The Commission Code is another done-for-you affiliate marketing package. The method has been around for years which promotes "make money online" by recruiting others to the system itself. A typical package includes free landing pages, integration with an autoresponder, free email swipes, and a recommendation of some solo ad sellers. The Commission Code is no exception. But the thing is, this one is simply a copied version of other products and even worse, I've discovered some malicious intent by the seller. Today my Commission Code review will discuss whether you can make any profits with it. But to be honest, this is a scam. The way the seller spams you after the purchase is out of order. Also the autoresponder - don't use it. The seller's trying to make affiliate commissions for himself using your email service fee. I'll explain it later, but I don't recommend the Commission Code to anyone.
The Commission Code Review | ||
Product Name: | The Commission Code | |
Website URL: | thecommissioncode.com | |
Type: | Affiliate Marketing | |
Owner: | Bill McRea | |
Price: | $9 for the first 14 days, $47 per month thereafter. | |
Rating: | ||
What Is The Commission Code?
To simply put, the Commission Code is an inferior copied version of Click Wealth System, which has been released a few months earlier, and the idea is based on other high-end products such as Perpetual Income 365.
It is a "make money online" package, encouraging you to sell the product itself to others, who then also be able to sell it. The necessary tool is already "done for you", so you barely require or need to learn the marketing skills.
It includes 2 x already-made landing pages and web-hosting, plus a daily email sequence for 45 days that integrates with GetResponse.
Your followup emails will be promoting various ClickBank products. However, your emails will be in the seller's name, and the hyperlinks in your emails will be the seller's affiliate link, not yours. It means that if anyone signs up with you using this system and decides to make a purchase via your followup emails, you will not receive any commission. The seller Bill McRea will.
In other words, you'll be "unknowingly" paying $15 to GetResponse to build leads for Bill McRea and help him make money.
If you are brand new to affiliate marketing, for $9, at least you'll be able to get the feel of it. But you have to pay a lot more money for it to work, many similar products have already been around so there's no uniqueness, and so on. I'll explain the pros and cons in a little while.
The Easy Setup
Setting up your basic Commission Code system is easier than anything, and the instruction video for each step is very short (1 minute+) and clear. The steps are;
- Sign up with GetResponse if you haven't already, and connect it to the Commission Code using the API code.
- Sign up with ClickBank if you haven't already, and save your ClickBank ID in your Commission Code account.
- Install one (or both) of the two ready-made landing pages with a few clicks. A domain "infodialcenter.com" is allocated to you, so you just need to name your subdomain (e.g. mysite.infodialcenter.com)
That's all you have to do, and your landing page is ready to promote. The question is, how can you take it from there? In order to actually make money using this tool, you'll inevitably invest a lot more money on buying traffic and building a list.
The Landing Page Templates
The landing (squeeze) page templates are the ones you often see via solo ad traffic; they're designed to maximize the number of opt-ins. Visitors from solo ads typically don't spend more than 30 seconds+ before they decide to sign up, so the sales copy is kept at minimal. Both the templates invite visitors with some unrealistic income claim ("Make $1,000 commission today!")
Solo Ad Traffic Recommendations
The majority of "done-for-you affiliate marketing package" sellers are affiliated to the same solo ad sellers; Udimi, Traffic For Me, Wayne Crowe, Roy Tay, etc. The recommendations made by the Commission Code are no exception; it recommends 4 x solo ad traffic resources.
- Traffic For Me (TrafficForMe.com) - I've shared my bad experience before (poor opt-in rates and gad communications). You might want to google and check various reviews and make your decision.
- The MLM Traffic Center - $0.59 per click when you buy 100 "Commission Code Clicks", which I think is a good price. The more clicks you buy, the more discount you'll get.
- Wayne Crowe - Wayne is a great seller. I've received very responsive traffic from him in the past. He's also a great tutor, he's very helpful.
- Udimi - Good solo ad marketplace. You need to check the feedback ratings to find good sellers. It has great support and the good thing is that it has its own filter system. Although bots can still bypass the filter, at least it analyzes each seller's traffic independently for you.
There are some advantages and disadvantages of using solo ad traffic services. The main advantage is, it's quick and handy. You don't need any "strategies" apart from choosing a trustworthy seller.
Whereas the main disadvantage is you never get a good, target audience. Many leads that you acquire from solo ads are non-responsive or do-nothing-and-get-rich-quick dreamers because of the way it's advertised.
By all means, using solo ad services is the easiest way to acquire leads so long you can afford to pay. However...
Commission Code Members' Area
GetResponse (Autoresponder) Integration
The Commission Code integrates with GetResponse, an email marketing service with a few clicks, and instantly 45 x followup emails will be installed on your GetResponse account. It means all you have to do is to sign up with GetResponse, free trial for the first 30 days and the price starts from $15 per month thereafter.
...This appears to help you generate leads and make affiliate commissions via your followup emails.
Unfortunately, what I discovered was that
- The emails will be sent out in the seller's name ("Bill"), not you.
- The links in the followup emails are the seller's affiliate links, not yours.
One of your email links is the seller Bill McRea's affiliate link to Super Affiliate System.
It means that you'll be paying $15+ GetResponse fee for nothing. The emails will be sent every day for 45 days, promoting random ClickBank products, but each time your subscriber clicks one of the links and makes a purchase, the seller Bill McRea makes an affiliate commission. You'll receive nothing.
So frankly, the seller is NOT helping you to make an affiliate income with this whole tool, but he's trying to get you to pay for an email marketing software, get you to pay for solo ads to generate leads, and sneakily divert your leads to his own affiliate pages.
If this isn't a scam, what is?
The only way to turn the leads into your own and make it possible for you to make money is to go into each email and change each email link to your affiliate link. But if you knew how to do it, you probably wouldn't need the Commission Code at all.
How Much Would It Cost You?
You'll be paying for (1) The Commission Code membership, (2) GetResponse membership, and for (3) solo ad traffic. As I just explained, I don't recommend you to connect it to GetResponse, but if you did, this would happen.
- The entry fee of $9 is for the initial 2 weeks and you'll be charged $47 per month thereafter.
- You need to use the email marketing service GetResponse to make it work, after a 30-days free trial, you'll be charged a minimum of $15 per month (up to 1,000 subscribers).
- It's up to you how much you want to spend on solo ads. If you buy 500 clicks from The MLM Traffic Center, it will cost you 500 x $0.55 = $275 to acquire 200 leads (*** See below.)
- Total: 47+15+275 = $337 per month (this is just an example).
*** The Commission Code's own traffic service MLM Traffic Center says you'll get 35-45% opt-ins. Assuming that the seller will make sure you'll receive the rates as promised, say, 40%, you'll pay $275 to acquire 200+ leads (subscribers).
Can You Make Profits with The Commission Code?
I don't think so. Unless you know how to change the followup email sequence and make your leads on your own, you'll be wasting your solo ad fees.
Assuming you change each and every link in your followup emails to your own affiliate link to The Commission Code (which I wouldn't recommend either...you don't want to promote a scam product to others!), okay, this is a rough measurement.
You are likely to make a huge loss in my opinion, and I suggest that you'll really need to keep monitoring your expenditure.
You will make a 50% commission ($4.50) every time someone buys The Commission Code via your campaigns.
Here's the breakpoint. To pay off your monthly expenditure based on buying 500 clicks every month, 75 people need to buy The Commission Code via your campaigns (75 x $4.5 = $337.50.)
The seller says typical click rates are 5-10%, which means a maximum of 20 people may make a purchase, i.e. 20 x $4.5 = $90.
I think that's about right - although 45 followup emails will be sent to each of your leads, you can't expect 75 people out of 200 leads to make a purchase...that'll be too ambitious.
But of course, some of your referrals may go on to become a full monthly member, in which case you'll receive a 50% of $47 (=$23.50). So it's really hard to say, if you keep making profits in the long term or end up making losses.
So You Won't Make "$1,266.75 Instantly Today"?
You may already know that the exact number ($1,266.75) is just made up to draw attention. But when it says "make"... It's referring to the gross revenue, not the profit. Of course you can easily make over a thousand dollars if you spend tens of thousands of dollars in solo ad traffic, you see what I mean?
Realistically speaking, as an affiliate marketing beginner, you'll never make that kind of profit so soon, let alone "instantly".
Is The Commission Code Worth Any Money?
Unfortunately, no. Mainly for 3 reasons, in my opinion.
Reason 1: When compared to others
I can compare the Commission Code with Click Wealth System, which has been released in the past few months, and I see Click Wealth System offers far better value - almost identical to the Commission Code PLUS a lot more content.
- One-off charge of $9 with no monthly recurring fee that includes your landing page hosting.
- 10 landing page templates to choose from instead of 2.
- Free click tracker
- Free 200 clicks (visitors to your page.)
- Main domain rather than a subdomain.
- Helpful PDF guides including a free traffic guide.
Reason 2: The recurring monthly fee
I think what's most critical is the monthly fee of $47 which is a killer. I've searched in the members' area but cannot seem to find out what exactly the fee is for. I assume it's for web hosting and the landing page usage, which seems very high to me. Like I just mentioned, Click Wealth System offers these for free.
Of course, you'll receive $23.50 each time your referral decides to become a full member, but it only happens if they either really decide to promote this product or they forget to cancel the membership.
Reason 3: Followup emails won't make you any money
As I already explained earlier!
Disrespectful
Okay, I also felt extremely disappointed when I discovered this.
When I bought the Commission Code, I received a welcome message, login detail, etc. But subsequently, I started to receive daily (or twice a day) emails which look like typical solo ad swipes.
They were clearly sent from "William, The Commission Code, support@thecommissioncode.com", but the link destinations were other ClickBank products including Perpetual Income 365 and Click Wealth System, both of which are "better versions of" the Commission Code.
So the seller first sells you his own product, the content of which he copied from Perpetual 365 and CWS, then he tries to sell you the originals to pocket some extra affiliate commissions to himself.
I think he's being disrespectful to his own buyers. This shows that he doesn't even pretend to care about his buyer. He only sees YOU as a spam target. He thinks he'll be lucky if you buy 2 x almost identical products, Click Wealth System and the Commission Code.
Would you still buy this product?
60-Days Refund Guarantee
If you're not happy with the Commission Code for any reason, you're covered under ClickBank's refund guarantee policy. You can claim a refund within 60 days of the initial purchase. No disclosure about the further $47's automatically charged to you after 14 days, which will also be refunded, I assume.
The Commission Code Pros and Cons
Pros
Cons
The Commission Code Review - Conclusion:
Well, it's a scam. Don't buy it.
But even if the affiliate links in your email were placed correctly, I wouldn't recommend it either. Because although it may let you have ready-made landing pages, you can't customize them and make them your own over time. As soon as you stop paying the $47 monthly fee, you'll be left with nothing. If you are interested in signing up with GetResponse, GetResponse comes with a free landing page builder, anyway. If you accidentally bought The Commission Code already, I suggest that you either request for a refund or, learn how to replicate it yourself, so you can leave The Commission Code membership within the initial 14 days and will start promoting other affiliate products.
If you're looking for a sustainable affiliate marketing business that you can expand in the future, I would rather recommend you to get a WordPress hosting and a landing page builder such as Thrive Architect. That's how I did when I was involved with solo ad business a few years back, and it worked perfectly.
How I "Finally" Make Over $6,000 Monthly Income
"The most valuable thing I've ever done!"
Hello. I tried the commission code during the pandemic. But unfortunatly i didn’t get the programmes that I needed. it was all my savings for the last straw that i needed to feed my family.commission code did not give me access so I phoned the number but there was no reply. Eventually there was a reply but it said I had to wait. I am still waiting and very frustrated to the point that I had to speak to the local law center to get my money back. I used my credit card that’s my trouble because it’s Visa who doesn’t give my money back.
Sorry to hear about your experience, Shel. I don’t quite understand why you had trouble claiming a refund against your Visa company, but if you purchased the product recently and are able to provide the proof of purchase, you should be able to. It does offer a 60-day guarantee though?
When I invested some money worth of The Commission Code with a company that trades online, I was guaranteed a weekly payout of 1000 dollars or more. The website in fact kept running even after the company shut down. I was still able to see my dashboard at that time, and instead of calculating my money weekly, they opted to be anonymous. However, the knowledge growth didn’t take place. Therefore, I requested a withdrawal before the site went viral, but the request was denied. My family and coworkers at work recommended a recovery expert I had access to who assisted me in recovering from my commission, which scammed so many people. However, what surprised me most was that I was able to receive my money back within a week. If you have invested money with him in affiliate marketing, he can discuss how to recover it. I contacted them and they promptly replied.
Another scam from IM conman Ian Ross
i'm no a con man you think you are scamed it's your fault.i sell the same im package overn over again coz they new people keep coming back its not my fault i'm legit.
ian ross
It’s a copy of another scam. I can’t remember the name exactly but it had exactly the same sales form in different colours. Anybody with half a brain should know it’s a scam when they see a video like that.
Hi Gavy, thanks for the info. Yes the video is really scammy but first-timers with no knowledge of online business techniques tend to get fooled by video-only sales pages pretty easily, unfortunately.
I thought Clickbank could ban scammers. Can’t you complain to them?
Hi Hatza, you can communicate with ClickBank via your receipt and tell them why you're asking for a refund. Yes, I've seen some sellers "banned" by ClickBank in the past, for whatever the reason!
I knew about this. Someone called Dylan has been sending me emails twice a day trying to persuade me to buy it. But I don’t remember signing up with him and also I noticed that one of his emails said [Your Name] instead of his own name, Dylan or whatever. I knew he was sending somebody else’s email. Everything he was trying to sell was scam so I knew Commission Code was also scam. I wish these people were caught god knows how many people are scammed every day!
Hi Ray, I’m also so disappointed to know about this. I think because coronavirus people try to make every penny out of more number of other people with cheaper scams other than selling expensive scams to less number of other people.
I heard about William McRae before and his another product was not good too according to other reviews I read.
Thank you for warning us because all of us need to save every penny to spend money for better affiliate product.
Hi Junya, thanks for your comment. Yes that makes perfect sense, there are definitely more demands but no one’s prepared to fork out a lot of money, scammers are taking good advantage of that. Sadly.
Thank god I found your review. I almost wasted my 9 dollars + vat. My money is really tight I really cannot spend money but I’m in need of urgent cash as I have lost my job lately + need to pay rent, pay some towards my credit card debt… Can you tell me which one is best, If I know I can make some profits then I can pay up to 100 dollars. I am totally depending on reviews on google. Thank you.
Hi Maria, sorry to hear that you’ve lost your job. Unfortunately there is no “system” that allows you to make profits in such a short term. My advice is, NEVER believe sales copies such as “Make $$$ within X days. They all refer to a possibility, not a promise. You’ll be running an online business, and it takes time and capital before your business starts to make good profits. So none of them – no matter how many reviews you check – will help you get urgent cash to pay off debts, etc. Sorry to have to disappoint you, but really, it’s easier and quicker to find a job locally. I hope something will work out for you. Thanks for your comment.
They always put random numbers like..make 385.49 dollars per day, 1299.87 dollars per day..scammers have been doing this for years. If they still think they sell better good luck to them because whenever I see one of those random numbers I close the browser. I was just going to check what the reviewers say and I’m glad at last I found an honest review. Thank you. I’m sick’n tired of seeing *review* pages in fact they are all sales pages by affiliates. I can tell they didn’t even buy it themselves and copy & paste the same sentences trying to sell it to others.
Hi Kennedy, thanks for your comment. Yeah, that’s a cheap, old trick that everyone’s still following, and there’s no evidence that the random numbers actually work or don’t work. I would love to A/B test it but that would cost me thousands of dollars, I wouldn’t! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I got my already done for you funnel using instabuilder & I know how to connect to my email account. I used some solo ad in the past but I was not happy about this because it got very slow after a day or so and they cancelled after I complained. S this something like the same? Then how do I get free emails to send?
Hi Desmond, thanks for your comment. Sounds like you already have experience in this area and therefore you don't need to buy this product to do the same exercise. And yes, that's what happens with many solo ad sellers…they don't monitor the traffic they send and end up taking daysundefinedweeks to finish, even with some reputable ones, unfortunately.
In terms of "free emails" you're referring to, do you mean the swipe templates for GetResponse? Then yes, you will get them and have them saved on your GR account automatically. But they're not worth it, in my opinion. Any more questions don't hesitate to message me.
Ray, First I must congratulate you for being so honest but kept your integrity and analyzed the income projections. You are being helpful as I have seen many other commission code reviews but I can tell they are all fake reviews written by affiliate marketers. They only try to sell it without understanding it or they think it works without using it.
Due to the pandemic increasing number of people are trying to work from home and I see many old affiliate marketers try to take advantage of their vulnerable situations taking money without teaching anything useful. I’m hoping the new people understand affiliate marketing is not easy unless they scam others using the same technique like commission code. Your post is telling them not to go down the same road. Keep up the good work.
Hi Syed, thanks for your comment. I agree with you, many more people seem to have been looking for online jobs since the beginning of the pandemic, and their money’s tight so they tend to be more attracted to low-cost programs like this one. If they’re sensible enough they shouldn’t fall for scammy sales video techniques though…! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I appreciate it. All the best!