How ClickBank Gravity Score Works and What It Hides
This guide breaks down the mechanics of Clickbank’s gravity score system, helping affiliate marketers understand what these numbers reveal about product demand and competition. You’ll learn exactly how gravity is calculated and how to use it to identify profitable products worth promoting.
You see a product with gravity of 150. Another affiliate sees gravity of 152. The numbers shift constantly because how clickbank gravity score works is simpler than most people think. The score measures how many unique affiliates earned commissions on an offer over the last 12 weeks, and recent sales receive higher emphasis.
The Calculation Behind the Gravity Metric
When an affiliate makes their first sale of a product, ClickBank adds 1.0 to the gravity score. If they make another sale on the next day, ClickBank continues to add 1.0. If that affiliate doesn’t make another sale on the next day, ClickBank adds only 0.96. Every day that an affiliate doesn’t make another sale, their gravity contribution is multiplied by 0.96.
This decay happens automatically. After eight weeks, that affiliate’s sales are dropped from the gravity calculation.
An individual affiliate can never add more than 1 point to a product’s gravity. Say you generate 500 sales this month on one product. Your contribution stays at 1.0 maximum. One affiliate with one sale adds the same weight as you did with 500 sales.
Sales that are refunded don’t count towards the score. The system removes those transactions entirely from the calculation.
How Clickbank Gravity Score Works to Measure Affiliate Activity
The score reveals breadth, not depth. Suppose ten affiliates each sold one unit yesterday. Gravity reflects all ten. Now suppose one affiliate sold ten units yesterday. Gravity counts just that one person.
This design prevents super affiliates from dominating the metric. The gravity score emphasizes unique affiliates to ensure the metric represents broader affiliate activity. You can’t game the number by pushing volume through your own funnels.
A hot offer may be crowded with affiliates who have made sales but aren’t profitable. Gravity doesn’t track profit margins or ad spend. It shows you who made a sale. Nothing more.
You’ll see products with gravity above 200. High gravity products often face intense competition with many affiliates promoting them. Beginners assume high gravity means easy money. Wrong stance. High gravity means you’re competing against people spending thousands daily on ads.
Interpreting Numbers Across Different Ranges
A gravity score between 15 and 70 can be considered a sweet spot for beginners. These products convert well enough to prove the funnel works. Competition exists but doesn’t crush new entrants immediately.
This range tends to be the sweet spot for many affiliates where a product converts but isn’t so high you’re competing with the largest affiliates.
Products below 15 carry risk. A lower score might indicate less competition but could also mean the product isn’t making many sales. You might discover an untapped gem. You might waste weeks on a dud.
Above 100 signals proven conversion. Products with gravity above 100 are highly popular and successful for many affiliates, but this also means likely more competition. Your traffic costs rise. Your landing page needs to outperform dozens of veteran marketers.
Products from pages 5 through 9 in the ClickBank marketplace are still solid converting products, and a lower score doesn’t mean an offer should be written off.
What Gravity Hides From Affiliates
The metric doesn’t show total sales volume. ClickBank gravity has nothing to do with the sales of a product. One affiliate moving 1000 units contributes the same score as an affiliate moving one unit.
You can’t see profitability either. Imagine 80 affiliates made sales last month on a product with gravity of 80. Maybe 60 of those affiliates lost money on paid traffic. Maybe 15 broke even. Maybe five turned profit. Gravity treats all 80 identically.
The gravity score doesn’t account for the hundreds or thousands of affiliates who tried an offer and failed. Selection bias runs deep here. Failed affiliates vanish from the calculation the moment they stop generating sales.
Refund rates stay hidden too. A product might convert on the front end but bleed refunds on the back end. Gravity only removes refunded sales from the count. It doesn’t flag products with terrible retention.
Strategic Moves Based on Score Analysis
Look sideways when everyone looks up. When you spot gravity climbing fast, the window is closing. Late entrants fight for scraps against established campaigns with refined creatives and massive budgets.
Watch for products between 20 and 50 with steady gravity over four weeks. Stability matters more than spikes. A product holding gravity of 35 for eight consecutive weeks signals consistent conversions without oversaturation.
Higher gravity often means higher competition and a hot offer may be crowded. Newer affiliates succeed by finding products before gravity explodes. Check the marketplace daily. Note which products gained 10 points this week.
Combine gravity with commission structure. A product at gravity 40 paying 75% commission beats a product at gravity 120 paying 40% commission. Your earnings per sale matter more than crowd validation.
Test offers below 15 if you control organic traffic. SEO-driven affiliates face different economics than paid traffic buyers. Lower gravity means fewer competing articles and YouTube videos. You might rank easily for product-specific keywords.
Why the Timeframe Changes Everything
The calculation uses a 12-week rolling window weighted toward recent sales. This means yesterday’s sale carries more weight than a sale from 11 weeks ago. The decay function ensures the score reflects current momentum, not ancient history.
Products lose gravity when affiliates stop promoting them. Say a vendor ran a big affiliate contest two months ago. Gravity spiked to 200. The contest ended. Most affiliates moved on. Gravity drops to 60 within weeks.
Seasonal products show predictable gravity patterns. Weight loss offers spike in January. Tax software peaks in March. Romance products surge before Valentine’s Day. Track these cycles. Enter before the rush. Exit before the crash.
New products can’t show high gravity immediately. Your first goal is to have a gravity score above zero, and it gets much easier to bring new affiliates on board once your offer is actively making sales. Early adopters enjoy less competition but take more risk on unproven funnels.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a gravity score of 1 mean only one sale happened?
No. Gravity of 1 means one unique affiliate made at least one sale recently. That affiliate could have generated 100 sales. The score still shows 1 because it counts unique sellers, not transactions.
Can gravity drop even if sales continue?
Yes. Gravity decreases when fewer unique affiliates generate sales. If 50 affiliates sold last month but only 30 sold this month, gravity falls. Total sales volume might stay the same or even increase.
Should I avoid products with gravity above 200?
Not automatically. High gravity means proven conversion. You need strong traffic sources and solid marketing to compete. Beginners often struggle there. Experienced affiliates with budgets can still profit.
Do upsells and bumps affect gravity calculation?
No. Gravity only tracks initial front-end sales. Backend revenue from upsells doesn’t add to gravity. A product might have low gravity but massive earnings per click from back-end offers.
How often does ClickBank update gravity scores?
ClickBank updates gravity daily. The number you see today reflects sales activity from the past 12 weeks. Check back tomorrow and you’ll likely see a different number as new sales add and old ones decay.
Sort the ClickBank marketplace by gravity, then look three pages deep for offers between 20 and 60.
