This is Actually Fun
Posted by: Monty Sooter, CTO
As a kid my Dad was always shocked when he would go into the garage and see the latest motor I had taken apart. He was even more shocked when I got it back together and it worked. He is a great father, but a terrible mechanic. So I got to do all the things around the house from a very young age. Sure, I ruined some stuff, but I was always learning.
To this day my friends and family think I am strange because I actually like being involved in developing and running systems. But think about it — you get to analyze how each thing operates, divide it into the smallest parts, and then put all the parts back together. What could be more fun than that?
At ClickBank we must consistently add new features to help our clients in their businesses and to stay competitive in what will be a multi-billion dollar market. Some of these features, for example recurring billing, require changes in almost all parts of our application. Like all technology-centric companies, the challenge for us is to add these new parts to the system, while minimizing disruptions to our businesses.
Our recent launch of Platform Globalization was based on feedback from our clients. We heard from our clients that global capability should be one of our top priorities and so far have received encouraging comments on its implementation. Many are pushing for a complete multi-lingual, multi-currency offering, specifically accepting foreign currencies, but it’s critical that we release this in steps to lessen any potential glitches. You can’t entirely take apart a working engine while it’s running after all. The capability for French and German language products, as well as the acceptance of currencies besides USD is all coming soon. We will be the global platform for digital goods.
I can’t imagine anything more fun than continuing to provide the capabilities clients have said are necessary to allow their businesses to grow. I know if the clients grow, we grow. Our next planned enhancements include an approach to facilitate client to client communications, a new publisher referral program, and an extension of electronic payments to our clients. So, keep giving us feedback. We do listen and the ClickBank Blog will help us to continue to have improved communications. Remember, your feedback will be a key factor in determining what we develop next.
I have seen many business transformations in my career and I am looking forward to the next couple of years at ClickBank. People always ask me when I start a new endeavor how I think it will turn out and I always say, “Ask me in a couple of years and I will let you know.” Pretty good and fun so far.
Frederic said,
April 7, 2008 @ 4:50 pm
Thanks for the post!
I’m glad about the Platform Globalization and will be waiting for the French version to start launching products in the French market!
A suggestion:
- The ability to run “discount sales”
- The ability to create easy “upsales”
Thanks!
Frederic
Chad said,
April 7, 2008 @ 6:57 pm
Great!
Shafir Ahmad said,
April 7, 2008 @ 7:49 pm
Please do keep the innovations coming.
Although personally and at this point in time, I do not see myself providing products and services in other languages, no doubt I will do so in the future, so knowing that Clickbank is providing such a service is a plus point when I will be listing such items.
Swerd said,
April 7, 2008 @ 9:38 pm
Nice.. I look forward to the multiple currencies..
I have seen some vendors use images on the payment page. How are the conversions with this? Is this something that all vendors will be able to setup in the future?
thanks,
Swerd
Monty Sooter, ClickBank said,
April 9, 2008 @ 1:06 pm
Thanks for your comment, Swerd.
Some vendors were part of a pilot test we recently conducted to determine if adding images to the payment pages increased conversion. The testing is now complete. The order form with a product image performed better than the standard order form by a significant margin.
As a result, we will be releasing product image (and product title) for general availability this month.
Also, Frederic, thanks for the suggestions.
Swerd said,
April 9, 2008 @ 3:00 pm
WOHOO! Thats awesome! Thanks for the reply
william said,
April 10, 2008 @ 8:39 pm
Sounds great, and Fun Thanks.
eshwar said,
April 11, 2008 @ 6:17 pm
Iam excited about the market opportunities that platform globalization can bring
In the same note, How about introducing paypal as an additional payment option, it would mean a lot for people living outside of the US, besides Wire transfer?
Or the wire transfer would cover countries other than the US (Europe, India, Australia…)?
Thanks,
Kudos to you guys.
~Esh
vbpaixao said,
April 12, 2008 @ 7:30 am
Nice post.
How about the possibility to use AdWords conversion tracking in the thank you pages?
I’d love to see that in the future.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks
Mohit said,
April 16, 2008 @ 1:33 am
I can’t imagine anything more fun than continuing to provide the capabilities clients have said are necessary to allow their businesses to grow.
clickbank is simply rocking and its fun
Chris Desouza said,
April 17, 2008 @ 10:05 am
All the issues raised and worked upon is fine and yet ClickBank has not implemented in protecting affiliate links.
As long as Clickbank is the beneficiary of every sale, it continues to overlook this extremely important feature. PayPal came up with a solution. It is time ClickBank did as well.
Why the need to buy and use 3rd party solutions, when ClickBank can implement this necessary component as a confidence building measure and concern for it’s clients?
Chris
Gary Caine said,
April 22, 2008 @ 6:01 am
I have to agree with Chris. I’m sure I’m losing a lot of sales.
There’s far too many times when my sales have dropped to 0 for a few days in a row. I make enough on average to be pretty sure something is wrong when that happens.