ClickBank is one of the first affiliate networks and has heavily influenced newcomers in the industry. The platform is accessible to sellers and affiliate marketers with varying experiences. And, with timely and reliable payouts, this is one of the best marketplaces for affiliates.
Sellers also get a ready market of hundreds of millions of potential customers. ClickBank also hosts more than 100,000 affiliates, so vendors are spoiled for choice when looking for the ultimate marketers for their products.
ClickBank Compared to the Best Affiliate Marketing Networks
While ClickBank is a safe bet for most affiliate marketers, it isn’t the only choice when it comes to affiliate marketing networks. Below are our top picks, which we fondly refer to as our Golden Eggs:
ShareASale is our top pick, with access to affiliate managers ready to share tips and strategies with new affiliates and negotiate higher commissions with seasoned marketers. Join for free and partner with your favorite brands.
Awin is a terrific platform for affiliate marketers who want more control over how they earn commissions. Get approved today and choose the advertiser program that suits your commission model.
MaxBounty offers digital nomads and international affiliate marketers a chance to earn high cost-per-action (CPA) commissions regardless of location. Join MaxBounty today and leverage the traffic sources you trust.
The Good and the Bad
ClickBank set up shop in 1998 as one of the first affiliate marketing networks. ClickBank succeeds in some aspects but could improve in others. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s good or bad about enrolling in ClickBank.
What ClickBank Is Good At
ClickBank is easily accessible, especially for affiliate marketers with little prior experience. The marketplace offers extensive educational materials for sellers and marketers. Vendors can also set their preferred commissions. Meanwhile, affiliates can bank on timely and reliable payouts.
Low Barriers to Entry: ClickBank is one of the most accessible affiliate marketing networks to join. Setting up your account is free, and you can generate your first affiliate link in just 15 minutes of signing up. In addition, unlike many other affiliate marketing networks, you don’t need vendor approval to promote products.
You don’t have to deal with complicated paperwork or administrative back-and-forth. You only need basic information like your name, country, phone number, and password. Then, head to the marketplace, choose a product you like, and click the Promote button to generate a unique affiliate tracking URL or HopLink.
Access to Marketing Education: Although it helps, you don’t need to be a marketing expert to join ClickBank. The platform offers Spark, an affiliate marketing education program. You get access to high-quality training material covering affiliate marketing concepts, how to start, email marketing, copywriting, advertising, and entrepreneurship.
Subject matter experts deliver the training. As a result, you can go from beginner to expert for as low as $47 per month. Their courses are also self-paced, so you don’t have to worry about carving out large blocks of time to study.
High Affiliate Commissions: ClickBank has some of the highest commissions of any digital marketing network. You can earn up to 75% commission for some products. And, with stiff competition, vendors are incentivized to offer high commissions.
There are also numerous product categories to choose from. You’re sure to find a niche you’re passionate and knowledgeable about, which certainly helps to become a successful marketer.
Robust Statistics & Reports: ClickBank takes the guesswork out of choosing products to promote. You can easily view critical statistics for each listed product before promoting it. Plus, ClickBank has a Gravity Score for each listing.
The Gravity Score indicates how many affiliates made a commission over 12 weeks. The score also emphasizes recent sales. So, a quick look at the Gravity Score will reveal whether you can make money promoting the product.
Large Marketplace for Vendors: ClickBank has its own marketplace with a global audience of more than 200 million customers. You can sell physical or digital goods with no limit to the number of products you can list for sale.
You also have access to more than 100,000 affiliate marketers to help promote your products. You can also contact successful marketers directly, so you’re working only with people who understand and are passionate about your products.
Regular Payments: ClickBank has regular and predictable payouts. You can choose weekly or biweekly payouts. For example, you can expect funds on Fridays, two days after the pay period ends. The pay period ends on Wednesdays at midnight PST.
ClickBank also boasts of never missing a payment in 20 years. ClickBank is undoubtedly a trustworthy platform if you’ve burnt your fingers before on disreputable marketplaces. You can also choose how you want to be paid, including wire payments, direct deposit, Payoneer, or checks.
What ClickBank Is Lacking
ClickBank has some downsides, including steep fines for inactivity and some low-quality products. ClickBank is also very competitive for sellers and affiliates, so it might take some time to build steam and become profitable.
Numerous Low-Quality Products: The ClickBank marketplace has over six million digital products for sale. So it sounds like it would be easy to spot a valuable product to advertise immediately. Unfortunately, however, there is a good number of products that aren’t worth your time.
This problem isn’t unique to ClickBank. Most marketplaces have issues with quality control. You’ll need to use the search and filter features, dig deep into the product specifications, and do your research before you’re ready to pick a winning product to promote.
Expensive for Inactive Users: ClickBank is accessible even for people with little digital marketing or selling experience. However, you’ll need to start making money soon, or you’ll pay expensive fines and fees. In addition, a ClickBank account is considered dormant after 90 days of no earnings.
The platform charges $1 per pay period after 90 days without earnings. Then, the fee goes up to $5 per pay period after 180 days. Finally, you’ll pay $50 per pay period after 365 days with no earnings. Keep in mind that ClickBank doesn’t notify users that their accounts are dormant.
More Work to Drive Sales: Top-tier marketers make thousands of dollars on ClickBank. However, it takes time to be profitable on ClickBank. As a result, alternative marketplaces like Amazon are more popular and have high trust among customers.
You’ll need to create an optimized landing page, develop an email list, use an autoresponder, launch an email marketing campaign, and follow up with leads to make sales on ClickBank. In short, ClickBank isn’t quite at optimized and popular as alternatives like the Amazon Marketplace.
High Competition: ClickBank is competitive due to its low entry barriers and high commissions. As a result, beginners have difficulty finding products to promote and convert sales. Fortunately, ClickBank offers educational material to turn you into a top-tier marketer.
Regardless, learning the ropes and making sales may take some time. Meanwhile, with steep fines for non-performance, you’ll unlikely be an overnight success. However, your efforts will be rewarded once you learn to sell on ClickBank.
ClickBank Options and Pricing
ClickBank is an affiliate marketplace that connects sellers to able digital marketers. Vendors can also sell products on the ClickBank marketplace.
ClickBank Affiliate Marketplace
The ClickBank affiliate marketplace hosts more than 100,000 digital marketers. Signing up as an affiliate marketer is free. In addition, affiliates can choose from more than 4,000 digital and physical products to promote across more than two-dozen categories.
The first step is to create your account. Simply visit the ClickBank website and click Start Here on the top right corner of the webpage. Then, fill out the signup form with details like your name, country, email address, and password.
Next, you’ll be requested to complete your client profile. You’ll enter additional information such as a street address, preferred language, and how you’d like to be paid. US citizens must also provide a tax ID, such as an Employer Identification Number (EIN) or Social Security Number (SSN).
Finally, update your payment information, such as payment method, threshold, and frequency. Again, the entire process is free for affiliate marketers. Finally, you can search the ClickBank marketplace for lucrative products to promote.
Affiliates can earn a commission in one of two ways:
Revenue Share: This type of commission, also called rev-share, is based on a percentage of the sale. For example, a seller may offer a 50% commission for each sale. This is the most common type of commission on ClickBank.
You can assume that a vendor offers revenue sharing unless their page indicates otherwise. However, affiliates don’t earn a commission if the product is returned and the buyer requests a refund.
Cost Per Action (CPA): This commission pays a flat fee for each conversion. However, this commission only applies to the first sale in the seller’s funnel. Subsequent sales or subscriptions do not pay a commission.
CPA commission is a terrific option for affiliates who want to earn a lumpsum commission upfront rather than for each product they sell. In this case, the affiliate still keeps the commission even if a buyer returns a product and requests a refund.
You don’t need vendor approval to promote most products. However, you may need permission to promote some products. Additionally, you’ll need to contact the vendor to find out about their CPA rate.
ClickBank Seller Account
ClickBank is a marketplace where affiliate marketers and sellers meet and work together. You’ll follow the same process to create a seller account. You can choose what you want to do on ClickBank during the signup process.
For example, you can choose to sell or promote products. You can also select both options. Either way, you’ll do both from the same primary account.
Sellers have to pay a one-time activation fee of $49.95. Then, you’ll pay $29.95 for any additional accounts.
However, your products must be approved by the ClickBank Compliance Team before listing them for sale. You’ll receive approval via the email you provided during the signup.
There are also stricter guidelines for seller accounts. For instance, you’ll need a website and a registered domain name. You’ll also have to create a Pitch Page on ClickBank, with details such as product description, delivery method and speed, product’s file format, price, payment link, and contact information.
Next, you’ll also need to create a Thank You Page on ClickBank. This page contains information such as product access instructions, disclaimer, and contact information.
Finally, you must manually create a Pitch Page payment link. Customers click this link when they’re ready to purchase your product. Again, ClickBank has extensive resources to help you create a seller account.
It’s also worth noting that ClickBank takes a cut of each sale. This cut is separate from the affiliate commission. So ClickBank purchases your product at 92.5% of the sale price + $1.
For example, say your product’s sale price is $200. ClickBank will purchase the product from you when a customer makes an order. So ClickBank will purchase the product at 92.5% of the sale price + $1. That brings your revenue to $185 + $1 = $186.
Don’t forget the affiliate commission. For example, say you offer affiliate marketers a 50% revenue-sharing commission. That means you’ll earn $93 from this sale. Keep these details in mind when deciding how much to sell your products.
There’s also a refund chargeback. This fee applies to sellers and affiliates. ClickBank guarantees its customers a 100% refund for returns. Depending on the product’s value and return date, you’ll be charged $0.50 or $1 for each refund.
Overall, the pricing is straightforward and transparent. You only need to know about ClickBank’s cuts and commissions. So it’s easy to set a price that ensures you’re profitable.
Spark Certification
Don’t worry if you don’t know the first thing about affiliate marketing. ClickBank offers a specific course known as the Spark Certification. The course was created over 20 years ago and delivered by ClickBank’s internal expert marketers.
The course serves sellers and affiliates. Some of its materials include:
- Internet Marketing 101
- Product Owners
- Affiliate Marketing
- Affiliate Quickstart Guide
- Direct Response Psychology
- Creating Your First Ad
- Digital Product Quick Start Guide
You can also take the course at your pace. However, you can finish the course in as little as two weeks or less by working through a few daily lessons. Plus, you have lifetime access to the course when you pay.
The Spark Certification Course costs $23.50 per month. However, there’s a 30-day 100% money-back guarantee in case you don’t think the course is worth it. This guarantee reinforces how much ClickBank believes in its educational materials.
ClickBank in Summary
Unlike many fly-by-night affiliate marketing networks, ClickBank is an industry dinosaur with more than two decades in the business. It’s a sure bet if you’re worried about receiving timely payouts. You can trust ClickBank to pay on schedule every time.
ClickBank is also a terrific marketplace for vendors offering unique, functional, and high-quality digital products. The right affiliates can save you time and money promoting products, allowing you to focus on the core aspects of your business.
If ClickBank doesn’t sound like a good fit for you, you may want to check out ShareASale to connect with affiliate managers, Awin to control your commissions, or MaxBounty to maximize your global CPA numbers.
