As we previous mentioned, ClickBank has been under enormous pressure by the FTC (Read Clickbank FTC) to make changes its program after numerous customer complaints and a rising chargeback issue with Internet Marketing programs. As part of that, they have started to make additional changes to the guidelines, some which are being announced this week as part of a expanding push to control JV marketer’s messages.
According to their own blog, ClickBank will no longer approve new JV and Internet Marketing programs that do not follow very strict rules, that they feel will prevent more FTC inquiries and consumer complaints. Additionally, all current landing pages must be immediately changed or programs will be removed from ClickBank.
The changes that ClickBank Requires are as follows:
– Customers must know what to expect while purchasing a product.
– Must contain clear, detailed information about the product even in the pitch pages.
– All software must list specifically what the software does. For example, “This software helps you find new keywords.”
– No more general pitches allowed that make claims how easy the product is to use.
Of course, many of the IM Gurus are “up in arms” about these changes, claiming that they will ruin their current method of selling products through JV programs and they will no longer make money. Several of them have brought up the point that these guidelines are stricter than what is required from offline products and that ClickBank is over responding to criticism. They also believe that many IM products will just leave ClickBank and move to other processors and that because of that consumers will lose the guaranteed refund policy of ClickBank.
Still, a large amount of the industry believes these changes are positive. As Nick J. West said in Performance Marketing Insider, “These types of ‘JV’ and ‘information services’ scams have been running for years, with a big majority of them knowingly walking consumers down the path of misinformation and out of their hard-earned money. I am glad the FTC is clarifying their position on this issue, too bad the FTC virtually has no teeth when it comes to early enforcement actions against the biggest abuse.”
What are your thoughts?
