Clickbank gravity scores

10 replies
I'm trying to follow a WSO right now and they recommend choosing an affiliate product with a gravity score of at least 150. While I'm going through the main CB categories I'm finding that there aren't many products with a gravity of 150 or even over 100. There might be a few products with high scores in the most popular niches, like health and fitness or finance, but even then not many. Then after those products the gravity scores seem to drop off quite significantly.

Have CB gravity scores gone down? I haven't been on CB in a while but I seem to remember there being more products with a higher gravity. Do think 150 is too high of a gravity? Thanks.
#clickbank #gravity #scores
  • Profile picture of the author agmccall
    Gravity is one of those metrics that are basically useless. What it tells you is how many affiliates have made a sale in a certain amount of time (I am not sure what that timeframe is)

    So a product that has 150 affiliates that each made 1 sale will have a higher gravity score that a product that has 5 affiliates who each made 200 sales.

    So, while it might be nice to look at gravity for a variety of reasons what you should really do is.

    1. Read the copy and see if it will convert.

    2. Make sure there are no leaks on the sales page

    3. Purchase the product to see if it is of value for your potential customers

    al
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    "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." Thomas Edison

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    • Profile picture of the author iconoclast
      Originally Posted by agmccall View Post

      Gravity is one of those metrics that are basically useless. What it tells you is how many affiliates have made a sale in a certain amount of time (I am not sure what that timeframe is)

      So a product that has 150 affiliates that each made 1 sale will have a higher gravity score that a product that has 5 affiliates who each made 200 sales.

      So, while it might be nice to look at gravity for a variety of reasons what you should really do is.

      1. Read the copy and see if it will convert.

      2. Make sure there are no leaks on the sales page

      3. Purchase the product to see if it is of value for your potential customers

      al
      Thanks Amgcall, those are all good points. Do you really buy every affiliate product you promote? I believe that is the ethical thing to do but unfortunately I don't see that as being cost effective because there are so many crappy products.
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      • Profile picture of the author agmccall
        Originally Posted by iconoclast View Post

        Thanks Amgcall, those are all good points. Do you really buy every affiliate product you promote? I believe that is the ethical thing to do but unfortunately I don't see that as being cost effective because there are so many crappy products.
        You can ask for a review copy from the vendor, but I usually just buy the product.

        al
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        "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." Thomas Edison

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      • Profile picture of the author chooseyourself
        You could always ask for review access?

        Doen't hurt.

        I haven't really done that on Click Bank myself, but it's common practice on Jv Zoo and Warrior Plus.

        -Phil
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    • Profile picture of the author zdebx
      Originally Posted by agmccall View Post

      Gravity is one of those metrics that are basically useless. What it tells you is how many affiliates have made a sale in a certain amount of time (I am not sure what that timeframe is)

      So a product that has 150 affiliates that each made 1 sale will have a higher gravity score that a product that has 5 affiliates who each made 200 sales.

      So, while it might be nice to look at gravity for a variety of reasons what you should really do is.

      1. Read the copy and see if it will convert.

      2. Make sure there are no leaks on the sales page

      3. Purchase the product to see if it is of value for your potential customers

      al
      Gravity is still a useful metric, because your explained scenario where a product has 5 affiliates, each making 200 sales is highly unlikely. Yes, it's possible in theory, but the reality is that if a product sells well and the demand is there, then it won't take long for other affiliates to catch up and raise the overall gravity.

      Generally speaking, products with at least 15-20 gravity are usually decent offers that convert well and you can promote them with confidence.

      Yes, the overall gravity of products on Clickbank has dramatically come down over the last few years and it's probably due to them doing all kinds of clean ups in their marketplace, getting rid of many products that were initially approved, but then disallowed...Think run your car on water, PSP games, movie downloads, herpes, etc.

      To answer OP's question, don't just look at the gravity metric, because that only shows the performance of a particular product. Think about how competitive the NICHE is, how are you going to enter that market and actually promote that product yourself?

      If you know your marketing well and can compete in any niche, then you can choose whatever product you want, whether it has 150 or 350 gravity - makes no difference.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Put yourself in your potential customer's place. Which scenario would be the most valuable to you:
    1. You read an affiliate promotion which is nothing more than a rehash of the product sales page. It is either generic or it contains positive ratings not based on actual hands-on experience with the product, but it is "made up" or contrived talk to present the product in the best light possible. It doesn't really matter whether the product "delivers" the sale page promises . . . what's important is that the prospect makes a purchase.
    2. The affiliate promotion reviews the product in a fairly objective manner and gives recommendations based on real world hands on experience. Both the pros and cons are addressed as well as any other helpful information about the creator and the product.
    You can't do #2 if you haven't personally reviewed the product. Yes, you can steal information from other reviewers but how do you know that their review is legitimate? For all you know, maybe they stole a review from someone else as well.


    In my mind, affiliates should always be forthright and truthful. Isn't that what you would want as a buyer? And if you don't have personal experience with the product, there is little more you can say than what is already on the product sales page.


    Just my opinion,


    Steve
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    Steve Browne, online business strategies, tips, guidance, and resources
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  • Profile picture of the author blueonblue
    I have read a few courses that actually say concentrate on gravity 10 and up. It is amazing how many of the clickbank products are currently below those.

    Click on them and you can see why. They don't provide email swipes for their people or any affiliate tools so a lot of people avoid them. They either don't know how to create these things themselves or they are very smart and flying under the weather.

    In other words, they are counting on the high gravity, big publicity releases especially in the NON IM niche to attract everyone. Those have the emails swipes, promos, banners and more including tons of rebills.

    While the smaller gravity ones are left open, they swoop in and either buy the product themselves or ask the product owner for a preview copy, and then write a review, email swipes etc, base upon what they have learned. They use their skills to drive traffic with original content, videos and so much more.

    So a lower gravity does not necessarily mean a lower quality product. Just may be the road less traveled so to speak.
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  • Profile picture of the author Janice Sperry
    Since the WSO advised you to find a CB product based on gravity you need to question EVERYTHING it is advising. As mentioned, the gravity of a CB product should not be a factor at all in the selection process. That might be the only error in the WSO, but then again, it may just be filled with years old rehashed bad advice.

    If you are serious about CB you may want to find another source for your information.
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  • Profile picture of the author iconoclast
    Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

    Put yourself in your potential customer's place. Which scenario would be the most valuable to you:
    1. You read an affiliate promotion which is nothing more than a rehash of the product sales page. It is either generic or it contains positive ratings not based on actual hands-on experience with the product, but it is "made up" or contrived talk to present the product in the best light possible. It doesn't really matter whether the product "delivers" the sale page promises . . . what's important is that the prospect makes a purchase.
    2. The affiliate promotion reviews the product in a fairly objective manner and gives recommendations based on real world hands on experience. Both the pros and cons are addressed as well as any other helpful information about the creator and the product.
    You can't do #2 if you haven't personally reviewed the product. Yes, you can steal information from other reviewers but how do you know that their review is legitimate? For all you know, maybe they stole a review from someone else as well.


    In my mind, affiliates should always be forthright and truthful. Isn't that what you would want as a buyer? And if you don't have personal experience with the product, there is little more you can say than what is already on the product sales page.


    Just my opinion,


    Steve
    Thanks Steve B. I agree with you, 100%, that what you described in your first option is the ethical way to promote affiliate products. Unfortunately, you don't hear that advice given very often around here. I will say that I can understand why people don't choose that path because it can be, potentially, very time and money consuming to do so. It also limits yours selection of product to those within your area of expertise. That is the biggest issue I see with trying out every product you want to promote. But thank you for saying this as it has been something that has been bothering me for a long time as I actually do want to help people and not just make money.

    Originally Posted by zdebx View Post

    Gravity is still a useful metric, because your explained scenario where a product has 5 affiliates, each making 200 sales is highly unlikely. Yes, it's possible in theory, but the reality is that if a product sells well and the demand is there, then it won't take long for other affiliates to catch up and raise the overall gravity.

    Generally speaking, products with at least 15-20 gravity are usually decent offers that convert well and you can promote them with confidence.

    Yes, the overall gravity of products on Clickbank has dramatically come down over the last few years and it's probably due to them doing all kinds of clean ups in their marketplace, getting rid of many products that were initially approved, but then disallowed...Think run your car on water, PSP games, movie downloads, herpes, etc.

    To answer OP's question, don't just look at the gravity metric, because that only shows the performance of a particular product. Think about how competitive the NICHE is, how are you going to enter that market and actually promote that product yourself?

    If you know your marketing well and can compete in any niche, then you can choose whatever product you want, whether it has 150 or 350 gravity - makes no difference.
    Thanks for your advice, that was very helpful. About your last sentence, maybe if you are the best marketer in the world you can promote whatever product you choose but for many people I think it is wise to start with a product that has a proven track record. That way you can eliminate some level of doubt.
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  • Profile picture of the author topcoder
    First off, those Clickbank stats are just stats and none of those stats tell the true story.

    Let's say you follow that WSO program and only choose products with a gravity of 100+. A new Clickbank vendor comes on board with a great product and offering and their gravity is well 0.

    Now, if everyone uses that mindset, that new vendor will never get an affiliate promoting their products, because they don't even get looked at.

    Now this new vendor can be selling products left and right, but that will never show up in the stats, because the stats are based on "Affiliate" sales, not "Vendor Sales"

    So they never get recognized and never get affiliates, but the people at the top stay at the top, because "Affiliates" tend to go with those stats.

    I spoke with Clickbank, before about this and they told me, that the vendor needs to set up a second account and sell under an affiliate ID, to increase the popularity of the product within the market place to get others to take notice.

    So I ran a little experiment on my own and started to toss some affiliates sales to see how the stats get impacted, so one day I tossed Affiliate A - 3 Sales, Affiliate B - 2 Sales, Affiliate C - 3 sales. After 1 day of tossing just 7 sales, I jumped #26 in popularity in the software and services category.

    So yeah, those stats, don't really tell the true story of the different products, I bet there are a ton of vendors making mass amounts of sales on their own and never get the recognition, because they can't get started in Clickbank.

    So search for a product you like, that you think you can sell and ask for a review copy.
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