For a cb product, I'm trying to decide whether to -- Put the information on a website and charge a membership fee OR put it in an ebook and charge a one-time fee? Which would you rather promote? (I know you make less on a membership fee, but residuals can add up over time if they stay with it) Which would you rather buy?
If I can be sure that the product has value which will keep the customer satisfied for months on end, then yeah, it's worth promoting, provided the payout is $25+, but if it's something that will completely disappoint my buyer ending with him not only asking for a refund but telling other people to avoid the product because he got burnt from it. You can request a review membership from your publisher, most of them wouldn't mind since you'd be making them more money than you'd pay for the membership otherwise.
Recurring billing doesn't usually last for long. Members usually stay for few months and then unsubscribe. I haven't got any proof for that, but that's what I think about it.
It depends. I'd probably take a HIGHER one time payment than a lower recurring. I haven't had a recurring commission that lasted more than one month.
I also concur with the one time payment. I tried the recurring payment idea and found out that most people were gone within 4 months. Even with the good programs I was promoting. There must be some solid membership sites to promote that keep their customers happy, but unfortunately I didn't fine them while affiliate marketing. Carol
Definitely one time billing. People don't like paying for info however valuable it is over and over again.
It depends on so many factors - there isn't a simple answer. Usually monthly subscribers leave after 3-4 months, not because the program is necessairlly "bad quality" but simply because people don't have enough money, are no longer interested, they credit cards expire and people forget to RE-sign up with the new one... Anyways, I have made as much as 200$ per client ($25/m recurring), and the most I made out of 1 time fee was $45... So I would much rather promote recurring products...
Thanks everybody for the great responses. This is kind of what I'm thinking (as a potential cb publisher considering ebook vs. membership site): If the average user will stay 3 months with a membership (that's a big IF) then we make as much with a 9.95/month membership vs. a $30 product. (Or 24.95/month vs a $75 product, just using random figures.) The benefits (as I see) being: 1. people more likely to buy with a lower upfront price (9.95 vs. 30) 2. information in a membership website can't be torrented as easily as an ebook 3. you can easily keep updating/expanding a membership website No guarantee most people will stay for 3 months... but then some might stay for 6 or 12. I wonder how the average user perceives the value/hassle in a membership website vs. an ebook...
I personally prefer one time payment because I think when people see that they will be charged twice, they decide not to buy the product at all
The only recurring product I've promoted was forex brotherhood. I had one sale last week from a rebill. It really was nice getting $60 from doing no additional work
Why not do both? My product has an single purchase component, The buyer can purchase just the one product. However, they can upgrade to a monthly membership where they get the main product plus new content each month. The test response has been great. However, since it's a new membership site, you need to give a longer trial period so buyers who get the membership are not disappointed with thin content.
I haven't yet found a Clickbank product that would make people stay subscribed for months on end, so for me it would have to be one-off payments.
I have found it much harder to generate sales for membership sites than one time payments (for internet marketing related products).
Mikey Exactly what I was going to say, it is such a nice surprise to get the rebill when you completely forgot about it!