It has been a long time since you last heard of me but I always say that later is better than never 
.
As some of you might know, I’ve been traveling since May 3rd and so far I’ve been to Atlanta, Jamaica, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Miami, Key West, Niagara Falls, New York City, Bangkok, Koh Samui and right now I’m writing this from the beautiful island of Koh Phangan, Thailand.
I’ve had 20 takeoffs and landings and no idea how many miles I’ve travelled by air and I’m really having the time of my life and I couldn’t be more pleased that I finally took off for this trip after talking about it for so long.
I didn’t plan on being so free at 31 but I don’t have any intention on not taking advantage of what this freedom allows me to do, but I’m getting a little off track here and this is probably something I will write about at some point.
It will be another personal post like the one I wrote a few months back.
What This Post Is All About
The main reason for this post is to let you know about a little experiment I did during the month of June. One of the most visited pages on my blog is my Google Sniper 2.0 Review and ever since the product launched my review was the only review out there (that I know of) that DID NOT recommend the product.
I’ve had very high rankings for this review ever since the product launched and since I can see how many people are visiting that page on my blog everyday I know that I was giving up a lot of money by not recommending the product.
How much money?
That is what I wanted to check and so I did.
How Did You Check That?
Good question. I simply rewrote my Google Sniper review and made it into a positive one and recommended that the visitors will buy the course.
But before I did that I actually bought the course again in order to provide the best review I can (as I always do) and I was actually kind of surprised since there is a lot more information in there that makes the course more valuable than what it was when it first launched.
That made me feel a little better about the fact that I was rewriting it into a positive review after not recommending the product for the past 17 months since it launched back in February 2011.
So You Simply Lied?
No, I don’t think I lied when I rewrote the review into a positive one but as you can see right now, the review has been rewritten again and know it is as accurate as I think it can be. Google Sniper is OK but I think there are better courses out there that you can benefit more from.
If you still think I lied and fooled you into buying the product since I rewrote it on June 1st, than that is your right and I can’t do much about it other than reminding you that every decision you make is your OWN decision and you are the only one responsible for it.
I can also say that I planned on posting this experiment conclusion post within the 60 day money back guarantee that you get when you buy Google Sniper (or any other Clickbank product) so that you can simply ask for a full refund. If you don’t know how to do that, than this post will help you.
I can’t really say I’m sorry because I wanted to check something and this was the only way I could do it and I would probably do it again so I prefer not to lie for real this time and I hope you understand.
Stop Yapping, What Are The Results?
No more yapping. Into the real data and the money I’ve been leaving on the table over the past year and a half.
Here is a screenshot from my Clickbank account showing you how much money I made during June from Google Sniper alone.
(Green shows the date range, Orange shows the vendor and Red shows the total $).
As you can see, I wasn’t joking when I said I was giving up on thousands of dollars by not recommending this product. Here is the simple math for you:
Google Sniper 2.0 launched in February 2011 so I could have made $8,500 (17 months since launch times what I made during June 2012).
Keep in mind that this is a simple estimate and I personally think that the actual number would be much higher since during the first months after the launch the traffic was much much higher meaning more sales and more money could have been made during those first few months.
I’m still amazed at how much traffic this product gets and I can only imagine how much money George Brown is making from his Google Sniper brand almost 3 years after the initial launch back in October of 2009. I’m pretty sure Google Sniper is among the most successful information products ever launched in the IM niche (if not THE most successful one) as far as how much money it made to its creator and the longevity of it.
It is ranked #5 in Gravity in the entire Clickbank Marketplace. That means lots of traffic and lots of sales. Too bad it doesn’t really mean its a great product.
You Still Made Money From That Review
True. I did make money from my Google Sniper review even when I didn’t recommend the product.
I made money from people buying Google Sniper using my link (even though I didn’t recommend the product) and I also made money by trying to monetize the high volume of traffic coming to that review by recommending other products that I thought were better.
Even though I did make money from that review, I would have made much more if the review was a positive one. It seems that the conversions are much much higher when someone is looking for Google Sniper Review and finding one that recommends you buy it than finding a review that says Google Sniper sucks and you should actually buy a different product.
I wish it wasn’t like that but it is.
Google Sniper Refund Rates
Another very interesting figure I can share with you is the refund rate %. This is also not 100% accurate since it only covers a very short period of time but I think you can still learn something from it.
(Green shows the date range, Orange shows the vendor and Red shows the total $).
As you can see from the screenshots above, the total sales I have for Google Sniper during June amounted to $840.67 and the refunds amounted to $331.64.
This means that the refund rate is 39%.
According to CBEngine, the overall refund rate for Google Sniper is 25.41% and according to George Brown it is only 14%.
I don’t know what the the average refund rate for a Clickbank product in the IM niche is, but since I know most of these products are what I like to call “newbie traps”, I would assume the refund rate to be more than 15% at best and I know that some products have more than 50%.
Is it Good? Is it Bad?
What do you think?
I think it is BAD and it sucks. Most product creators in the IM niche focus more on the marketing side of their product launch than on their actual product and the sad thing is that it seems to be working quite well for most of them, even after all the changes Clickbank made.
Being Thankful
It occurred to yesterday while I was lying on the beach on Koh Phangan, Thailand, watching this beautiful sunset you see above that I am pretty damn lucky and that I should really be THANKFUL for what I have and that I was able to take this trip and more importantly that I was able to fly from the USA to Thailand to surprise my older brother and his family and spent 3 amazing weeks with them (I LOVE my nephews 
).
The truth is that I didn’t really work too much during this trip so far (as some of you noticed since I didn’t update my blog too much) but I was still able to make enough money to afford it. I know that it won’t last forever and I really need to get back into working mode and less into fun and travel mode and I hope I will be able to combine the two.
I should be THANKFUL.
I am THANKFUL.
“If the only prayer you say in your life is ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.” – Meister Eckhart
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
No surprise there on the earning but I will say I love your honesty and candidness Dror. This is the kind of stuff that keeps me checking back in here multiple times a week.
Good work!
Thanks Sammy
I think your travels sound fantastic! But know that you’ve been missed.
I think a 39% refund rate is horrible and confirms what you thought originally – that the product isn’t that great. By rewriting the review, you made some extra bucks (not a lot) but you may have lost two other things: some of your credibility and lost sales on comparable products. I understand that this was an experiment, but credibility has to be earned and in the long run is priceless.
Deane Alban recently posted..“Be Smart” Memory Supplement Guide
Hi Deane, I agree that credibility has to be earned and the thing is that you can built it for a long time and destroy it in one second but I sure hope that won’t be the case with me and the experiment I made. I made sure to be as transparent about it before the 60 day period ended so that anyone could get a refund if they want to and there really wasn’t a better way to figure out what I tried with this experiment.
Thanks for your honest comment
Dror, i would be lying if i didn’t say i am quite disapointed you rewrote the review, have you thought about the fact that one of the reasons you were getting so many visits to that post was because you had the only negative review about the product and were truely giving people value, how many people did you stop from buying this shitty product! One of the reasons i come to your blog often is you always say it as it is regardless of the cost to you, that’s why i always buy products through your link,
just this month i was looking to scale up my niche sites and was looking at cloning tools.
I could have gone with wptwin, but after looking at your review on backup creator i went with that, because i trust your recommendations, i think in the long run you can make more money from peoples trust rather that deceiving them, have you calculated how many people stayed on your blog and looked at or bought some other products via your link after they read your honest review on the product, i do a lot of clickbank and will not touch anything higher that 10% refund rate, so like you said originally this is a crap product.
Don’t mean to be harsh but a little disapointed in you.
Hi Tony, real sorry to hear you are disappointed but i’m glad it is only “little” and I hope you still trust my reviews. This was just a test I wanted to make and didn’t really had any other option and I made sure I will 100% open about it within the refund period.
I appreciate your honesty.
Thanks.
WOW Dror, you really did leave a’lot of money on the table, honestly if I was in your position I think I would have recommended the product even though I didn’t think it was worth it, I guess I’m just not as noble as you
well I’ll try
Jamie recently posted..Hello world!
Dror,
Great post.
No matter what anyone thinks, you are providing great value with experiments like this. People always want to see results just like Pat Flynn does. It is posts like this that help people keep going and keep their dreams alive.
Hats off to you sir!
Hey Dror!
Thanks for your straight approach. I stumbled upon your site today, and was considering Google Snipper. It’s great to know what you are getting into before purchasing the product. Great review and re review. You just gained another
loyal visitor for your site. Enjoy your vacation.
Gerald
In my opinion, I don’t think the first review was negative at all. I think the creator’s review gave his personal opinion on the product. I believe if someone wanted to buy the gsniper product, they will regardless, of the first or second review.
Although the reviews help, it doesn’t sway my opinion if I am going to buy it or not. I think with any internet marketing programs. One should always do the research and review the product before making a final decision.
Just make sure once you buy the product, find out if the creator of the product has a money back guarantee policy. If the program is not for you. Just ask for your money back. How do you know if something does not work. If you don’t try it!
That’s what I think. Thank you for the review it was helpful.
Del Smith recently posted..My Site Sucked Until I Did This One Thing
Hi Del, I don’t think your approach will work for most people.
Just think about it, there are dozens of products (if not more) in the make money online niche and if you can’t learn how to spot the crappy products which are 99% of them than you are going to waste money but more importantly, you are going to waste tons of time by checking and testing them all out.
At least that is how I feel.
Thanks for commenting