Posted by: Che Horder, Business Intelligence Manager

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).

Posted by: Beau Blackwell, Community Manager

ClickBank VP Dush Ramachandran recently wrote an article for DMNews.com discussing the possibility of upcoming Federal Trade Commission regulations on the affiliate marketing and blogging industries, and gives some thoughts about the possible outcomes. Be sure to check it out, as this topic is likely to affect everyone involved in affiliate marketing and blogging very soon.

Posted by: Beau Blackwell, Community Manager

While at Affiliate Summit East, I had a chance to sit down with successful long-time ClickBank affiliate Scott Wolf, of ArcaMax Publishing. I asked him about a variety of topics, including how he got started with ClickBank, how he identifies which products to promote, and for advice he’d give to beginner affiliates just starting out.

While ArcaMax is different from many ClickBank affiliates, as they promote ClickBank products through email newsletters they publish, his advice and techniques still hold true for many affiliates. Check out the interview now:

Posted by: Beau Blackwell, Community Manager

Several times over the past few weeks, I’ve been asked what advice I would give to affiliate marketers who are just starting out and trying to learn the ropes. During my time at ClickBank, I’ve seen many affiliates go from knowing very little about what they should be doing to being extraordinarily successful. While every affiliate’s path to success will be different, as I’ll explain below, there are several general pieces of advice that I think can benefit every affiliate marketer. I hope they’ll be useful in helping you on your journey to affiliate marketing success.

• Treat affiliate marketing as your job- I can’t stress this point enough. While the ultimate goal of most affiliate marketers is to eventually make enough money to only have to work an hour or two a day (and there are many who do), one key to starting off well in affiliate marketing is to work as hard as you would at any other job. The most successful affiliate marketers start out by putting in long hours and doing lots of work on their promotional efforts, both in studying effective methods and actually putting them into practice. If you work 8 hours a day doing affiliate marketing, you’re going to be successful a lot sooner than if you only work 1 or 2 hours a day. Even if you’re doing affiliate marketing part-time, the more time you spend on it, the more successful you’re likely to be.
• Do what you’re good at- Affiliate marketing takes a lot of work, but one of the best parts of being an affiliate marketer is the freedom to choose how and when you work, what products you want to promote, etc. One of the best ways to avoid burnout, especially when you’re not yet making good money, is to choose promotional techniques that fit your personal style. Not everyone is a great writer, or even enjoys writing. If this describes you, you’re probably better off avoiding article marketing, which requires you to write large quantities of high-quality content. If you’re not the most social person and prefer anonymity, you probably won’t enjoy social media marketing very much. Since one of the main reasons for doing affiliate marketing is so you can work how you want to work, it’s important to figure out what suits your style and personality. Your work will be better, and you’ll be more willing to stick with it, if you’re enjoying yourself.
• Recognize that there are many ways to succeed as an affiliate- Since many new affiliates start out by reading books or following programs created by affiliate marketing experts, they think that these techniques may be the only way to make a lot of money and do well in the business. I’ve met many successful affiliates, and they’ve gotten to where they are today by many different paths. What works for one affiliate may not work at all for another, and there are always new tools, techniques, product niches, etc, being developed that can completely change the affiliate marketing game. Never be afraid to branch out on your own or try a crazy idea that you think just might work. Don’t be afraid to fail, because when you make mistakes you’ll figure out what works and what doesn’t, making you more successful in the long run. There’s a lot to learn in the business, so the sooner you start making mistakes, the sooner you’ll start learning what works!

Besides this advice, I recommend reading our Help Center article Affiliate Dos and Don’ts, which offers some more specific advice for working with ClickBank and how to avoid common mistakes.

I’d also like to welcome comments from experienced affiliate marketers who have advice to share with beginners and can offer some encouragement or guidance. Please share your advice by leaving a comment!

Posted by: Beau Blackwell, Community Manager

On Monday night, after the first full day of the show, ClickBank hosted an exclusive invite-only cocktail party at the famous 21 Club in midtown Manhattan. Some of our biggest clients attended and got a chance to meet with ClickBank staff members and network with each other. One of the highlights of the party, outside of the great venue, was the Clickbank Moneymaker, a custom cocktail co-invented by our own Dush Ramachandran and Terra Goeres. It was a delicious hit with the crowd, and we’re pretty sure that some big moneymaking deals were made over Moneymakers!

The crowd at the party included extremely successful vendors and affiliates from all over the world, including Israel, Poland, France, Switzerland, and more. One of the best parts of the event for us at ClickBank was hearing what features and services we should introduce to help make our clients even more successful. We got some great ideas for new features and shared some upcoming features we’ll be rolling out soon that were very popular with the crowd. All in all, the party was a huge success, and when it finally wrapped up, some great ideas had been shared and plans and partnerships made for the future. We look forward to our next party at Affiliate Summit West in a few months!

Below are some pictures from the event. You can see more pics from the event at our Flickr album.

ClickBank Team Members Kylee and Terra

ClickBank Account Specialist Ashley Adamson with several clients

A crowd of top-earning ClickBank clients listen to Terra Goeres speak

Posted by: Beau Blackwell, Community Manager

Today we unveiled our brand-new booth, and it was a big hit on the show floor. We got a lot of great comments about the look, which stood out from the crowd quite a bit. Here are a few pictures:

Our booth before the show started

Showing off our cool backlighting

Terra, Kylee, and Ashley getting ready to meet the public

The show floor was packed by mid-morning, and we met with many current and future clients. It was great to finally put a face to the names we’ve been working with for years. Many of the people we met with were very excited to see us exhibiting at the event, and to hear that our participation at these shows will just get bigger and bigger in the future! For more pictures from the day, check out our Flickr album.

After the trade show floor closed for the day, we geared up for our exclusive VIP Cocktail Party at the 21 Club later in the evening. More details and pictures from the party are coming soon!

BROOMFIELD, Colo. – (Aug. 10, 2009) – ClickBank officials will continue to work with affiliate marketers in states that are enacting new laws to tax the marketers’ sales, while Amazon and Overstock.com, among others, have been moving swiftly to halt its business relationships with affiliate marketers in various states because of the new tax implications.

In late June, Amazon terminated its marketing affiliate program in North Carolina after a new law took effect that will tax affiliate sales, and on July 1, Overstock.com notified affiliates in Hawaii, North Carolina and Rhode Island that it would immediately cease doing business with them because of similar new tax laws.

But ClickBank, a major online retailer, says it has no intention of terminating relationships with affiliates in certain locations or discontinuing its longstanding policy of collecting and remitting taxes to the appropriate tax authorities in various domestic and international jurisdictions.

“We will continue to honor sales agreements with affiliates in the U.S. and abroad, despite new taxes that are being levied against them for sales and marketing efforts,” said Dush Ramachandran, vice president of sales, marketing and business development for ClickBank.

“One of the benefits of being a ClickBank affiliate is that you can operate wherever you live,” said Ramachandran. “We don’t want to place limits on that now. Our affiliates deserve the opportunity to earn income regardless of where they live, and ClickBank will continue to support them in their efforts to do so.”

New state tax laws aim to collect sales tax revenues from affiliates whose marketing activities lead to ecommerce sales. The key issue is whether the affiliates have a physical presence in a state that taxes ecommerce activities. The state of New York was the first to enact such tax laws, and more states are following suit.

Posted by: Beau Blackwell, Community Manager

The first day of Affiliate Summit East 2009 was a big success! The Meet Market was packed from before it opened at noon until after it was scheduled to end at 6pm. The ClickBank staff was kept very busy meeting many affiliates and vendors and discussing how we can help them grow their businesses and add ClickBank to their mix of promotional efforts.

Affiliate Summit East is bigger and better than ever this year, and it really shows. The Meet Market room was jam-packed with people meeting and networking, and the main event, which starts today, promises to be just as busy and eventful. ClickBank’s booth is set up and looking great (photos coming soon!) We’re excited to meet even more people at our booth today, and have members of the Clickbank staff ranging from client support to marketing to IT ready to answer questions and help affiliates work with ClickBank more effectively. We hope to see you on the floor today! Below are just a few pictures from yesterday’s Meet Market, but to see even more, visit our Flickr album.

Terra Goeres, ClickBank's Manager of Client Development, meets with a visitor during the Meet Market.

Ashley and Kylee of ClickBank's Premier and Apex client support team chat with visitors at the Meet Market.

New ClickBank booth to be unveiled at this month’s sold-out affiliate marketing conference

ClickBank VP Dush Ramachandran

Broomfield, Colo. – (August 6, 2009) – Dush Ramachandran, vice president of sales, marketing  and business development for ClickBank, a major online retail outlet, will share advice and industry insight on microniche marketing at Affiliate Summit East Aug. 9-11 in New York City.

ClickBank is widely considered to be an international leader in affiliate marketing with more than 100,000 active affiliate marketers working with the company to market its products and drive sales to a level of more than 26,000 transactions per day.

Ramachandran’s presentation is titled “Microniches – the Way to Mega Profits.” It will be available to only platinum and gold pass holders at Affiliate Summit East, which is now sold out with more than 2,000 affiliate marketers registered to attend.

“Using real-life case studies, I’ll demonstrate how affiliate marketers can promote products in a wide variety of small and focused niches, where there is little competition and marketing and advertising costs are inexpensive,” Ramachandran said.

Click for full-size image

ClickBank also will unveil its newly designed trade show booth at Affiliate Summit East. The booth features a sleek new look, two oversized flat screen monitors, Astroturf flooring and an electronic ticker that displays ClickBank client payouts in real-time.

Ramachandran serves on the advisory board of Affiliate Summit and Affilicon, the international counterpart to Affiliate Summit, and helps plan content for both organizations’ affiliate marketing conferences. The conferences are widely considered a key source for affiliate marketing thought leadership and industry expertise.

Ramachandran joined ClickBank in 2005. He is responsible for ClickBank’s sales and marketing activities and alliances with affiliate and vendor organizations worldwide. Ramachandran has held executive leadership positions with domestic and international firms such as Requisite Technology, Conceptual Technologies, Computervision Corp., Prime Computer, Inc. and Datapoint Corp. He holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore University, and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management.

Posted by: Beau Blackwell, Community Manager

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.