Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Award Recognizes ClickBank’s Innovation

BROOMFIELD, Colo. – Aug. 12, 2008 – ClickBank, a privately held online retailer for buyers and sellers of digitally delivered products and services, today announced that it was named a finalist for an IQ Award for Innovation by the Boulder County Business Report (BCBR) in the Internet/software business category.

“The Boulder area is a hotbed of creative, dynamic and accomplished companies that focus on the Internet, so we are very happy to be selected as a finalist for the award,” said Bob King, ClickBank CEO. “This honor is really a reflection of the great work and talent of ClickBank’s staff.”

The awards are designed to honor the most innovative products and services in Colorado’s Boulder and Broomfield counties.

For more information on Boulder County Business Report’s IQ awards, go to www.IQawards.com. Award winners will be announced on Aug. 14, 2008.

Service provides more convenience for ClickBank users

BROOMFIELD, Colo. – July 16, 2008 – ClickBank, a privately held online retailer for buyers and sellers of digitally delivered products and services, today announced the addition of direct deposit (ACH & XACH) for qualified ClickBank users to receive commission and sales payments.

“Direct deposit is the latest in a series of improvements we’ve made to ClickBank during the past 16 months,” said Bob King, ClickBank CEO. “The feedback we are getting about direct deposit has been very enthusiastic as it’s very convenient for both our affiliates and product publishers.”

With direct deposit, available at no extra charge, ClickBank users will no longer need to wait to receive a check by mail. Payments will be received in one to five business days in the local currency – saving on unnecessary bank fees.

To be eligible for direct deposit, a ClickBank user must have first received three paper checks within any 90-day period. Also, only accounts in the following countries qualify at this time: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States. The company is expecting to expand direct deposit to other countries in the future.

Posted by: Michael Poston, Product Manager

Many of you have been asking for ClickBank to offer direct deposit (ACH & XACH) into both domestic and international bank accounts. Well, we listened to your feedback, and direct deposit is launching in the next few weeks for eligible clients. Soon, if you meet the requirements outlined below, you will have the option of selecting ACH/XACH as a payment preference within your account.

This means that you no longer need to receive your ClickBank payments via check. Now you can simply specify ACH as your payment method, at no extra charge, and receive payments quickly (1-5 business days), reliably, and in your local currency, reducing unnecessary bank fees.

To be eligible, an account must have first received three paper paychecks within any 90-day period. Additionally, only accounts in the following countries are eligible at this time: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States.

We would like to offer direct deposit payment to all of our international clients, but we are currently limited to countries where our bank has existing partnerships. We will continue to search for ways to expand this program, and expect this list to grow in the future.

Watch your Account Home and the blog for more details about direct deposit and how to enroll.

Remember, your input shapes our roadmap. It is our goal to deliver products and features that are in demand and help our clients run their businesses more effectively. So, please comment below and let me know what features you think are important.

Happy selling, friends!

Service provides more convenience when paying for online subscriptions

BROOMFIELD, Colo. – June 24, 2008 – ClickBank, a privately held online retailer for buyers and sellers of digitally delivered products and services, today announced it is offering PayPal for recurring billing – yet another strategic option for product publishers seeking to increase business and meet customer needs.

ClickBank is using PayPal’s recurring billing solution to give product publishers an easy way to sell subscription-based content and services, such as online newsletters or annual software licenses. It has proven to be very popular with customers, growing rapidly each month since its introduction.

“Currently, nearly 20 percent of ClickBank’s total business transactions are conducted using PayPal,” said Bob King, ClickBank CEO. “Allowing customers to use PayPal for recurring billing will further fuel demand for our popular subscription-based products and services and, by providing a new payment option, enhance the ClickBank experience for publishers, affiliates and customers.”

“We are excited to have ClickBank on board using PayPal,” said Jim Hunt, director of merchant relations at PayPal. “Using our recurring billing functionality gives customers security and convenience when shopping online.”

ClickBank is a world leader in online commerce systems with more than 100,000 active affiliates, 35,000 unique digitally downloadable products, such as e-books and software, and over 12,000 product publishers from around the globe that register more than 25,000 daily transactions.

Posted by: Bob King, CEO

The blogosphere and affiliate marketers have been abuzz about New York’s new tax law that requires online retailers to collect and remit sales taxes on purchases by New York residents. The curveball New York threw in there was that the presence of affiliates in the state was a basis to establish nexus for tax purposes.

This got a lot more attention last week when Overstock.com summarily dropped all of its New York-based affiliates so it would not have to collect and remit taxes to that state.

While we are disappointed by New York’s decision, there is no way we are going to cut off our affiliates, our highly-valued business partners, because of an action by lawmakers.

The commitment we have to our New York affiliates goes for all ClickBank users, affiliates and product publishers alike. We do everything we can to ensure that you are successful so that means we adapt to new circumstances ….including changes in tax law. That’s just the way we do things around here.

So, New York affiliates, publishers, and consumers will have the systems they need by June 1. We’ll be sending out a technical announcement in the next few days on how it all works. And, rest assured, when changes in the marketplace impact affiliate marketers or product publishers, ClickBank will be there with solutions.

Posted by: Kristen M., Marketing Communications Manager

This year’s European general client meeting and training are scheduled for Thursday, June 5, 2008 in London.  Registration for both the general meeting and training portions of the event will open this Thursday, May 1 at 9:00 a.m. PST.

The training will be held in the morning (approximately 10:00 a.m. to noon) and will include information for both publishers and affiliates. The general company meeting will be held in the afternoon (approximately 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.) and will feature an overview of our plans for the next year, as well as an interactive discussion of ClickBank features.

Registrations for both portions of the meeting will be handled separately via a form made available on this blog Thursday, May 1. There is no fee to attend this event.

Please only register if you are certain you can attend. Due to space limitations, we can only accept the first 100 people for each event. If you register, but don’t attend, you will deny someone else the opportunity to attend.

The event will be held at a hotel in Central London. Exact location to be provided at a later date.

If you have any questions or concerns please comment below.

Posted by: Kristen M., Marketing Communications Manager

Wall Street Journal reporter Lee Gomes recently wrote an article about reading an e-book on his Blackberry. And, unlike so many reviews of the e-book experience in the past, it was actually quite favorable (you can read it here).

The debate has raged for years about the death of the printed page, from newspapers to magazines to books. To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of these deaths have been greatly exaggerated – or are, at the very least, premature. E-book readers for our computers have been around for years, but convenience, eye-strain and a myriad of other factors have hindered their broad adoption. However, two recent developments have pushed on-screen reading back to the forefront and signals continuing opportunity for ClickBank publishers.

Apple’s introduction of the iPhone got the masses thinking about what’s possible, including reading, on an easily portable device. Most importantly, though, the introduction of new devices such as the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader are really turning heads. Both are small and light, both use new technology that makes the device read more like paper than a screen, and the Kindle allows fast downloads wherever cell service is available. Gomes even mentioned in his WSJ article that it was much better ergonomically to read something on his BlackBerry screen than it was to hold a book.

The Kindle is currently the most popular e-book reader option. While it currently works exclusively with content delivered via Amazon, it’s helping to rapidly expand e-book readership, and like a rising tide floats all boats, that’s good for all of us.

Suddenly, the e-book is becoming a big thing. It’s taking more forms and making more inroads than ever before, and the trend seems to be growing.

Clearly, this is all good news for ClickBank publishers. As more and more consumers get comfortable with reading a variety of materials on a screen rather than a printed page, and as devices make that more and more convenient, the market for digitally delivered books, magazines, and newsletters across multiple platforms will only continue to grow.

Posted by: Kristen M., Marketing Communications Manager

We’re in the process of planning this year’s European general client meeting. The event is tentatively scheduled for June 5, 2008 in London.

Attendance is limited to approximately the first 150 people who register. We will handle registration via a specific form on the blog that will be posted soon (please do not attempt to register by leaving a comment). Be sure to check back frequently for more information about when registration is open. (Or subscribe to our RSS feed, so you will be notified as soon as we post.)

The meeting will have two components: a training session and a general client meeting. The training will include information for both publishers and affiliates. The general client meeting will feature an overview of our plans for the next year, as well as an interactive discussion of ClickBank features.

Stay tuned for more information!

Posted by: Jen Johannsen, VP of Operations

Hello friends! I say that because I have been with ClickBank for a long time, and have developed relationships with so many of you. For those of you that I haven’t had the chance to work with – I hope that we also have an opportunity at some point!

In my “previous life” (pre-ClickBank), most of my experience was in restaurants and restaurant management, which I really enjoyed. I always loved trying to make certain each customer had a great experience after they walked through the door. That is what we expect at ClickBank, as well. I recognize, however, that we still have improvements to make to reach this goal.

As you may have noticed, we have made a significant effort to improve our outbound communications with our clients. We also have plans to improve our inbound customer service communications this year. Some of the ideas that we are working on include building a ticket system for handling incoming inquiries from our clients, offering online chat as a way for clients to ask questions and get answers more quickly, and further extending our customer service hours.

It is important to me that while we work on these projects, we are still addressing the questions and needs clients have right now. With that in mind, here are my best suggestions for getting the responses that you need from ClickBank as quickly as possible:

• First, be sure to always use the form on our Contact Us page. The emails that are sent through the form are guaranteed to get to us, whereas emails sent to a particular email address always have a possibility of getting improperly categorized or filtered along the way.

• When possible, ask all of your questions in one email and be as thorough with your questions as possible. This will allow one Customer Service Representative to answer all of your questions at one time. This is much more efficient than having multiple different Customer Service Representatives answer one question at a time.

• Only send one email for each inquiry. Until we have a ticket system, we are unable to tie two matching emails together. As a result, we spend time responding to each email that arrives, even if it’s already been answered, which slows us down for answering other unique emails.

• If you have a confusing question, or if you are having a difficult time understanding the information our team sends back, feel free to ask us for our phone number or send your phone number to us. The number is not currently published on the website because we literally get thousands of new sign ups a day. For every one phone call, we can handle ten to twenty emails… so for us, the best first shot at answering a question is by email. Not only can we handle more emails at a time than we can phone calls, but then you also have a written answer that you can refer back to. But when that doesn’t work, we are more than happy to help by phone. Just ask!

• If you are still having problems getting a response (and you’ve tried my recommendations above), I want to know about it! Leave a comment and we’ll try to track down why you didn’t receive your email or why you haven’t received a response.

I hope you find the information above helpful. I’m looking forward to implementing our improvements this year! Keep your eyes out for great things from ClickBank’s customer service team!