I frequently get questions like this from newbie internet marketers. They don't know what shopping cart to use. And usually the question boils down to 1ShoppingCart or Clickbank. Here's how Daniel phrased the question.
Mark, I'm confused and stuck, and don't know what to do. I've received some advice that I should sell my new ebook at Clickbank, but other people say I should use 1ShoppingCart. I've got my ebook nearly done, but I am stuck because I don't know what to do about this. What do YOU think?
Dan
Hi Dan.
Well, I won't give you an answer to use one or the other, but I will help you make your decision by helping you understand what the advantages and disadvantages of each solution are, and what you need to add to create a complete solution.
From my perspective, you need the following abilities for a complete internet marketing setup.
- The ability to accept an order.
- The ability to process a payment
- The ability build a list (Broadcasts & Autoresponders)
- The ability to track and pay affiliates
- The ability to track and test your sales process.
Is that what you need, too? Probably.
1ShoppingCart is a more complete system, but there's one factor that might be almost a deal-breaker for you.
Accept an Order; Process a Payment
Both 1ShoppingCart and Clickbank can accept an order and process a payment, but Clickbank provides their own merchant account to process the charge. With 1SC, you actually have to get your own merchant account.
If you have good credit, then that's no problem. It takes just a day or two and you can do it right on the 1SC website. But if your credit is poor, then you'll need to use a service like Paypal to process your payments.
1ShoppingCart integrates well with Paypal, but the checkout process has an extra step or two, and that may cause some buyers to abandon the transaction.
Build a List
1ShoppingCart has a very good autoresponder built right into it, no extra charge. Clickbank has no autoresponder, so you'll need to add one. I prefer Aweber, which is an excellent autoresponder.
Tracking and Testing
1ShoppingCart has a very good split tester built into the system. It actually handles half of the work for you, and works very well. You can split test up to three pages at once for any one test, and you can have an unlimited number of tests. No extra charge.
Clickbank has no split tester built in, so you'll need to add one. I recommend Hypertracker. You can have an unlimited number of tests running there too, for no extra charge. There are just a few extra steps to getting this installed. Still, it's easy.
Affiliate Tracking
Both systems have affiliate tracking built in, but they are very different. With 1ShoppingCart, you're truly building your own affiliate program. You attract and pay your own affiliates. With Clickbank, the affiliates really belong to Clickbank. They're not yours at all.
Now, that's both good and bad.
I love the fact that so many people can go to Clickbank and find my products and choose to promote them without my needing to know or do any work at all. It's truly amazing because Clickbank has over 100,000 affiliates ready to sell on my behalf.
The problem is that I'll never know who those people are, unless I use some external system to help do that. But for the most part, Clickbank doesn't give you contact info for affiliates.
That's why I like 1ShoppingCart for a lot of applications. I can do an email broadcast to my affiliates and ask them to promote my product. It's just not a built in feature with Clickbank.
Cost for a Sale
One last thing to discuss. . . the cost to process a sale. With 1ShoppingCart, you'll end up paying whatever your merchant bank charges for each sale. That should be about 2.5% to 3% per sale. With Clickbank the charge is about $1.50 per sale plus 7%.
Yes, that's more, but it's like the difference between buying and selling: You pay more day after day for renting, but you didn't have to make a large investment at the beginning.
With 1ShoppingCart, you'll be paying $49 per month for the cart without the affiliate feature, and $79 per month with the affiliate feature. Clickbank is Free, month to month, after an initial application fee.
That said, you'll need to invest in both Hypertracker and Aweber (each about $20 per month).
Here's a chart that illustratest the differences.
|
1ShoppingCart
|
ClickBank
|
|
| Accept an Order |
YES
|
YES
|
| Process Payment |
YES*
|
YES
|
| Build a List |
YES
|
NO
|
| Tracking & Testing |
YES
|
NO
|
| Affiliate Tracking |
YES
|
YES
|
| Cost |
$49 to $79
|
$50 to start, $0 monthly
|
Clearly, the major difference between the two is not the price — it's as little as a $10 difference. I hope the information I've given you here, Dan, helps you decide which is better for you.
Best Wishes.
–Mark
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