products with high gravities and a vendor's opt-in on the sales page - the kind that I know now isn't going to convert at all, for me). But this problem of yours isn't about a poorly converting product, surely? It seems to be about a glaring disproportion between the number of sales pages submissions and the number of sales accredited to you?
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    • Profile picture of the author UMS
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      Have I understood you correctly, Peter?

      117 order form impressions produced 14 order form submissions, only one of which resulted in an accredited, processed sale?! :confused:
      That's correct.

      I did change the product I was promoting around 6 months ago, as that product wasn't converting very well, but it was certainly converting better than the current product.




      Ok, but it's not easy to imagine how that would reduce so dramatically one's reasonable expectations of a sale after the order form has been completed and submitted?! :confused:
      Rather than relying on my memory (which is not great at the best of times), I decided to check what the site looked like earlier this year via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

      And bingo!

      The homepage layout had changed and the order process has changed.

      Originally, they used to have a simple form at the top right of the page where you chose the membership type, entered your name and clicked on the "Instant Access" button.

      Now they have changed the homepage, so that there is now a large "Instant Access" button below the fold.

      When you click on that button, there is a form, which you need to enter your first name, last name and email address before going to the final step which is the CB payment page.

      Still doesn't fully explain why there should be so many order form submit counts and only 1 sale.

      I think I'll try out another CB product for a while, to see if it converts any better.
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by UMS View Post

        Now they have changed the homepage, so that there is now a large "Instant Access" button below the fold.

        When you click on that button, there is a form, which you need to enter your first name, last name and email address before going to the final step which is the CB payment page.

        Still doesn't fully explain why there should be so many order form submit counts and only 1 sale.
        No, it doesn't.

        If it were the other way round, with the order page first and then an opt-in before the order's processed, it might (possibly). (It couldn't really work, that way round, I know).

        But as it stands, 1 processed sale from 14 order form submissions is a very alarming statistic (to me, much more so than the 0.85% overall conversion-rate, I have to say).
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        • Profile picture of the author Snow_Predator
          I've had far worse. Many thousands of hops with one or two sales, and often no sales at all. I had the same problem with a few products, which made me a little paranoid regarding the integrity of clickbank vendors. This made me decide to make my own product, which converted a LOT better.

          You can either...

          - Make your own product
          - Promote a different Clickbank product
          - Do a better job at preselling (become an authority in your niche, get potential customers on your list, get them to like and trust you so they will buy almost anything you recommend)
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  • Profile picture of the author Soren
    If the conversion rate of 9% was the

    orderform impression count / sales I'd say even this is kind of low.

    If the site didn't change at all, if you site didn't change at all (also check if the organic traffic comes from the same keywords, if the time on site, bounce rate etc is different), and your conversion is reduced to 1/10, I would either contact the merchant, or find another product to promote.

    I don't know how they do it, but it looks to me, as if you're being cut out on your sales. I've experienced the same with amazon, and that's also one of the reasons why I don't do much or rely on affiliate marketing anymore.

    The products I do promote usually have an order form conversion rate of 40-60. The lowest I've had over the last 3 months is 16.67%

    But I also don't just send people to the sales page, without warming them up first.

    I would perhaps be helpful if you gave us a link to your site, or at least tell us how agressive your tactic is.
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  • Profile picture of the author Oswald Luis
    I have never seen something as bad as that,thats awful try to change the sales letter or what you are promoting.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ayush Sharma
    I make 1 sale in a month.. thats after i slog everywhere on the internet and i dont even come to know where i got the sale from ... yea my conversion rate is pretty bad.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dann Vicker
    wow that's incredibly poor. I wont continue with that typr of conversion rate
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  • Profile picture of the author Venturetothetop
    This has been documented numerous times (simply use a search engine to see) and the answers are always the following:

    1) Order form impressions can be high because people click the link to find the price. Even when the price is clearly labelled, some people have been 'trained' to click through and see if the price is different to what is stated.

    2) Order form submits... This one has been explained by declining cards, perhaps due to insufficient funds. When your card declines what do you do? Most try it again at least once. I know my mother has a habit of putting here name in the card numbers field as many people are in a rush and simply mess things up.

    3) Initial sales. This is partly explained by number 2, but some people have a theory that Clickbank is not accurately registering all sales. The only credible method to prove or disprove this would be with sites that use membership access, as each member will have to pay to get access - so if your members and payments do not match, there is an issue. Alas no membership site I know of has found Clickbank stealing sales, so I am perhaps inclined to think this is an urban myth.

    The only statistic that is important here is the hop visitors to sales as it is perhaps the only one you can influence directly. 1 sales out of a 1000 suggests you need a better sales funnel.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Venturetothetop View Post

      2) Order form submits... This one has been explained by declining cards, perhaps due to insufficient funds. When your card declines what do you do? Most try it again at least once.
      Sure, there's that, Dee ... and there are a couple of other "innocent" explanations, as well, for this part.

      But one sale from fourteen submissions?!

      I expect at least eleven sales from fourteen submissions, myself.

      To me, this is possibly/probably evidential of a very well-known, intermittent ClickBank problem which they themselves have previously acknowledged - and believe me: that's saying something, because as we all know they have a very long history (now perhaps improving a little?) of total public denial of their manifold, recurrent technical difficulties.

      Originally Posted by Venturetothetop View Post

      The only statistic that is important here is the hop visitors to sales as it is perhaps the only one you can influence directly.
      Respectfully, for me the order-form submissions to sales statistic is the most important one, precisely because it's one of the ones I can't influence directly - only indirectly and with a great deal of effort and persistence.

      I'm dependent, there, on the efficiency, reliability and integrity of something outside my own control and responsibility. Always a little more worrying. Especially when (as in this case) it's a previously proven and acknowledged source of problems.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mohsin Rasool
    Originally Posted by UMS View Post

    I realised later on, that the primary keyword I was targeting wasn't very good for the US market (Pakistan was the #1 country using the keyword).
    Hmmm you made me think
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    • Profile picture of the author bretski
      Yep! Having the same problem. Well, almost as bad but over the past month I have seen accredited order form submission issues that have resulted in my online income being sliced to about 25% of what it was.

      I contacted Clickbank asking them to check out my account and was told that "everything is set up correctly" and that the cause for order form submissions resulting in no sale are due to a card being declined.

      The products that I am promoting had been converting well. Nothing changed drastically except for the amount of money being accredited to my account or those order for submits being credited.
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  • Profile picture of the author mrjosco
    I had one day in which I had 6 order form submits and 0 sales. When I looked into it further I came to the conclusion that one user attempted to purchase the product but was declined 6 times. It appears they finally gave up.

    This kind of thing seems like it would be normal. Most people might try one card 2 or 3 times if they don't understand why it was declined. Perhaps they will move to a second or even third card if they think they have money available that they do not.

    It bothered me at first to see 6 submits and 0 sales, but this was not a normal statistic and, over time, everything seemed to balance back out.
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    • Profile picture of the author Oswald Luis
      Originally Posted by Ayush Sharma View Post

      I make 1 sale in a month.. thats after i slog everywhere on the internet and i dont even come to know where i got the sale from ... yea my conversion rate is pretty bad.
      Yes,that sucks,try to change the sales letter

      Originally Posted by mrjosco View Post

      I had one day in which I had 6 order form submits and 0 sales. When I looked into it further I came to the conclusion that one user attempted to purchase the product but was declined 6 times. It appears they finally gave up.

      This kind of thing seems like it would be normal. Most people might try one card 2 or 3 times if they don't understand why it was declined. Perhaps they will move to a second or even third card if they think they have money available that they do not.

      It bothered me at first to see 6 submits and 0 sales, but this was not a normal statistic and, over time, everything seemed to balance back out.
      Hmmm,
      Thats something strange i have never heard about that problem,you are affiliate with clickbank?
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