Hop Traffic Management

This feature allows vendors to specify a mobile-optimized version of their HopLink Target URL (commonly referred to as the Pitch Page) and Thank You Page. ClickBank’s Hop referral tracking system will determine whether a Hop is occurring on a computer or a mobile device, and will route the customer to the appropriate version of the HopLink Target URL accordingly. This will improve the shopper’s experience and should result in higher conversions among mobile customers.

Mobile Order Form

If a customer reaches the ClickBank Order Form on a mobile device, we will now display a version of the order form that is visually optimized for smartphones and other mobile devices. Since users will no longer have to scroll or zoom in to view the order form, this should also result in improved conversions.

HopCode 2D Barcode Encoded HopLinks

We have introduced a new kind of HopLink that affiliates can use to promote products. When you click the Promote button in the Marketplace, enter your affiliate nickname and click Create, you’ll now see a barcode to the right of your HopLinks.

This barcode, which we call a HopCode, is encoded with your affiliate information just like a HopLink! When a mobile device user scans this HopCode with a QR code reader on their phone, they will be directed to the vendor’s HopLink Target URL, and you will earn the normal commission if a sale occurs.

This feature opens open many opportunities for new places to promote ClickBank products.

For more information about any of our mobile features, please visit our Help Center article.

Take a look at these related posts:

1. 5 ClickBank Features That Will Rock Your Profits!
2. What’s Your Mobile App “Situation”?
3. Mobile Marketing Tips for Internet Marketers [Video]

There are now two different versions of the PitchPlus feature that you can take advantage of and incorporate into your sales process.

PitchPlus Basic

With Pitch Plus Basic, the beginning of the order process works like any other ClickBank purchase; a customer visits your Pitch Page, clicks the payment link, then enters their payment information on the ClickBank order form and completes their purchase.

In a non-PitchPlus purchase, the customer is then taken to a confirmation page where they see their order details and can access the product. In a basic PitchPlus purchase, however, the customer is instead taken from the Order Form to an additional Pitch Page of your choice! The customer is given the opportunity to accept or decline the additional offer, and are then taken to a ClickBank Confirmation Page, which contains links to the individual Thank You pages of the items purchased. If they accept the additional offer, they’re able to purchase it immediately without having to re-enter payment details.

PitchPlus Advanced

Vendors must be approved for the PitchPlus Advanced feature, but once approved they can create PitchPlus flows with up to three additional offers. Like PitchPlus Basic, the order process begins like any other ClickBank purchase. After the customer enters their payment information on the ClickBank order form and completes their purchase, the vendor can display up to three additional offers to the customer within the same purchase cycle.

Within each step of the PitchPlus flow, you can decide what action to take if the customer agrees to the offer or declines the offer. Once the customer completes the flow, they are taken to a ClickBank Confirmation Page, which contains links to the individual Thank You pages of the items purchased. ClickBank automatically displays the correct combination of purchased items.

Vendors who wish to take advantage of these advanced multi-step flows must submit an application for access to PitchPlus Advanced to the ClickBank Security Team.  We will review your application, account history and intended use and respond to you directly regarding your request.

Remember, PitchPlus Basic is available to all vendors, while PitchPlus Advanced version is only available to approved vendors.

What Does This Mean for Affiliates?

Affiliates can earn additional money from PitchPlus sales too! Affiliates can receive a commission for each successful upsell purchase, with the commission rate for upsell purchases set by the vendor.

Affiliates can identify vendors in the ClickBank Marketplace who use PitchPlus offers by either looking for the PitchPlus icon ( ) or by choosing Advanced Search and selecting the Upsell checkbox under the Product Type section.  Affiliates can earn more with every promotion by promoting products from vendors who utilize PitchPlus.

Summary

The PitchPlus feature (formerly one-click upsell) is now available to all vendors. And remember, affiliates can benefit from the PitchPlus feature too by promoting products that come with additional offers!

PitchPlus is a great way to:

1) Make more money by offering additional, relevant products during the checkout process

2) Easily sell more products to customers who are already ordering from you

3) Attract more affiliates by offering extra commissions on upsell purchases

For more information on PitchPlus and for help setting up your PitchPlus offer, click here.

Take a look at these related posts:

1. Feedback Needed for Upcoming ClickBank Feature
2. 5 ClickBank Features That Will Rock Your Profits!
3. Pilot Participants Wanted for New ClickBank Reporting Feature

Today, ClickBank made a few changes to our Marketplace sales statistics in an effort to help affiliates better understand what they can expect to earn by promoting a particular vendor’s products. Several of these changes consisted of simply changing the name of the statistic, though we also added one new stat and removed another. This post will summarize the changes.

• Avg $/sale: This stat was previously called Total $/sale. This stat has been updated to reflect the total amount an affiliate can expect to earn from promoting this vendor’s products, including initial sales and rebills in the case of a recurring billing product. As always, this amount is just an average and is not guaranteed.
• Initial $/sale: This stat was previously called Avg $/sale. It represents the average amount an affiliate earns from the first sale of any product. For one-time purchases, this represents the total amount an affiliate can expect to earn. For recurring billing products, it represents the first sale but not any subsequent rebills. This number takes into account refunds, chargebacks, and sales tax.
• Avg Rebill Total: This stat was previously called Future $. It is only shown if the vendor offers a recurring billing product. This stat shows the average amount an affiliate earns on all subsequent rebills of a recurring billing product, and does not include the initial sale.
• Avg %/sale: This stat shows the average commission rate earned for all sales of a vendor’s products, including one-time purchases, rebills, and upsell purchases. Since vendors can offer different commission rates for different types of products, this number may not exactly match the commission rate you earn on any given sale.
• Avg %/rebill: This stat is new. It is only shown if the vendor offers recurring billing products, and shows the average commission rate earned only on rebills.
• %/refd: This stat has been removed from the Marketplace. Based on feedback from affiliates, we decided this stat was no longer necessary.

For more information on what all of our Marketplace sales stats mean, please see Finding Products to Promote in our Help Center.

Developers: We’ve updated the ClickBank Datafeed to version 2 to represent these changes. You can access the new datafeed here. The old datafeed will be accessible temporarily, but will eventually be removed. Please change to the new datafeed as soon as possible.

Take a look at these related posts:

1. ClickBank Analytics Improvements
2. Sort Your Way to Success
3. Download Our Recurring Billing Publisher Guide

Currently, each specific product is placed in Test Mode using the My Products menu. In the new testing method, vendors can generate a test credit card number that is usable only for their products, and which expires after 24 hours for security purposes. This card information is generated using the My Site page, and can be used to place test purchases for any product in the vendor’s account, whether it has been approved or not.

This new testing method will allow vendors to place test purchases of their products while they are still available for sale, which was not possible before. In addition, we will now send Instant Notifications for test purchases, allowing vendors to verify that Instant Notifications are working properly.

We will include more detailed information in your account once the test mode process changes.

Take a look at these related posts:

1. Important Guidelines for ClickBank Vendors
2. Using ClickBank Instant Notification
3. Affiliate Strategies: A Powerful Technique to Test New Products- Part 2

This is part five of a five-part, five-day series about how to best take advantage of the new analytics.

The new ClickBank Analytics feature has been available for a few weeks now, and we would like to follow up with ideas on how to explore and utilize some of new metrics that are now available to you. Part 1 of this series details what the different stages represent and how to measure the full process from Stage 1 to Stage 4. Part 2 outlines Order Form Sale Conversion and Part 3 examines Hops Per Order Form Impression. Part 4 looks at order form impression count vs. order form submit count. Today’s post deals with Order Form Submit count vs. Gross Sale Count.

Order Form Submit Count vs. Gross Sale Count: Stage 3 to Stage 4

You will need to look at two metrics to measure the progress of prospects from the Order Form Submit stage (Stage 3) to Sale stage (Stage 4): Order Form Submit Count and Gross Sale Count. You may view these metrics one of three ways:

1.     Plot each individually on the trend chart

2.     Compare the 2 metrics on the trend chart (using the “Compare To” drop down box)

3.     View the metrics in the data table

Keep in mind what constitutes an Order Form Submit. It is defined as the act of a prospective customer clicking the Pay Now button on the ClickBank Order Form (our reporting will count up to one order form submit per customer visit to the order form).

For prospects to successfully make it to the Sale stage, the following must have occurred:

• The customer information from the ClickBank Order Form is validated.
• The customer is verified to not be participating in fraudulent activities
• The customer has the funds and is authorized to fulfill the sale transaction requested

Common barriers for prospects exiting at this stage include:

• An invalid Postal Code entered on the ClickBank Order Form
• An invalid Name entered on the ClickBank Order Form
• An invalid Card Number entered on the ClickBank Order Form
• The prospect’s payment method is not authorized due to problems with funding
• The prospect is identified to be participating in fraudulent activities
• An invalid Card Expiration Date is entered on the ClickBank Order Form

Take a look at these related posts:

1. New Analytics in Depth – Exploring Sales Funnel Metrics: Part 4
2. New Analytics in Depth – Exploring Sales Funnel Metrics: Part 3
3. New Analytics in Depth – Exploring Sales Funnel Metrics: Part 2

This is part four of a five-part, five-day series about how to best take advantage of the new analytics.

The new ClickBank Analytics feature has been available for a few weeks now, and we would like to follow up with ideas on how to explore and utilize some of new metrics that are now available to you. Part 1 of this series details what the different stages represent and how to measure the full process from Stage 1 to Stage 4. Part 2 outlines Order Form Sale Conversion and Part 3 examines Hops Per Order Form Impression. Today’s post deals with measuring Order Form Impression Count vs. Order Form Submit Count.

Order Form Impression Count vs. Order Form Submit Count: Stage 2 to Stage 3

You will need to look at two metrics to measure the progress of prospects from the Order Form Impression stage (Stage 2) to Order Form Submit stage (Stage 3): Order Form Impression Count and Order Form Submit Count. You may view these metrics one of three ways:

1.     Plot each individually on the trend chart

2.     Compare the 2 metrics on the trend chart (using the “Compare To” drop down box)

3.     View the metrics in the data table

For a prospect to successfully make it to the Order Form Submit stage, the following must have occurred:

• The customer clicked the Pay Now button on the ClickBank Order Form

Check back tomorrow for details about Order Form Submit Count vs. Gross Sale Count.

Take a look at these related posts:

1. New Analytics in Depth – Exploring Sales Funnel Metrics: Part 5
2. New Analytics in Depth – Exploring Sales Funnel Metrics: Part 3
3. New Analytics in Depth – Exploring Sales Funnel Metrics: Part 2

This is part three of a five-part, five day series about how to best take advantage of the new analytics.

The new ClickBank Analytics feature has been available for a few weeks now, and we would like to follow up with ideas on how to explore and utilize some of new metrics that are now available to you. Part 1 of this series details what the different stages represent and how to measure the full process from Stage 1 to Stage 4. Part 2 outlines Order Form Sale Conversion. Today’s post deals with measuring Hops per Order Form.

Hops per Order Form Impression: Stage 1 to Stage 2

The Hops per Order Form Impression metric tells you how successful your prospects at the Hop stage are at converting to the Order Form Impression stage. If your Hops per Order Form Impression is 12, that means on average it takes 12 prospects at the Hop stage to have 1 prospect successfully reach the ClickBank Order Form. The lower the metric, the more efficiently you are converting prospects from the Hop stage to the Order Form Impression stage. You may use the trend chart feature to find time periods when your Hops per Order Form Impression is lowest, and then correlate that metric to specific marketing tactics that work well.

For a prospect to successfully make it to the Order Form Impression stage, the following must have occurred:

• A valid, properly formatted HopLink is clicked on
• A vendor pitch page is rendered on the web browser
• A customer decides to proceed with purchasing the product, following a link to the order form
• A valid, properly formatted link to the ClickBank Order Form is clicked on
• The ClickBank Order Form page is rendered on the web browser

This metric is available to create a trend chart or view in the data table. To create a chart utilizing the metric, locate the Data Type selection box and choose Hops. Then locate the View selection box and choose Hops Per Order Form Impression. The metric will be displayed on the trend chart for the timeframe you choose. The metric is also available to view in the data table located below the trend chart. The data table allows you to view the metric by a specific attribute of the sale and in total over a specified time period. For example, you can choose to view Hops per Order Form Impression for a specific country or product.

Check back tomorrow for information about order form impression count vs. order form submit count.

Take a look at these related posts:

1. New Analytics in Depth – Exploring Sales Funnel Metrics: Part 1
2. New Analytics in Depth – Exploring Sales Funnel Metrics: Part 4
3. New Analytics in Depth – Exploring Sales Funnel Metrics: Part 5

This is part two of a five-part, five-day series about how to best take advantage of ClickBank’s new analytics reporting.

The new ClickBank Analytics feature has been available for a few weeks now, and we would like to follow up with ideas on how to explore and utilize some of the new metrics that are now available to you. Part 1 of this series details what the different stages represent and how to measure the full process from Stage 1 to Stage 4.Today’s post deals with measuring Order Form Sale Conversion.

Order Form Sale Conversion: Stage 2 to Stage 4

Order Form Sale Conversion measures the success of moving a prospect from viewing the order form to completing a sale. It is measured as a rate or percentage, and therefore the higher the rate, the more efficient your conversion process is. This metric is particularly useful in the case where a product is sold without the use of a HopLink. In this situation, Order Form Sale Conversion measures the full sale process.

For a prospect to successfully make it from the Order Form Impression stage to the Sale stage the following must have occurred:

• The customer clicked the Pay Now button on the ClickBank Order Form
• The customer information from the ClickBank Order Form is validated The customer is verified to not be participating in fraudulent activities
• The customer has the funds to fulfill the sale transaction requested

Check back tomorrow for details about the Hops per Order Form Impression metric (measuring stage 1 to stage 2).

Take a look at these related posts:

1. New Analytics in Depth – Exploring Sales Funnel Metrics: Part 3
2. New Analytics in Depth – Exploring Sales Funnel Metrics: Part 1
3. New Analytics in Depth – Exploring Sales Funnel Metrics: Part 4

This is part one of a five-part, five-day series about how to best take advantage of ClickBank’s new analytics reporting.

The new ClickBank Analytics feature has been available for a few weeks now, and we would like to follow up with ideas on how to explore and utilize some of new metrics that are now available to you.

As you know, optimizing the conversion of prospective customers into completed sales is key to your success as a ClickBank affiliate or vendor. The new analytics offer more insight into this process than you have previously had. The process of sales through ClickBank flow through the following stages:

• Stage 1 – Hop: Prospect clicks on HopLink and is taken to vendor Pitch Page
• Stage 2 – Order Form Impression: Prospect views order form
• Stage 3 – Order Form Submit: Prospect submits order form
• Stage 4 – Sale: A sale/order is successfully processed

At each stage of the sales process, your prospective customer chooses to continue or exit the process. To maximize successful conversion from prospect to sale, you must minimize the number of customers that exit the process along the way. The metrics introduced are intended to inform you of where prospective customers are exiting the process so you can improve the tactics you employ to convert prospects into sales.

Over these five posts, we will explore various ways to measure conversion from one stage of the sale process to another, beginning with measuring the full process from Stage 1 to Stage 4.

Hops per Order: Measure the Full Process (Stage 1 to Stage 4)

The Hops per Order metric will tell you how successful your prospects at the Hop stage are in converting through the full process to the Sale stage.

For a prospect to successfully make it to the Sale stage, the following must have occurred:

• A valid, properly formatted HopLink is clicked on
• A vendor pitch page is rendered on the web browser
• A customer decides to proceed with purchasing the product, following a link to the order form
• A valid, properly formatted link to the ClickBank Order Form is clicked on
• The ClickBank Order Form page is rendered on the web browser
• The customer clicked the Pay Now button on the ClickBank Order Form
• The customer information from the ClickBank Order Form is validated
• The customer is verified to not be participating in fraudulent activities
• The customer has the funds to fulfill the sale transaction requested

You can explore this metric either in a trend chart or view it in the data table. To create a chart of the metric, locate the Data Type selection box and choose Hops. Then locate the View selection box and choose Hops Per Order. The metric will be displayed on the trend chart for the timeframe you choose.  The metric is also available to view in the data table located below the trend chart. The data table allows you to view the metric by a specific attribute of the sale and in total over a specified time period. For example, you can choose to view Hops per Order for a specific country or product.

If your Hops per Order is 100, that means on average it takes 100 prospects at the Hop stage to have 1 prospect successfully reach the Sale stage. The lower the metric, the more efficiently you are converting prospects from the Hop stage to the Sale stage. You may use the trend chart feature to find time periods when your Hops per Order is lowest, and then correlate that metric to specific marketing tactics that work well.

Check back tomorrow for information about Order Form Sale Conversion (measuring stage 2 to stage 4).

Take a look at these related posts:

1. New Analytics in Depth – Exploring Sales Funnel Metrics: Part 3
2. New Analytics in Depth – Exploring Sales Funnel Metrics: Part 4
3. New Analytics in Depth – Exploring Sales Funnel Metrics: Part 2

Earlier this week, we released several major improvements to our system that will help both vendors and affiliates grow and improve their businesses. In case you missed them, here’s a recap of what we released.

Help Center

You’ve probably already seen the new Help Center tab on the right-hand side of our navigation bar, but if not, be sure to check it out! The Help Center contains many new articles for both affiliates and vendors, covering everything from creating a ClickBank account to attracting more affiliates and learning about common ways to promote products. It’s a great place to look for any information you need about being more successful as a ClickBank client.

New & Improved Client Analytics

We’ve made major improvements to our Client Analytics, allowing you to see more detail than ever about your sales and promotions. Our improved Client Analytics lets you look at trends, order form impressions data, reporting by various dimensions like geographic location, and more.

To view the new Client Analytics, log in to your account and click the Reporting tab. Then click Analytics NEW! on the right side of the subnav:

To read more about all the features Client Analytics has to offer, and how to use it, see our Help Center article.

Integrated Sales Reporting

Clients can now track successful orders (conversions) by linking the ClickBank order process to Google Analytics, Google AdWords, and Yahoo Search Marketing, giving you more information about sales and the effectiveness of promotional efforts than ever before.

Read more about Integrated Sales Reporting in the Help Center.

ClickBank API

The ClickBank API makes it possible for a wide range of computer programs to securely access ClickBank account information on behalf of ClickBank account owners. Some of the functions available to users of the API include the ability to:

• Request a refund for a customer’s purchase
• Request a cancelation for a customer’s subscription
• Retrieve a list of transactions in a ClickBank account for a given timeframe

Read more about the ClickBank API in the Help Center.

Take a look at these related posts:

1. Coming Soon: Enhanced Reporting Analytics
2. Pilot Participants Wanted for New ClickBank Reporting Feature
3. ClickBank Introduces Mobile Commerce Features