Earlier this week, we updated our Client Contract with a number of changes, so in this post we’ll summarize what these changes were.

Almost all of the changes we made to the contract were merely changes to legal language, and didn’t change the existing meaning of the policies we had in place. For example, we added several of our existing policies to the Client Contract, as opposed to having them in separate places on our website. We also added a new policy which did not exist before, which is the Return and Cancellation Policy. The items in this policy, such as ClickBank’s 60-day return policy, were stated elsewhere, but were not previously included in the Client Contract.

We strengthened the legal language of certain parts of the contract, including Intellectual Property (IP) rights, the DMCA Policy, and confidentiality rights to protect ClickBank, our clients, and IP owners. We also updated wording about spamming and sending unsolicited messages to be consistent with current laws.

In addition to the legal language changes, we made a few policy changes you should be aware of.

1. ClickBank now no longer allows the sale of any product that, in ClickBank’s sole judgment, encourages the unlawful transfer of copyrighted media, such as music, movies, video, and games.
2. We now allow the sale and promotion of website templates, which were previously prohibited.
3. In the past, we required a $50 fee to transfer an account to a new owner. This fee is no longer required, so you can transfer an account to a new owner at no charge. The new owner will need to accept the Client Contract in order to use the account.

Due to changes in legal language, we have received questions about offering non-cash bonuses, such as ebooks, as incentives for customers to purchase a product. ClickBank’s policy regarding affiliates giving “bonuses” to customers for purchasing a product has not changed with the new contract. Affiliates and vendors cannot offer cash or cash equivalents (e.g., “Buy now and receive a $15 rebate to your Paypal account”), but it is acceptable to offer bonuses such as ebooks or audio programs as an incentive to buy.

Additionally, some clients believed that they could no longer transfer their account to another person. However, this practice is still allowed, and in fact has been made easier, since it no longer requires a $50 transfer fee, as it did previously.

If you have any questions about specific changes to the Client Contract, please leave a comment below and we’ll answer as quickly as possible.

Take a look at these related posts:

1. New Client Contract
2. Strategy for Success: Create a Privacy Policy
3. Upcoming European General Client Meeting

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!

Take a look at these related posts:

1. Give the People What They Want
2. Helping Newcomers
3. Help Us Help You

Posted by: Kristen M., Marketing Communications Manager

We know that ClickBank can be confusing to newcomers and we’re working to address gaps that exist in our support materials. One step we’ve taken in that direction is the creation of a welcome email.

Starting later this month, when clients sign up for a new ClickBank account they will immediately receive a welcome email with information to help them get started. The email highlights the basic concept of how ClickBank works and provides information about how to get paid and sign up for the ClickBank Newsletter, as well as where to go for customer service assistance. In addition, the email links to two helpful new documents we’ve put together: Top 5 Beginner Affiliate Questions (PDF) and Top 5 Beginner Publisher Questions (PDF). (*Links added 4/17)

Moving forward, we’d like to continue to develop materials to help publishers and affiliates become more successful. If you have ideas on specific materials we can provide, please leave a comment below and let us know.

Take a look at these related posts:

1. Customer Service Enhancements
2. Welcome to the ClickBank Blog!
3. Help Us Help You