If you’ve been part of the affiliate marketing scene for any length of time you’re already familiar with ClickBank.
Actually, anyone who has ever read a blog post about starting an online business will recognize the name.
But JVZoo has also made a lot of noise since they first launched.
Aren’t ClickBank and JVZoo basically the same type of affiliate network, though?
Yes and no.
While they operate a similar business model, they’re very different services in a number of ways.
Even though they both specialize almost entirely in digital and software products and service similar audiences.
There are important differences that set each platform slightly apart.
So, let’s look at how that breaks down in our comparison article on JVZoo vs. ClickBank.
Getting Started
The approval process is basically the same for both ClickBank and JVZoo.
You need to provide them with an email address and some personal details.
But there’s no need to provide either of these platforms with traffic stats, your niche, etc.
Truth be told, they ask no real questions.
So, that’s the totality of their vetting process for affiliates.
They’re both equally painless platforms to sign up to do business with as affiliates.
Interface
How easy a given affiliate marketing program/platform is to use might seem like a trivial thing to talk about.
But it does matter.
Especially if a newbie finds themselves buried in an interface so confusing that the only thing that could make it worse is the use of Hieroglyphs.
ClickBank is one of the oldest affiliate marketing networks around, bursting onto the scene way back in 1998.
And it shows.
Their interface both looks and feels dated.
Here’s what the ClickBank Marketplace looks like:
It just screams, “I’m from the past!”
Yes, it all works just fine but their site has looked almost the same for nearly 20 years now.
Which you can’t get away with in modern affiliate marketing.
But they do seem to be in the middle of upgrading their public-facing image and their internal dashboard.
So they get points for that.
JVZoo, on the other hand, has been in business for just under a decade now.
And again, it shows in their version of a market place:
The interface is cleaner, brighter, and just far more open.
They use lots of white space and nothing looks like it needs to be resized or enlarged.
It might be on the busy side of things, but it’s still a big improvement over ClickBank’s interface.
But how easy are these affiliate marketing networks to actually use?
Ease of Use
To be fair, the ClickBank interface is obviously in transition right now.
So you get a new affiliate dashboard using a WordPress backend for certain parts of the site.
Which is a step in the right direction.
Then you navigate to your account settings and find their old layout:
So as I said in our ClickBank review, it’s a bit of a mish-mash of old and new.
Familiar functions are buried within the new interface, making it far more difficult to get where you need to be.
JVZoo takes a much more unified and streamlined approach to their UX (User Experience).
All of your interaction options can be found in a single dashboard:
And that’s regardless of whether you’re an affiliate or a creator/advertiser.
You can administer your account, create affiliate links, run reports, see what money you’ve earned, etc. all from one central page.
The same can’t be said of ClickBank.
But the downside is that there are 41 different menu functions you can click on.
Yes, I counted.
I’m that person.
So, in terms of user interface for JVZoo vs. ClickBank, JVZ takes first place.
But they need to do some serious work on nesting or combining menu items.
It’s a hot mess right now.
Quality of Offers
Now we get down to the really important stuff for affiliate marketers – do they have high-quality programs that you’d actually want to promote?
The thing to remember here is that JVZoo and ClickBank are not like traditional affiliate networks.
And that’s down to the types of advertisers they work with.
Product Types
ClickBank’s primary focus is on promoting digital products although they do now work with some advertisers selling physical goods.
These come in the form of health supplement products, but they’re the exception rather than the rule.
JVZoo only promotes digital product creators, with almost every product aimed at the digital marketing niche.
What type of products, I hear you ask?
We answer that question next.
Brand Names
Basically, you need to manage your expectations here in terms of the brands you’ll be working with.
As in, if you’re expecting to work with Airbnb, Microsoft and Match.com then you’re shit out of luck.
JVZoo and ClickBank provide a platform for predominantly digital-only software vendors.
The focus isn’t on big names, but instead on smaller companies that need instant and safe delivery of downloads to their customers.
Without having to build their own platform.
So, to get to the heart of the matter we need to look at the different product categories you’ll have to work with.
ClickBank
And there are around 3,500 products/programs spread across these different product categories.
So you have lots to work with here, in almost any niche.
JVZoo has 22 products spanning 22 product categories:
But the difference is that JVZ has tens of thousands of different programs for your online business to promote.
So you could easily assume that they’re the clear winner here in terms of products for niches.
Except they’re not.
You see, many of the products in their other categories are actually PLR (Private Label Rights) content bundles.
They’re not actually digital products – just bundles of articles suitable for a given niche.
We cover this in a bit more detail in our review of JVZoo.
They don’t come close to competing with ClickBank in terms of diversity of programs or vendors.
And there’s also the quality factor.
They can be pretty lax in terms of quality control.
Basically, marketers who got kicked off ClickBank will usually have no problem being approved on JVZ.
Both platforms have questionable products, but JVZ simply has way more of them.
So the clear winner for variety of products is ClickBank, JVZoo trailing well behind.
With the caveat that they simply don’t have the sheer volume of digital marketing vendors they once had.
Finding Affiliate Programs
Affiliates can be very impatient when it comes to filtering through programs to find the affiliate marketing program they want.
Or is that just me?
Anyways, a nice interface and lots of tasty programs is almost pointless if finding products and creating affiliate links is a chore akin to sticking a spoon into your eye and stirring.
We’ve all been there.
So how do JVZoo and ClickBank perform in this category?
I’ve already mentioned that ClickBank has an antiquated interface.
But there’s always that argument for, “If it ain’t broke then don’t fix it.”
Which is how I view their handling of filtering vendors:
Those sliders on the left are old and might look silly, but they allow you to tweak your search by the most important metrics for affiliates – conversion and income.
And then refine your search even further by adding a keyword or two:
It’s far from being an elegant solution but it works really well.
JVZoo has more of a “flat database” style – it’s just one big long list of products that you can filter by keyword or category/sub-category:
So once you filter by keyword and/or category how do you filter by other metrics like EPC?
Sorting by column value is the only way to do this:
Which works…but it’s clunky.
It’s almost pot luck for affiliates on what you’ll find and what you might overlook because you blinked.
Both platforms allow you to then dig into the product to get more info, or build your affiliate link.
Approval is another factor – you have to apply to individual programs on JVZoo but not with ClickBank.
Which means it takes longer to get to the point where you just promote products.
So affiliates simply have more control and freedom with ClickBank.
Payment
Now here’s one of those features that matter to affiliates almost more than anything else – how you get paid your commissions.
So what type of payment terms and methods affiliates can expect from ClickBank and JVZoo.
ClickBank keeps it pretty simple when it comes to choosing a payment method – check or direct deposit.
As a JVZoo affiliate you can choose PayPal, Payoneer, check, and direct deposit.
ClickBank is also pretty standard here in that you get the usual net-30 terms.
Although they do offer both weekly and fortnightly payments – it just takes 30 days to get your first payment.
JVZoo on the other hand provides, “…instant payments via PayPal.”
Awesome – that means JVZoo is better for affiliates, right?
Except that you have to generate 50 sales before you can get approval for instant payments.
And until you reach that point you have to wait 90 days to receive your commission payments.
Payment Threshold
Next up is how much money you have to earn before you can trigger payouts.
In the case of ClickBank, this means earning a minimum of $10 or making 5 sales.
JVZoo on the other hand requires a minimum balance of $50 in your account.
But that’s without factoring in refunds, which can be pretty common on each platform.
Although at least ClickBank handles your refunds for you.
In conclusion, if you’re in a hurry to get paid then ClickBank is the clear winner in terms of payment terms and speed of payouts.
Customer Service
There are two aspects of customer support with JVZoo vs. ClickBank to discuss in relation to affiliate marketing.
The first is from an affiliate’s perspective – you never have to answer customers’ complaints or provide information or refunds.
And that includes dealing with things like a money-back guarantee, which only ClickBank seems to offer.
Refunds are handled by the platform with ClickBank but are left to the vendors for JVZoo members.
Basically, it’s the job of the platform to take care of any issues in relation to customers.
Which is one of the many beautiful things about being affiliates and not advertisers or vendors.
You simply promote products and the affiliate marketing network takes care of everything else.
Next up, we need to look at customer service in terms of how people go about getting help when they need it.
ClickBank has a knowledgebase and a ‘Contact Us’ button…which also leads to their knowledgebase.
Which has blue text…on a blue background.
Sloppy design choices like this make me want to punch a hole in my screen.
They’re also in the process of building a community…but there’s nothing there just yet.
But the actual knowledge base content does an adequate job.
JVZ also provides customer service/support through a knowledge base accessed through the main menu:
But you can also submit a support ticket…if you happen to notice the ‘Contact Support’ button tucked away at the bottom of the menu.
But I had to actually search for ‘Help’ to access the knowledge base.
So that’s kinda like typing ‘Google’ into Google.
Again, their knowledge base is functional, but it’s nothing to write home about.
So both platforms are pretty equal here – neither of their solutions is outstanding in terms of providing great customer service or support.
Which makes this section of the comparison a draw.
For Vendors
This is a point I wanted to touch on quickly in the JVZoo vs. ClickBank debate.
These two platforms obviously provide solutions for a vendor to create digital goods as well as the affiliates who want to sell them.
But why would any vendor consider using JVZoo to generate sales?
After all, CB has been the dominant presence in that market for decades.
There are several reasons but the main one is that JVZoo doesn’t charge vendors $50 to upload a product.
So the barrier to entry is far lower…which isn’t without consequence when it comes to quality.
You can also run a private affiliate program on JVZoo – you can’t do this with ClickBank.
JVZalso only charges 5% commission on each sale, a lot less than their competitor.
Which allows vendors to earn more money from the same number of sales.
Basically, JVZoo is the new kid on the block and they’re willing to work with vendors that other networks turn down.
But ClickBank manages to keep out the really low-end, crappy offers by asking affiliate marketers for $50 to list a product….and not just their email address.
So this section of our comparison is yet another draw.
Conclusion
So now that we’ve reached the end of our review of JVZoo vs. ClickBank it’s time to tally our votes and see which of these affiliate marketing networks takes the grand prize.
JVZoo vs. ClickBank: The Winner
For all of its faults, ClickBank wins out.
But not by a huge margin.
JVZoo has a lot of strengths, but where it really falls down is that most of its programs are aimed solely at the digital marketing community.
Even though they no doubt add dozens of new vendors per month.
It’s just that many of them aren’t very good because certain types of marketers are just flat out greedy.
ClickBank as a platform at least has an actually diverse range of products.
You also get paid 3x faster than with JVZoo.
And when it comes down to it that’s what matters most to affiliates- having stuff to sell and getting paid quickly for doing that.
There’s a good reason why our winner has been around for over 20 years now.
I know JVZoo fans will question this outcome but here’s something to soften the blow.
The clock is ticking for ClickBank as an online business.
They’re simply not the dominant presence they once were.
Wrap Up
Choosing the right affiliate network is an important step when it comes to making money online.
And both of these platforms allow affiliate marketers to do just that.
I hope our JVZoo vs. ClickBank article has answered most if not all of your questions.
But getting the right training is just as important.
To learn how to make money online the right way.
So you can avoid costly mistakes months down the road.
That’s why we offer a free training on how to build your first affiliate site.
It’s 100% free.
And no, it’s not a sleazy affiliate marketing pitch-fest either.
Just a whole lot of value.
Promise.
Just let us know the best email address to send your invite to.
