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My ClickBank Product Is Getting Refunded :-(

by williamstraus
17 replies
Warriors,

For the longest time I've worked as an affiliate and nothing bugged me more than vendors with crappy products, vendors that "siphoned" away my affiliate traffic and CPA networks that didn't payout.

Basically - I was railing against the Man(tm).

I recently found a partner and together we launched our own ClickBank product. I'm not going to reveal what it is because I still have some kinks to iron out before we do any affiliate recruitment.
  • Right now about 30-40% of purchases are getting refunded
  • I honor EVERY refund request and simply ask for feedback on how to improve the product - no one ever bothers to respond with this approach.
  • I've gone so far as to tell them I'm leaving their access in tact (free access) in return for some feedback on how to make it better. Nothing - 2 people responded with "Well, I'm just having a hard time financially and need to pinch my pennies".

Right now I am the only one promoting the product - I don't want to recruit affiliates and ruin my reputation and waste their efforts.

The product is converting! I can generate sales almost on auto-pilot. Just gotta get some niche relevant traffic and I know I'll generate some sales (and then those sales will be followed up by the depressing cancellation/refund notice).

I've gotten emails from people on my list thanking me for the content I send them and even for some people who emailed me out of the blue saying "Let me know if you have a sale! I want to buy it!".

I'm open to any suggestions and recommendations on how to make my product more valued for customers.

It's a collection of audios and some PDF/eBooks - I've seen similar products go for as high as $97 on CB and they don't (I'm assuming) have this sort of refund issue.

-Will
#clickbank #product #refunded
  • Profile picture of the author contentwriting360
    Banned
    Hello William,

    By the looks of your post, it appears that you need to have a mechanism in place to receive honest feedback or review for your product so you can improve it. As you said, you believe that it converts well but you just need to get a better understanding of the true reason why you're getting such refunds.

    If I may suggest, have you tried giving out review copies to Warriors who are:
    - senior members
    - active members who regularly help other Warriors by answering threads/posts

    We know that there are highly-reputable and trusted Warriors who can help you out and give you a feedback regarding your product. Perhaps, you can give them a questionnaire that they need to answer and submit to you. It's up to you if that questionnaire has closed-ended or open-ended questions.

    Well, it's just me suggesting. I hope this helps.

    P.S. Check on the profile and history of the Warrior whom you want to send out a review copy. There are Warriors who will just request a review copy but won't give you feedback at all. I'm talking about the experiences of our business partners in this forum.
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    • Profile picture of the author Devin X
      Banned
      Originally Posted by contentwriting360 View Post

      If I may suggest, have you tried giving out review copies to Warriors who are:
      - senior members
      - active members who regularly help other Warriors by answering threads/posts

      We know that there are highly-reputable and trusted Warriors who can help you out and give you a feedback regarding your product. Perhaps, you can give them a questionnaire that they need to answer and submit to you. It's up to you if that questionnaire has closed-ended or open-ended questions.
      Agreed with the above.

      Might I also add that you could refuse to give a refund without first getting feedback as to why. Well, refuse is the wrong word...use quality assurance practices: companies don't just give out refunds, they ask and ask, and then sell sell sell. You have to pull teeth to get a refund. I get the feeling that you just give a refund whenever someone asks...be somewhere in the middle...don't let them off so easily.

      They want a refund? They gotta say why they didn't like the product first. That's my attitude anyway for whatever it's worth to you.
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      • Profile picture of the author contentwriting360
        Banned
        Hello Will,

        In addition to what 'TheRealDudeman' said, you may want to read 'ClickBank Refund Policy and Consumer Refunds' if you haven't read it yet.

        Personally, I haven't tried being a CB affiliate yet but I'm just sharing these pieces of information based on my research and of what I've heard/read from fellow Warriors. On that page, there's a third bullet point that says:

        Partial Refunds – This will allow a vendor to determine the percentage of a refund to grant to a consumer, based on their business rules.

        I'd like to ask you, since you're a CB marketer, if there's a standard Refund Policy that all CB clients have to follow. Is there one?
        If there's one standard CB Refund Policy, and you can add 'your own' Refund Policy, I believe you can use that third bullet point above so you can set your own rules. As service providers/sellers, we will always encounter buyers who will take advantage of our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee ('if you're not satisfied, let me refund you in full'). Stating your own rules as to when a buyer will only get a refund will enable you to see the real problem as to why you're getting such refund requests from your CB customers.

        Things that you need or will find out by incorporating your own house rules for a refund:
        1. Are they really dissatisfied customers? or;
        2. They're just taking advantage of your 100% Satisfaction Guarantee system and they act as if they're so dissatisfied so you can just refund them in full?

        In our own service (non-CB related), we provide a refund and revision policy. However:

        1. We make sure that our client, who's requesting a refund, must justify in writing why (s)he deserves a refund. (S)he got to enumerate all the items that we missed, which is based from the original set of instructions (s)he sent us when (s)he ordered.
        2. Same thing goes for revision requests. We make sure that they literally point out the instructions that we missed before we can grant a revision request.

        A dissatisfaction based on a subjective(sometimes malicious intent of getting everything for free) reasoning does not merit a refund or a revision request. When we were starting, we received bogus complaints masked with all the words on Earth that could express someone's dissatisfaction, only to find out that the content we delivered was already posted on the client's website even before the time of (s)he sent a refund/revision request.

        There's no such thing as a free lunch as they say.

        I hope that helps, Will.

        Originally Posted by TheRealDudeman View Post

        Agreed with the above.

        Might I also add that you could refuse to give a refund without first getting feedback as to why. Well, refuse is the wrong word...use quality assurance practices: companies don't just give out refunds, they ask and ask, and then sell sell sell. You have to pull teeth to get a refund. I get the feeling that you just give a refund whenever someone asks...be somewhere in the middle...don't let them off so easily.

        They want a refund? They gotta say why they didn't like the product first. That's my attitude anyway for whatever it's worth to you.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dave Espino
      Hi William,

      As someone who was blessed with only a 4% refund rate on my infomercial product, (which generated millions) I have a few thoughts about this.

      There are a few possibilities that come to my mind.

      * Quality of product is not high enough to sustain your current price point (either improve the product, the offer or reduce the price)
      * Value (perceived or real) given by the product is not high enough to sustain that price point (lower the price)
      * The source of the traffic that is buying your product is a lower income or "lower commitment level" demographic (find better traffic sources)
      * The promises made in the salescopy are too hyped or are not delivered in the product (Reduce your claims or improve your product offering)
      * Your targeted market is broke and reaching for a quick fix, but the product does not deliver the quick fix they are looking for. (improve your targeted traffic sources)
      * The product does not have a clearly-defined track for the customer to follow to achieve their results (improve the product to make it more step-by-step)
      * The product lacks clear focus - either in it's design or in it's "flow" that teaches the customer (take some time to look at your product from your customers' point of view - are they getting everything that was promised - from THEIR perspective?)

      I heard somewhere that "marketing is about making the right offer to the right person at the right time."

      Get those three right (and make sure your product kicks a$$) and you will reduce your refund rate.

      Dave
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    • Profile picture of the author williamstraus
      Originally Posted by contentwriting360 View Post

      Hello William,

      We know that there are highly-reputable and trusted Warriors who can help you out and give you a feedback regarding your product. Perhaps, you can give them a questionnaire that they need to answer and submit to you. It's up to you if that questionnaire has closed-ended or open-ended questions.
      Yup - I actually had a senior member of this forum email me and ask for a trial account and I set it up. They pointed out that inside my member's area is way too confusing and I need to consolidate my downloads into one page.

      Also - that my main product graphic needs to call out "Membership". I call out that it's a digital download but people are probably still thinking it's a physical product.

      Anyway, I can see his points and am working on restructuring the membership area - some of the refunds may be people getting their account and thinking "Well - this is a pain in the a$$ - why did I buy this??".

      As for some of the other comments:
      • This is not the IM niche - it's a good sized niche that doesn't have the reputation of refunds (like Forex or IM).
      • I believe you guys are right - there is a disconnect between the sales copy and the product - I think that disconnect is that these are digital downloads - not a physical product. I call that out in my sales copy but not importantly enough.
      • I assume the refund rate is lower in my niche because I've been in this niche and others for a long time. While some CB products just refund a lot I sell hundreds as an affiliate with refund rates under 5%.
      • I'm not interested in fighting the refunds - I want enough people to see value in the product (again - similar products are priced at $50 more than mine) and choose not to refund. Clickbank can grant a refund for just about any reason they are happy with.
      • I'm 100% convinced if I can figure out what's going wrong and fix the refund issue I'm going to make a killing. I've generated dozens of sales with only 50-100 views a day (all generated via my email list and some AdCenter ads).

      Thank you all for the answers and responses!
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael D Forbes
    If it's "IM" related, you'll generally expect a pretty high refund rate, lot's of people buying though their own link and refunding. It just happens, sadly. Lots of people out there that want your material but don't want to pay. CB makes it pretty easy for folks to get it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
    As Michael mentioned above, if it's in the IM niche, then you are going to get a much higher refund rate.

    However, whether it's in the IM niche or not, you have mentioned that you are good at getting conversions. The question I have is why? In other words, your sales page may not be misleading, but it is ALWAYS creating expectations in the minds of your visitors.

    Does the product match the expectations you are creaitng?

    Even if you have the best ClickBank product ever, it has to be congruent with the story the sales page tells. This may be something you need to look at.

    All the best,
    Michael
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    "ClickBank" + "IM" = Refund.

    That's the reality of the game. But in this market you have
    to add a ton of value so the customer would feel guilty
    to ask for a refund.

    I get complaints from customers that I should charge more
    for my products. But I also find that for those same products
    sold on ClickBank the refund rates didn't match.

    Just changing payment processor from ClickBank to Paypal
    saw a precipitous drop in refund rate for me.

    -Ray Edwards
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    Originally Posted by williamstraus View Post

    • Right now about 30-40% of purchases are getting refunded
    • I honor EVERY refund request and simply ask for feedback on how to improve the product - no one ever bothers to respond with this approach.
    • I've gone so far as to tell them I'm leaving their access in tact (free access) in return for some feedback on how to make it better. Nothing - 2 people responded with "Well, I'm just having a hard time financially and need to pinch my pennies".
    • Par for the course in IM products, from what I can tell reading other complaints about CB and refunds.
    • Again, par for the course. If people aren't happy, they tell their friends. If they're using the refund to steal your product, they'll hardly tell you about it.
    • Crying poverty is a good fail-safe excuse that's hard to dispute. If they want a refund, one reason is as good as any other in their minds, so they give you one you won't/can't argue with.


    Originally Posted by williamstraus View Post

    It's a collection of audios and some PDF/eBooks - I've seen similar products go for as high as $97 on CB and they don't (I'm assuming) have this sort of refund issue.

    -Will
    Why would you assume they don't have similar refund issues?
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    • Profile picture of the author Harvey Segal
      Originally Posted by TheRealDudeman View Post

      Might I also add that you could refuse to give a refund without first getting feedback as to why.
      You can't do that with ClickBank.


      Originally Posted by contentwriting360 View Post

      Partial Refunds - This will allow a vendor to determine the percentage of a refund to grant to a consumer, based on their business rules.
      This feature is not yet officially available.

      .
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    • Profile picture of the author williamstraus
      Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

      [LIST]
      Why would you assume they don't have similar refund issues?
      I've sold hundreds of products as an affiliate and am pretty confident that a lot of the "Everything in ClickBank is crap and results in refunds!" is because people obsessively run straight into promoting internet marketing products.

      I stay away from niches that I've found to be high refund niches - Internet Marketing and Forex. Perhaps there are other niches that we can add to the "high refund" list - but I'm pretty confident that this niche isn't.

      It is certainly a "desperate buyer" niche though. So perhaps I'll always have a higher than 5% return - but I can't settle for 30-40%.

      -Will
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    You could always lower your price to $7. This might stop the refunds lol.

    (Kidding of course).
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  • Profile picture of the author TheSalesBooster
    Need more details on what your product actually is. What kind of audio files and pdf/ebooks?

    Is it a make money from home offer?
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  • Profile picture of the author Yadira Barbosa
    I don't use clickbank for my IM products, because almost all the people buy from their own link and then they request for the refund, no matter the product quality at all.

    I prefer to use nanacast for it, they can't buy from themselves and got a very powerful funnel, my refunds are .1% using nanacast.
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    • Profile picture of the author RogueOne
      I have sold hundreds of products as an affiliate in the "game guide" niche through CB and my refund rate is less then 2% overall.

      From the way it all goes down I suspect about half of those were pirates who bought - copied- refunded.

      Just FYI
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      • Profile picture of the author capitalalchemy
        In the mix are always going to be irrational people too. You just can't avoid them. Sometimes I worry about the mental states of some customers :rolleyes:
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