My name is Matthew Bredel and as of March, 2007, I am a full-time, work-at-home internet marketer.
For close to 10 years, I worked for a defense company which was an OK job, but I was so uninspired in life and frankly, I needed some more money. That is when I first discovered internet marketing! Now I admit that I didn't start making thousands in my first couple of months (in fact, I lost my shirt!), but I finally saw the "internet light"...
If you sell on Clickbank, you know one fundamental rule about the system is its simplicity for people to buy your products with their affiliate link. It costs you a large percentage of the sale with no marketing benefits. Should Clickbank stop people from doing this. HECK NO! And here is why…
I suppose it is bad of me, but I have gotten lazy about checking my YouTube InBox (kind of: out of sight, out of mind). But this morning, I spent a good hour or so looking over the questions people have sent and one stood out…
It was from someone who was upset that affiliates could buy Clickbank products with their own affiliate link.
Is this fair to the advertiser?
Technically, no one referred or marketed this link to them. Why should I (the advertiser) have to provide them a full commission at my expense?
This is kind of like the “refund” debate (how do you prevent people from buying your product with the intention on refunding it?). That is a post all in itself, but the two are very similar.
In both cases, the advertiser is losing profit with intention from the buyer.
I think affiliates being able to buy Clickbank products with there own link is GOOD!
Let me give you my arguments…
1) Test Before Promoting
As an affiliate marketer myself, I want to be able to go through both the buying and affiliate process myself. If I am going to promote a product, I may not necessarily want to use it, but I am still willing to pay the advertiser SOME money for the opportunity to accurately review it.
Also, you want to make sure that your affiliate cookie or link is actually going to give you credit. I hate to admit this, but there are some rather deceitful marketers out there.
(I know, that is tough to believe)
They may try to funnel the customer onto a mailing list and market them elsewhere. Or they may stuff their own cookie. Or they don’t provide you commissions on an important upsell. There are a lot of bad things that can happen, and I want to test the Clickbank system and the advertiser to make sure it is working ok.
2) Who Even Knows This?
If you are an affiliate marketer or have spent time in the home business space, you are aware of Clickbank, how it works and how buying with your affiliate link can save you money.
But I will promise that MOST people don’t have a clue about this. If you sell Home Biz products, you will be affected a lot more and you will get people who are “buying for themselves” with no intention to promote it. (I do it all of the time…I even refund products that I think stink, too!)
But for the general masses and MOST e-products, you will find that the general consumer does not know about this. (And in this case, the buyers who DO know about it are more than likely buying for the reasons stated in #1).
3) This Increases Gravity!
So are there any benefits for those of us who ARE in the home biz niche (or other niches that consumers are abusing the affiliate link?).
YES, and it is a good one, too. Remember that Clickbank Gravity is a function of unique affiliates that have sold a product (to learn more about this, see my post Understanding Clickbank Gravity). How much is an EXTRA GRAVITY POINT worth to you? In this case, you still get a percentage of the sale and an increase in gravity. (And gravity is a viral thing!).
4) A Sale is a Sale
And still, even though are you missing out on profit, in many cases, these people would have never bought from you in the first place without the discount. You still get the lead, you still make the money, and for most of us selling on Clickbank, our overhead costs are very small (which makes this discounted sale still profitable!).
I would be rather upset if Clickbank started a non-affiliate buying rule. I don’t think it helps anyone.
But tell me what you think? Should affiliates be able to buy products for themselves on Clickbank?
cheers…matt
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Matt,
I agree with you that it should be allowed and also for the reason of reviewing the product and the sales process.
From the advertiser’s point of view, an affiliate would only buy for a couple of reasons. First, they want to write a review and promote the product (good for the advertiser) or secondly, to use the product themselves. If the product is good, a ClickBank affiliate will probably end up promoting it even if the original intent was to use it personally (so once again, good for the advertiser).
October 28th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Not to mention it’s a good way to test the tracking… if I click my own link, then buy, and I’m not credited for the sale, something’s definitely wrong. Who’s scraping?
And as your 4th point says, a sale is a sale.
Amazon does NOT let you buy from your own affiliate links… which is odd, that they take the time to figure this out. But there are other companies, who I buy from often, that I use my own affiliate links. It’s like a frequent-buyer club discount
October 29th, 2009 at 6:24 am
Those are my feelings, too, Chris. And like I mentioned above, a buyer is a buyer is a buyer (and the increase in gravity score is a big plus, too!). cheers…matt
October 29th, 2009 at 7:05 am
Hi Matt,
Once again I agree with your response to this issue. I believe that I will pursue marketing a product more vigorously if I have the chance to review that product and use it to see results. I also believe that my marketing will be more effective if I can give some personal evidence to my readers as to what I have found with a particular product.
When I am a vendor I will not only not mind affiliate doing this but will probably encourage this for the above reasons. And after all, a sale is a sale.
Thanks for your insight once again.
October 29th, 2009 at 7:48 am
A vendor getting upset about this self-defeats the purpose of ClickBank and all afilliate marketing programs.
To me a vendor choosing to market her/his products on ClickBank means that they WANT affiliates to market their products, and indeed sell them. If not, why wouldn’t they just use a FREE PayPal shopping cart button?
Your question: ‘Is this fair to the advertiser?’ confused me a little at first and I had to re-read. No biggie, but as an affiliate I am every bit as much an ‘advertiser’ as the vendor. At least in the products I choose to promote. And, I won’t pick a product that forces me to compete with the vendor’s advertising efforts because their pay-off is 300% more than mine! (On a 75% split item.)
In the long run, yes, a sale is a sale though.
John
November 17th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
[...] Debate: Affiliates Buying Clickbank Products [...]
November 19th, 2009 at 5:03 am
[...] Debate: Affiliates Buying Clickbank Products [...]
November 19th, 2009 at 8:04 am
I totally agree with you guys. Honestly its better for the advertiser that the affiliate purchase from there own link. Without the discount the affiliate is 9 times out of 10 not going to buy it at all. Half of 1 sale is better then no sale especially when you are talking about A digital product. How is it any different then someone setting up A new site and having a random visitor drop by and purchase from an affiliate link? The money works out the same for them in reality. The only difference is now you are giving someone who may make you a lot of sales A better perspective on your product.
If you are going to allow affiliates to sell your product the fact is that any sale made by an affiliate is going to pay out the same. It seems like it shouldnt be an issue. With clickbank the advertisers are willing to pay 50% or more to anyone that can get them sales. We can get you the sales and the first sale we make really should be to ourselves.
February 17th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
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February 17th, 2011 at 8:25 am