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Whats the lowest commission product you would promote?

by walsh259
22 replies
When using clickbank, would you only choose a product that pays over $20 commission?
Even if it has high gravity ?
#commission #lowest #product #promote
  • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
    To me the commission amount is irrelevant. I care only about EPC.

    - Tom
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by Tom Addams View Post

      To me the commission amount is irrelevant. I care only about EPC.

      - Tom
      Amen!

      And I don't really give a crap about "high gravity", as it's so easy to manipulate.
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      • Profile picture of the author myob
        Originally Posted by Tom Addams View Post

        To me the commission amount is irrelevant. I care only about EPC.

        - Tom
        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

        Amen!

        And I don't really give a crap about "high gravity", as it's so easy to manipulate.
        Amen to both!

        But I don't really give a crap about commission, EPC, gravity or any other factor published in the Clickbank marketplace.

        The only two criteria I have ever considered are product quality and relevance to my subscriber lists. Everything else is totally inconsequential.
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        • Profile picture of the author Sarevok
          Originally Posted by myob View Post

          Amen to both!

          But I don't really give a crap about commission, EPC, gravity or any other factor published in the Clickbank marketplace.

          The only two criteria I have ever considered are product quality and relevance to my subscriber lists. Everything else is totally inconsequential.
          Its taken me many years to discover what my end users are looking for.

          Some of us are slow learners. Better late than never.



          (Listen to Eugene Schwartz. His best advice, I believe, is to tap into the existing mass desires of your end users, and then deliver that).

          So, you could have the highest EPC product on the planet. But what if your audience thinks it's total junk?
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          • Profile picture of the author myob
            Originally Posted by Sarevok View Post

            Its taken me many years to discover what my end users are looking for.

            Some of us are slow learners. Better late than never.



            (Listen to Eugene Schwartz. His best advice, I believe, is to tap into the existing mass desires of your end users, and then deliver that).

            So, you could have the highest EPC product on the planet. But what if your audience thinks it's total junk?
            It looks like your marketing is ass-backwards, which actually is quite common. A much faster approach which I've always used was to tap into the passion of my subscribers and align my marketing with products which fit in with this profile.

            Focusing on marketing by developing an affinity within specific groups of people who share a commonality of interests can open up a broad spectrum of niches and opportunities for cross-sales. Typically, people with common interests, vocation, members of organizations, clubs, etc tend to have similar and often predictable buying patterns.

            People are multi-dimensional, and have a wide variety of interests which can often be monetized with effective list segmentation. Establishing an affinity and progressive relationship-building within targeted demographics or groups of people will beat the competition all-to-hell.
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            • Profile picture of the author shetalheti
              Originally Posted by myob View Post

              It looks like your marketing is ass-backwards, which actually is quite common. A much faster approach which I've always used was to tap into the passion of my subscribers and align my marketing with products which fit in with this profile.

              Focusing on marketing by developing an affinity within specific groups of people who share a commonality of interests can open up a broad spectrum of niches and opportunities for cross-sales. Typically, people with common interests, vocation, members of organizations, clubs, etc tend to have similar and often predictable buying patterns.

              People are multi-dimensional, and have a wide variety of interests which can often be monetized with effective list segmentation. Establishing an affinity and progressive relationship-building within targeted demographics or groups of people will beat the competition all-to-hell.

              I am totally new to all these so a little bit of elaboration would be helpful. What do you do to entice these subscribers to join your list in the first place? And how do you do the list segmentation? How do you know about the other related interests of your subscribers? Most importantly, do you use free (facebook, pininterest) or paid traffic (PPC) methods to get these subscribers?
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        • Profile picture of the author paulie888
          I think all these factors need to be considered before promoting a product. Just because something has a high EPC does not necessarily mean it'd convert highly with your subscriber list if the product topic has little relevance to them.

          Of all the factors discussed so far, gravity is definitely the least important.

          I'd definitely try to get hold of a review copy before promoting the product so you can assess its quality and relevance to your list.


          Originally Posted by myob View Post

          Amen to both!

          But I don't really give a crap about commission, EPC, gravity or any other factor published in the Clickbank marketplace.

          The only two criteria I have ever considered are product quality and relevance to my subscriber lists. Everything else is totally inconsequential.
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          • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
            Originally Posted by myob View Post

            Amen to both!

            But I don't really give a crap about commission, EPC, gravity or any other factor published in the Clickbank marketplace.
            Thanks for pointing that out. It gives me the opportunity to clarify what I wrote earlier.

            When I said I cared about EPC, I meant my own EPC, not what CB publishes. If I make an offer, and my results justify further development and promotion, so be it.

            Originally Posted by myob View Post

            The only two criteria I have ever considered are product quality and relevance to my subscriber lists. Everything else is totally inconsequential.
            Again, for the sake of clarity. I didn't mention these above as they are the price of admission. If a product does not meet these, it never gets tested, so establishing my EPC never happens.

            Originally Posted by shetalheti View Post

            What is EPC and how do you calculate it?
            EPC stands for "Earnings per Click." It's a measure of how well an offer matches your audience. Rachel did a good job explaining the math, so I won't repeat it.

            What i will say is that the stat that matters is your personal EPC. Once you've determined that an offer fits with and serves your audience, you make a test offer. Many professional affiliates aim for a minimum return of $1 for every click sent to the offer.

            Many professional affiliates also use paid traffic is one form or another, so knowing the EPC is vital when setting a budget.

            If you have a product that offers $100 in commission, a gravity of 1,000,000, but it costs you $200 to generate a sale, it's a losing proposition for you.
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            • Profile picture of the author myob
              Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

              When I said I cared about EPC, I meant my own EPC, not what CB publishes. If I make an offer, and my results justify further development and promotion, so be it.
              This is an extremely important point John made here. You should be tracking your conversions and establishing your own stats. The stats published by CB for the most part are not indicators of how well you will do. In my own experience, I've avoided many potentially costly errors by closely tracking and watching the numbers. Dumping what I thought were quality products but showed low internal EPC stats was not uncommon in my own promotions.
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            • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
              Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

              Thanks for pointing that out. It gives me the opportunity to clarify what I wrote earlier.

              When I said I cared about EPC, I meant my own EPC, not what CB publishes. If I make an offer, and my results justify further development and promotion, so be it.



              Again, for the sake of clarity. I didn't mention these above as they are the price of admission. If a product does not meet these, it never gets tested, so establishing my EPC never happens.



              EPC stands for "Earnings per Click." It's a measure of how well an offer matches your audience. Rachel did a good job explaining the math, so I won't repeat it.

              What i will say is that the stat that matters is your personal EPC. Once you've determined that an offer fits with and serves your audience, you make a test offer. Many professional affiliates aim for a minimum return of $1 for every click sent to the offer.

              Many professional affiliates also use paid traffic is one form or another, so knowing the EPC is vital when setting a budget.

              If you have a product that offers $100 in commission, a gravity of 1,000,000, but it costs you $200 to generate a sale, it's a losing proposition for you.
              myob - John said it all. Nothing to add other than my personal experience to back up John's fundamental point. It often costs money to shift traffic, and when that is the case, you know down to the last cent how much it costs to shift. I could give a rats about network EPC, or any EPC other than my own, since even one variable can make my EPC different to yours, say. So. When, say, buying clicks for 10 cents apiece, I have to be certain my EPC is at least 11 cents. That's all I meant above. You should never take any notice of network EPCs because they can be totally skewed by even a single whale, and I mean either way. You get one whale spending 50K a day on adwords and you get another sending 500K uniques from a tube. Rambling but you get the point and I'm likely not telling you anything you didn't know.

              Edit. Just to add. I'm the same about EPC when not buying traffic. I'm an EPC junkie actually. "Hello, my names Tom and I have an EPC addiction." Same goes for free traffic. Tell you why.

              When you send volume and you do it long enough from a setup, you get to know precisely what you should be earning each day, even down to time of day, the hour.

              When EPC is off:

              1. Something your end is off.
              2. Something in the system has changed.
              3. You're getting shaved.

              When that happens you spring into action.

              Similarly, when setting up something new, I use EPC to let me know how close I'm getting. I wish I was some guru able to get a campaign optimized first time, but it takes time, effort, testing. I tend always to have a good idea of what each click should be earning me and I use that to gauge how badly I'm screwing up. Eventually, I hit my optimum and I can give myself a pat on the back.

              - Tom
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      • Profile picture of the author shetalheti
        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

        Amen!

        And I don't really give a crap about "high gravity", as it's so easy to manipulate.
        What is EPC and how do you calculate it?
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        • Profile picture of the author rachelamitsharan
          Originally Posted by shetalheti View Post

          What is EPC and how do you calculate it?
          EPC stands for Earnings Per Click. It is sort of the industry standard for indicating the performance of a marketing campaign. It is specially important to affiliates who are looking to promote your products.

          EPC = Commissions Earned divided by Total Number of Clicks

          Say , I as an affiliate, send you 100 clicks (basically if 100 people look and click at the email that I send to them promoting your offer) and then 5 of them buy your product. If I'm making $20 as commision on each sale then I'd end up making $100. In this case my EPC would come to $1.

          A higher EPC (more than $1 or $2) indicates that the product is selling very well and I as an affiliate stand chance of making more money sending this offer to my email list rather than another one with say a lower EPC.
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          • Profile picture of the author myob
            Originally Posted by shetalheti View Post

            What do you do to entice these subscribers to join your list in the first place?
            The goal of marketing is ultimately to qualify potential customers and lead them into yours sales cycle. In a nutshell, your marketing strategy should be about building trust, credibility and visibility for your brand, by reaching the right audience, understanding the existing needs and interests within that segment, and clearly communicating the value of what you have to offer.

            In some cases, it's about generating visibility and reputation building for your brand. Sharing interesting content, resources and tools, and making connections with other people is a great way to publicize your brand and let people know you exist and encourage them to continue following and engaging with you.

            Originally Posted by shetalheti View Post

            And how do you do the list segmentation?
            It's a continuous process of culling and screening customers to the next level or promotion. After every product purchase, buyers are moved to another list for further massage and value extraction. The funnel system includes introducing other channels of communication such as social media, webinars, and escalation of personal interaction (ie seminars, telephone, postal mail, face-to-face, etc).

            Originally Posted by shetalheti View Post

            How do you know about the other related interests of your subscribers?
            One of the basic tenets of marketing is to know and understand your prospective customers. Typically, people with common interests, vocation, members of organizations, clubs, etc tend to have similar and often predictable buying patterns. To maximize conversion rates you need to be able to relate or demonstrate an affinity with your target audience, and align marketing campaigns with relevance to these interests, expectations and buying patterns.

            Originally Posted by shetalheti View Post

            Most importantly, do you use free (facebook, pininterest) or paid traffic (PPC) methods to get these subscribers?
            In my experience, nothing is more effective for highly convertible traffic than syndicating feature articles in online/offline publications that are already being read by your targeted audience. In addition, readers who may not be your direct targeted audience often will share your engaging article(s) with those whom they know to be enthusiasts - friends, colleagues, fellow members of church groups, civic/professional organizations, clubs, etc. This is the epitome of marketing at its finest, and consistently beats the competition all-to-hell.
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  • Profile picture of the author SalesGod
    the lowest commission product i would promote is 5,000
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    • Profile picture of the author shetalheti
      Originally Posted by SalesGod View Post

      the lowest commission product i would promote is 5,000
      Wow, does anybody pay that kind of commission?? Or are you joking?
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  • Profile picture of the author rachelamitsharan
    As an affiliate, I would want to make money but only by selling the products that help people on my list. An important criteria is to evaluate the quality product. It is important for me to trust the product vendor. So I would make an effort to get their history and avoid anyone involved in scams. I would also like to review the Sales page to see if I'd like to buy the product after reading the Sales page.

    Don't get me wrong. Gravity and EPC are very important parameters. But a good affiliate would also look beyond them and promote a genuine and high quality product.
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  • Profile picture of the author erob
    Not sure what niche your are in but there are a lot of recurring commission products on CB that could be considered. Not just in the MMO or IM niche.
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  • Profile picture of the author kilgore
    The above discussion is great -- though I'd like to add one more refinement, if I may.

    Even if you're "losing money" on an offer, it still may be worth promoting. It all depends on your business goals. For instance, when new companies start out -- large or small -- they often (though not always!) run at a loss to gain traction, establish their brand and gain customers. Similarly, businesses often have loss leaders (think Black Friday sales), which in themselves might lose money, but meet other goals for the company, such as getting people in their store or on their website.

    One might, for example, imagine running a campaign costing $1/click that only makes $0.50 back. But if at the end of that campaign you now have a list of 10,000 email addresses that you can market to over and over again, maybe it is still worthwhile to you. Or maybe not. It really depends on your business and its goals.

    And this same theory holds true to even "free" methods of traffic. One of my businesses main activities is our Facebook page. We literally spend 5 - 10 hours a day painstakingly creating new and original content for it and managing it. Unlike many pages, we actually do include product links in almost every single one of our posts (though I don't necessarily recommend this for all pages!) But I can tell you now that if you look at the value of the time we put into each post and the money each post makes for us, the numbers don't necessarily add up. Time is money after all. But come Christmas, however, that's a whole other story. Now we're talking about a page with well over a million fans, fans who are used to seeing our product links in our posts, many of whom have already clicked on one or more of those links and many of whom have actually bought something through us -- even if it's only a $10 item for which our earnings would be a measly $0.85 -- and these are people who come Christmas are looking to buy exactly what we've been promoting all year round.

    So the short point, is lowest commission is absolutely unimportant. Your own EPC is a far better metric. But also think about your larger business goals. Obviously you don't want to lose money all the time, but sometimes it can actually be strategic to do so.
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  • Profile picture of the author nicheblogger75
    I've promoted products that pay as little as $2 per sale. I've done is several times and made dozens of sales on one broadcast. Let's say you make 50 sales at $2. That's $100. What's the difference between making 50 sales at $2 or 2 sales at $50? Nothing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    Even if you're "losing money" on an offer, it still may be worth promoting.
    Marketing 101 - The Loss Leader

    I've promoted products that pay as little as $2 per sale.
    When SecondLife was new I made a bunch of money promoting free sign-ups via CPA for $0.75 each.

    please tell me which market place offer you to promote a product only $2.
    The majority will be CPA networks. Check out Odigger.com.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
    Apologies for posting right after my last post. Hopefully someone else will post while I'm writing so I don't look so much like a thread hog.

    Kilgore added some really great points. I can't improve on them, but I'd like to offer some of my own personal perspective.

    If you own a dating site, you're used to paying a relatively hefty figure for what really amount to opt-ins. It depends on many factors but the average for mainstream dating is 5 to 6 bucks for a free join.

    Now, unless you're a total buffoon, earning back your money (and then some) is just a matter of playing the odds. The entire system is monetized down to a fine science.

    Some examples:

    1. OTO (One time offer) for a Paid Membership.
    2. Notifications (usually about emails) sent out to free members who must upgrade to reply.
    3. Internal affiliate offers ran within the site.
    4. Offers ran within emails.
    5. Special offers: discounts, promotions.
    6. Media selling (where you sell ad space to advertisers)
    7. I could go on.

    Point is - 5 bucks, while it usually won't make you a bean right away, averages out at an overall profit.

    Similarly, you might offer 100% free memberships to females (even when you pay for the leads), which encourages paid upgrades from males, builds your reputation and membership base, and can lead to higher media selling options. And again, could go on.

    All of which is good to know even if you're an affiliate promoting these offers at $1 to $12.50 (the most I earn per PPL from such offers). If you're a newbie, you understand the value of your traffic.

    Upshot: killer info from Kilgore.

    - Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    The 1-time product would have to pay me $200 per sale, and i would only offer it to backend customers of mine, who have already bought multiple products from me.

    But i wouldn't go for 1-time commission affiliate programs. I like the affiliate programs that pay me recurring commissions month after month - until the customer exits the membership.
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