ClickBank Pros and Cons for Affiliate Marketing in 2024

What is ClickBank? Established in 1998, ClickBank is an eCommerce affiliate platform with over 200 million users. The software supports digital and physical products and connects affiliate marketers, sellers, and digital content creators.

In 2011, it had more than 46,000 products, and within two years, 1.1 million (or thereabouts).

It all sounds pretty great. And while ClickBank has a huge share of the global affiliate marketplace, that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. It has upsides and downsides, just as any solution does.

Since ClickBank is an essential resource for most affiliate marketers and small business owners, I decided to peel the curtain back on this business.

In this blog post, we’ll explore what Clickbank is, the pros and cons, and what else you need to know when deciding which affiliate platform to use.

Let’s get right into it!

Table of Contents

Key Takeaways

ClickBank is a robust affiliate marketing platform, attracting more than two million users since it was created in 1998. However, sellers don’t get nearly as much of a financial cut as affiliates, at a rate of 35 versus 65%.
Some of ClickBank’s most significant advantages are reliable payouts, a positive reputation, a great commission rate, plentiful integrations, and a low barrier to entry.
Its disadvantages are long times for payments to clear, low payment rates for sellers, some poor-quality products, and oversaturation.

What is ClickBank?

How affiliate marketers can use ClickBank to make money — *Image courtesy of Authority Hacker*

ClickBank is an affiliate marketing and eCommerce platform designed for sellers and affiliates. Sellers can use ClickBank no matter the size of their brand, making this platform appealing to small businesses.

Affiliates, email marketers, and media buyers are the other parties served on ClickBank (referred to as affiliates from here onwards), with access to affiliate marketing events, ClickBank’s Platinium Program, top offers, integrations, and assistance.

Brands such as Disk.com, TeaBurn, ShipOffers, and Organfi use ClickBank. According to its website, the platform has more than 100,000 ongoing affiliates and has paid out $6.2 billion in commissions.

How it works

So, how do product owners, affiliates, and customers come together on ClickBank? Well, the process begins with the customer. They find a product they like listed on ClickBank and check it out.

ClickBank will dynamically add shipping charges and sales tax, meaning that depending on what the item costs, it will adjust those fees accordingly.

ClickBank also takes its cut. For example, if a customer buys a product for $100, the fee is $1 plus 7.5%, which would be approximately $91.50.

Additionally, ClickBank pays $6 toward shipping and fees.

The commission rate is 65% of the total price, so 65% is $85.50. Finally, the last 35% of the sale goes to the seller. That means the seller earns $29.92 on the $100 item and an affiliate $55.28.

Here’s a breakdown of the steps for sellers using ClickBank:

First, you start an affiliate program on your eCommerce store, selling what ClickBank refers to as “supplement products.”
Next, you build a direct response offer on your website, at least ideally. If not that, you can replicate a sales funnel on ClickBank.
Post your product on ClickBank’s marketplace, where you can connect with affiliates interested in promoting it.
When customers order the product, process their payment via the ClickBank order form and take care of order fulfillment.
You can track all funds using the affiliate management tools within ClickBank, so you know when you’ll receive payment and how much.

As for how it works for affiliates, here’s what you need to know.

Bring in traffic the same way you usually do.
Look on ClickBank’s marketplace to check for any offers your audience would find appealing. ClickBank will generate an affiliate tracking link for you if you find one you want to promote.
Spread the word about the product the same way you always would, using the affiliate tracking link from ClickBank.
As sales come in, you get a cut of affiliate income at a rate of 65%.

Pros of Using ClickBank

Let’s start by looking at the many positive points of ClickBank as you determine whether this affiliate marketing solution is the right choice for your small business.

Long history and reputation

ClickBank has been in the biz for more than 25 years, having been founded in 1998. Affiliate marketing was not nearly known then to the degree it is now, especially thanks to the advent of the internet, social media, and our technologically-led lifestyles.

The fact that ClickBank has survived for almost three decades says a lot about its staying power and quality. It wouldn’t have more than a million customers if it were a bad service.

Don’t believe me? Let’s let the reviews speak for itself. G2 users rate ClickBank 4.5 stars and Capterra 4.6 stars.

The top G2 rating says that ClickBank is solving their problems like this:

“ClickBank affiliate program simplifies the process of becoming an affiliate marketer. I can quickly sign up, choose products to promote, and generate unique affiliate links. The platform handles sales and commission tracking, saving me time and effort in managing affiliate partnerships individually. This streamlines the affiliate marketing process, allowing me to focus on promoting products and driving sales.”

You can read the whole review here.

On Capterra, the most positive review lauded ClickBank as follows:

“The thing I like most about Clickbank is the tons of options for niche products to promote; depending on the time of year, I can promote anything from Chicken Coop designs to weight loss programs, and I don’t have to be just another affiliate for that big place that shares a name with a Jungle. The best thing is that you can count n CB to PAY YOU ON TIME and EVERY TIME … lots of affiliate marketplaces come and go but CB has been there and my GO TO every time.”

Here is the full review, which does mention downsides.

Be advised that both sites have fewer than 20 reviews, but those ratings are promising.

Reliability

ClickBank has become a global market leader for many reasons, including its reliability. Sellers and affiliates can count on ClickBank to pay regularly, using their respective dashboards to monitor when their next payment will arrive and how much it will be.

Affiliate marketing is supposed to be hands-off and easy most of the time. A service like ClickBank removes the guesswork and reduces your worries so you can focus on selling and promotions.

High commission rates

It pays to be an affiliate on ClickBank. No, I mean it literally. ClickBank has an astronomically high commission rate of 65% for affiliates, which is crazy.

By comparison, most other affiliate programs only offer a rate of 5% to 30%, which shows how much more money you’re making with ClickBank.

These rates are some of the highest in the industry, so if you’re an aspiring affiliate seeking an affiliate marketing program, it hardly gets more profitable than ClickBank.

Easy to use

Don’t you hate when you try to join an affiliate network and jump through a thousand hoops to register? Me too. Fortunately, ClickBank doesn’t put you through any of that.

Signup couldn’t be any easier. First, the interface of ClickBank is appealing and easily navigable, and you don’t need to obtain approval from a vendor before you can begin promoting most products on the platform.

And if you happen to get stuck at any step of the way, ClickBank has an assortment of well-put-together resources designed to help you out of any bind on its platform.

Lots of product options

You’ll recall that ClickBank proudly offers more than 1,000 unique product types, meaning that no matter what your specialty is as a seller or affiliate, even if it’s niche, there’s a product for you on this platform.

Education

Affiliate marketing is only growing more competitive daily as more people realize its benefits. You need to know what you’re doing from the onset if you want to succeed, and ClickBank can equip you to do just that.

Besides its help center and resources, ClickBank also offers affiliate training. Now, this training isn’t free, as the course cost varies from $37 to $87, with some charging one-time fees and others monthly, but the money you spend now can pay back dividends later when your affiliate marketing venture blows up.

In-depth reporting

When I say in-depth, I mean in-depth. Look at the image above for an idea of what I’m referring to. That’s only one dashboard of several you can use within ClickBank, but my favorite metric by far is its Gravity Score.

Each time you post or pursue a listing, the Gravity Score will indicate how financially viable the product is according to its commission-earning power over the last 12 weeks. If affiliates haven’t made money off that product, it’s not selling, so it’s worth staying away from.

This is an excellent means of financial forecasting without using a third-party tool.

Cons of Using ClickBank

Before you jump in with both feet first and begin using ClickBank, whether as a seller or an affiliate, you have to be fully versed in the software, and that includes its less-than-nice sides. So, here they come.

Quality of products

ClickBank may give you a lot of products to select from, but does that mean they’re all high-quality? It sure doesn’t.

The sheer quantity of products available makes this one of the least effective downsides of the platform. If one product is poor quality, you can always find another that’s better.

However, it’s taking the extra time to sniff out a good product from a bad one, and that’s the real disappointment here.

Market saturation

I told you that the affiliate marketing business is exploding because everyone wants more money, especially passively. ClickBank is one of the best places to do it because of its longevity, positive reputation, ease of use, and high commission rate.

That’s why the platform has 200 million users and counting. Most are affiliates because that’s where the money is when using ClickBank.

Either way, competing against 200 million other users is no easy feat. And I suspect that number will only grow because it is easy to join ClickBank. Making your voice heard when you’re just starting as a seller or affiliate is infinitely more challenging when your competition is immeasurably steep, increasing your risk of failure.

Seller payment rate

How often do sellers get the short stick in an affiliate marketing model? Not that often, but it’s undoubtedly the case with ClickBank. The 35% sales rate versus the 65% commission affiliates receive is unbalanced.

It’s great if you’re an affiliate but not so great if you’re a seller. You’re making less than half of what the product sells for between ClickBank’s cut and the affiliate commission.

Payment delays

ClickBank might pay on time, but that does not mean you’ll see the money in your bank account the next business day. Nope, it doesn’t. Since ClickBank pays users biweekly to weekly, it can take longer to process your payments.

Plus, customers have up to 90 days to request a reimbursement, a policy that isn’t always used fairly.

Forced to keep using it to avoid fees

Here’s another major downside of ClickBank: you must pay if you don’t make any money selling on the platform.

That’s right! If you go 90 days without earning a dime, you’ll pay $1 for each pay period to ClickBank. That’s not much, but it’s only the beginning.

If you extend your period of no sales to 180 days, you now have to pay $5 a pay period. Oh, and if you manage to go a whole year without ever making money from sales, you must pay ClickBank $50 a pay period.

ClickBank is not one of those platforms you can try and then abandon if you don’t like it or aren’t profitable. You’d have to shut your account down. Otherwise, you’re eligible to pay a lot of money, and it’s not like ClickBank warns you that you haven’t sold in X period and will be due to pay Y. You need to know it on your own.

Lesser-Explored Aspects of ClickBank

ClickBank integration examples — *Image courtesy of ClickBank*

I want to discuss a few elements of ClickBank that, in my experience and research, don’t get enough love. I’m not trying to tip your decision-making, but you should have the full picture of the service before subscribing (or skipping).

Integration capabilities

ClickBank integrates with many eCommerce and sales tools you may already use. I won’t go through every single one, but some of the more prominent names are:

Skro, an ad-tracking tool
FloatHosting, a WordPress hosting platform
Integrated, which specializes in automation
CPV Lab ad tracking
Cometly sales tracking
WishList Member for selling digital products and memberships
Zapier, which expands the integration functionality of ClickBank even further
Sendlane, which features SMS, email, and automation
Payoneer for handling payments
Drip for multi-channel digital marketing
Ontraport for automation and CRM
AWeber, an email marketing platform
Membermouse, a membership platform
Campaign Refinery, which offers gamification and automation related to email marketing
PrintBindShip for inventorying, tracking, and more
ClickMagick for ad optimization
Disk for product fulfillment but automated
NewsBreak, a news app/ad creation tool
LTV Numbers for tracking those all-important metrics
Bluehost for email account and hosting access
CBSplit, an Enterprise Level Split Tester
RedTrack for monitoring ads cookie-free
Voluum for ad optimization and monitoring
ClickFunnels for building marketing funnels
ShipOffers, a fulfillment service
Maropost for B2B and B2C commerce
Shopify, which needs no introduction

Fraud prevention measures

Fraud? Not here. ClickBank proudly keeps its fraud rate under one percent. The service minimizes fraud by monitoring seller fraud and chargeback rates and enforcing compliance, such as avoiding overpromises or upsells that violate the terms.

If ClickBank discovers a seller has a fraud rate that exceeds one percent, they’ll do a deeper investigation. They might work with you to reduce your fraud rate or potentially shut down your account.

Comparing ClickBank to the Competition

How does ClickBank stack up to other affiliate marketplaces? Isn’t that the big question? Let’s provide some guidance.

JVZoo

First, ClickBank has more affiliates than JVZoo, which has a network of 800,000. That’s not bad if you feel like ClickBank is way too oversaturated, as JVZoo has about half the market (at least as of this writing; who knows how things can change).

Major brands, from GetResponse to Slack, AWeber, PayPal, Stripe, and Payoneer, use JVZoo, which offers a 50% commission rate. Don’t get me wrong; that’s an excellent rate, but it’s not as high as ClickBank.

Some of the other perks of JVZoo are:

It’s free to join.
You can sell as many products as you want with no cap.
You can build sales funnels using JVZoo’s drop-and-click options.
The customer portal takes care of deliveries on your behalf.
All payments are automatic, and profit sharing is available to streamline payments.
JVZoo accepts payment processors from Payment Rails to Payoneer, Stripe, and PayPal.
Two-tiered commissions for affiliates add a recruitment element and let you double your earnings (or at least achieve more money per sale).
You can review affiliate reports to manage sales, clicks, and other pertinent data.

While JVZoo is a promising affiliate marketing platform, I’m hard-pressed to find any reviews on the service. It doesn’t have a presence on Capterra or G2, so I will choose ClickBank over JVZoo.

CJ Affiliate

Like ClickBank, CJ Affiliate was established in 1998. Its audience exceeds even ClickBank’s, with one billion monthly customers worldwide. CJ Affiliate has achieved more than 157 million annual sales online and off at rates of $16 billion.

Besides the CJ Affiliate platform, there are CJ Leads for expanding your audience and CJ Influence for crafting a more meaningful, gripping message. These features are helpful but don’t provide as much training as ClickBank.

CJ Affiliate’s commission rate is up to 50%, the same as JVZoo. That means ClickBank still wins in this category.

Brands from CNN to Klarna, Barnes & Noble, Blue Apron, J. Crew, Office Depot, and PMC use CJ, designed to optimize onboarding, help you discover viable partners, use omnichannel promotions, and grow as you gain analytics.

It’s a viable alternative if some areas of ClickBank give you pause, but keep in mind that CJ’s audience is way more prominent, which means upward mobility will still be even harder.

Conclusion

Ah, ClickBank. It’s an excellent platform for affiliates, although maybe less so for sellers, considering the lower rates. Still, it’s almost too good, as it’s become oversaturated to the point where it’s harder for new affiliates to stand out.

That said, the pros of ClickBank outweigh the cons, especially as an aspiring affiliate. This platform has had a major impact on affiliate marketing networks for nearly three decades now, so small businesses, considering it, can’t choose wrong.

EngageBay is an all-in-one marketing, sales, and customer support software for small businesses, startups, and solopreneurs. You get email marketing, marketing automation, landing page and email templates, segmentation and personalization, sales pipelines, live chat, and more.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. How does ClickBank handle refunds and product returns?

ClickBank accepts return requests via its website or phone. They must approve the request, and then the customer will receive a partial or full refund. Customers can be refunded for their most recent purchase if they order a recurring product. Customers can’t close an account after making a single-time purchase to receive a refund.

2. What are the initial costs involved for vendors starting on ClickBank?

Vendors must pay an initial activation fee of $49.95 to open a ClickBank account, which is charged after selling for the first time on the platform. Additionally, ClickBank requires a cut of 5% to 45% of the total sales price for each order.

3. How can affiliates find high-quality products on ClickBank?

ClickBank Marketplace’s Gravity Scores will be your saving grace here. Sort the items by those with the highest scores and choose from that list.

4. What tools does ClickBank provide to help affiliates succeed?

ClickBank has an affiliate education platform and an entire knowledge base dedicated to affiliate marketing success, not to mention more in-depth training and the ClickBank Affiliate Marketplace for getting started.

5. Are there any specific strategies for standing out in the crowded ClickBank marketplace?

Making one’s presence known on ClickBank as an affiliate requires marketing education, a strong brand identity, and a targeted niche. You should also only promote high-quality products to drive trust among your audience.