Hey there sea changers, and welcome back to my series of MLM reviews. Today we take a look into the world of biohacking with my LifeVantage MLM Review. Health and wellness is a massive industry with great opportunities for the generation of online sales. And within LifeVantage’s sub niche based around supplements, this is especially relevant due to the fact that people do not need to touch and feel them prior to purchase. So, what is LifeVantage about? Let’s check it out…

What is MLM?

Multi-level marketing (MLM) programs are the mainstay of the ‘party plan’ world of products such as Tupperware, Mary Kay and Amway etc. and, recently, becoming more and more prevalent with those looking to sell supplements online. One of the reasons for this is that much of the sales and marketing for MLMs is now being managed without the need to run parties – and, more importantly, not hassle everybody you know to join (you can of course, but you don’t have to).

The ‘multi level’ aspects of MLM come from its hierarchical nature in which you make commissions based not only on those that you sell to, but also the sales of those whom you ‘sign’ into membership arrangements as well.

In short, the process works as follows:

1. You join the program, either via referral from another person (known as your up line) or directly through their website.
2. You promote the products of the company via parties, workshops or online.
3. As you make sales, you offer incentives to your customers to sign up as a member of the program (there are different names for this but they all mean the same thing).
4. That new member is then placed ‘underneath’ you in a hierarchical arrangement (known as your down line).
5. You, and a number of levels of your up line, then gain extra commissions for everything they sell as well.
6. If they manage to refer their customers into memberships, they also become a member of your down line allowing you to make up line commissions as well.

The number of levels of your up and down lines will vary depending on the program you have joined. Commission rates will also change as your down line grows or contracts and many will also offer other incentives such as total company sales percentages and/or access to membership prizes as your own business grows.

Who is LifeVantage?

LifeVantage is a health and wellness company based in Sandy, Utah in the U.S. Their website outlines the fact that for the last decade, they have been at the forefront of “discovering nutrient compounds that can address the leading scientific theories on aging and change the discussion on health”.

The major philosophy for their operations and product range centers on the theories around Biohacking. According to their website, biohacking is “the desire to understand the body and mind you’ve been given and using everything at your disposal — cutting-edge technology, tools, and science — to become the best version of yourself”.

What do they Sell?

Based on its Biohacking ideology. LifeVantage offers a decent range of health and wellness products including (but not limited to):

Nutrition Supplements

• Protandim® Synergizers
• Dietary supplements – Omega+, Pro Biotics
• Energy Gels

Fitness Supplements

• Fat burners
• Prebiotics
• Whey Protein

Pet Supplements

• Petandim® for Dogs

And, as is common for many supplements based MLM companies, there some extra cross selling opportunities with a range of beauty products as well including:

• Hair care
• Facial and eye serums
• Facial cleanser
• Anti-ageing cream
• Hand cream

Products can be purchased individually or as ‘stacks’ on a single purchase or monthly subscription basis. Prices are on par with most others within this niche such as the Shaklee and Le Vel Thrive MLM Programs

MLM Program outline

Members of the LifeVantage MLM program are called “Distributors” and from what I can see form part of a fairly modern program with a good number of commission and bonus earning options. Their compensation plan is readily available on their website (which I love) so here are the basics as I have found them…

Base Commission rate: N/A – Distributors can purchase at a discounted rate and sell at any price as they see fit.

Down line commission rates: 2 – 9% to 9 levels (1st generation (down line level 1) rates 2%).

Minimum monthly spend to qualify for commissions

• Distributors are required to maintain a status of ‘qualified’ which is achieved by generating a minimum 100 Product Volume (PV) purchase level per month.
• Distributors are required to purchase product to on-sell.

Payment terms: Weekly and monthly.

Application required?: Yes, personal and payment information on website.

Purchase requirements to join: Yes – one of the following must be purchased

• Base Starter Kit – $50.00
• Silver Pack +Starter Kit – $350
• Gold Pack + Starter Kit – $650
• Platinum Pack + Starter Kit – $1250

Note: The Base Starter Kit does not generate PV points.

Marketing materials provided: Included as part of starter kit and includes product guides, brochures, ingredients lists. Tracking back office.

As with the most MLM programs, downline commissions are determined by the total product volume points (PV) generated by the Distributor and their down line within a calendar month. Most MLM programs manage it this way in that commissions are paid on the points assigned to a product rather than the entire sales total. Based on what I can see within their website, LifeVantage calculates its PV points at around 70 – 80% of the retail price of the product (calculations vary from product to product).

So, for example, if a nutritional supplement retails at $100 with a PV of 75, this means that commissions are paid on $75 on the sale. If a commission rate then is 5%, then the commission would be $3.75 (i.e. 5% of $75).

How can I get paid?

The LifeVantage MLM program promotes via its compensation plan 8 ways in which Distributors can make money when they promote and sell their products. Most are quite standard for a MLM program of this nature whilst there are a few others that allow for bonuses to be earned simply for signing people up and profits for old-school based personal selling.

1. Retail Sales Profit

Retail Sales Profit is the base profit made by Distributors as they sell items personally purchased items to their retail customers. Distributors are able to sell products for whatever price they choose making their profit the difference between their discount purchase amount and the final retail price.

For example: A Distributor that purchases a product for $50 USD and sells this product to their personal retail customer for $60 USD achieves a $10 USD gross retail sale profit.

Distributors do not need to maintain minimum sales PV to be able to generate retail sales profits.

2. Smart Start Bonus

The Smart Start Bonus is a common MLM payment offering in that Distributors can earn extra payments based on the purchases of personally enrolled down line members within their first month of operation. Bonus payments are as follows:

Note: The Smart Start Bonus percentage payout is limited to the first 1,000 PV sales purchased by each new Customer and/or Distributor in their first calendar month.

Distributors must be Qualified in order to earn Smart Start Bonus payments

3. Launch Bonus

Qualified Distributors (Pro 3 rank or higher) who are able to recruit new members who purchase Enrollee product packs (Silver, Gold and Platinum as per above) can earn commissions based on these sales as follows:

Distributors must be Qualified at rank of Pro 3 or higher in order to earn Launch Bonus payments.

4. Unilevel Commissions

Unilevel Commissions are the stock standard down line payment structures prevalent to most MLM programs. In the case of LifeVantage, commissions of up to 9% are paid down to 9 levels on all generated volume within the down line of the Distributor as follows:

As with most programs, the higher the rank, the more commissions are paid. Distributors must achieve a minimum 100 – 200 PV dependent upon rank to qualify for Unilevel Commissions.

5. Generational Matching Bonus

Once a Distributor reaches the rank of Pro 3 and above, they can qualify for the Generational Matching Bonus. This bonus starts at 10% of all personally enrolled Distributor’s UniLevel Commissions with a further 5% down to 5 Generations.

Generations are paid against all down line commission of any Pro 3 ranking Distributor and above within the sponsor’s downline. Distributors must be Qualified at rank of Pro 3 or higher in order to earn Generational Bonus payments.

6. Global Elite Bonus Pool

The Global Elite Bonus Pool is another commonly used bonus scheme designed to reward the higher ranks within a MLM Program. In the case of LifeVantage, all Distributors with reach the rank of Pro 7 and higher earn a percentage of the total global PV pool for the previous month. The total pool is distributed as follows:

Distributors must be qualified at rank in the previous month to be eligible.

7. One Time Rank Achievement Bonus

As the name suggests, the One Time Rank Achievement Bonus is paid to Distributors who reach the highest ranks within the program as follows:

Payment is made in the third consecutive month of obtaining and maintaining the required Pro 10 rank qualifications, with the total bonus being paid in monthly amounts over a 12 or 24 month period.

8. Multiple Business Centers

This is not an immediate payment as such rather than the opportunity for those who reach the higher ranks to earn greater income via the establishment of more downline legs. Business Centers are the legs that a Distributor can manage for their down line commissions.

Each distributor starts out with one leg. They are then able to apply for further legs as follows:

• Pro 5 rank – 2 legs
• Pro 7 rank – 3 legs
• Pro 10 rank – 4 legs

Additional business Centers allow Distributors to earn commissions and bonuses on those down lines as well as their own original (leg 1).

Ranking structure

As you have probably noticed, the commissions and bonuses paid out above are reliant upon the ‘rank’ that Distributors are assigned within the LifeVantage affiliate program. This ranking structure is in line with most other programs with commission qualifications rising based on total monthly PV, the number of underlings within each down line and of course, how much they sell/purchase in a calendar month. Rank requirements are as follows:

As with most programs, rankings are determined by the total PV Distributors and their downline generate in a calendar month. As a down line grows, commission earnings increase as outlined earlier within this post.

What is good about it?

So, after a good look around the site and looking at all the options I could find, I do like the following:

• There are a good array of commissions and bonus options.
• There are some good incentives to reach higher ranks quickly.

What is no so good about it?

There are also some things to be aware of including:

• Distributors are required to pre-purchase everything that they choose to sell.
• Costs to enter are quite high.
• Commission rates are quite low compared to others within this niche.

How much can you make?

The below table is the Average Annual Earnings Disclosure for the LifeVantage MLM Program over a 12-month period. As with most MLM programs, the percentage of members making the upper rank levels – and hence making a living from this program alone – is very low (0.01%).

My final thoughts

Look, MLM is not an easy platform to make money in and there is nothing here that would make this one any easier that others. That said, the number of options within the compensation plan seem to be on par with most others within this niche (such as Herbalife and Plexus) with ample opportunity to earn if you can attract and nurture a down line. There is also the added bonus of being able to earn money simply by signing others up to the program – albeit via the more expensive entry option. The advantage here is that with most MLM programs, getting others (such as family members) to sign up is usually much easier than convincing them to continue to purchase monthly.

There are however two massive red flags for me that if I am being honest, would probably lead me to look elsewhere. The first centres on what is usually the simplest and most lucrative commission option for many MLM programs in retail commissions/profits. In this case, you are required to pre purchase almost everything that you are looking to sell and then, even if you can sell them for the retail price you will still not make the commission levels that many other programs offer.

The second for me is the high entry costs. Whilst the minimum mandatory purchase is only $50, you will need to make further purchases in order to acquire your baseline stock inventories to demonstrate and sell. And even if you can’t sell them, to earn commissions you need to maintain 100 PV per month so in general, you can expect to run at a loss for the first few months unless you are able to move quickly to attract sales and down line members.

I was unable to locate any negative reviews in terms of non-payment etc. however there was some negative comments about the quality of products and the MLM program itself – although it was not really anything that is uncommon in regards to MLM programs or products within this niche. They are also currently involved in a class action lawsuit against them in regards to being considered pyramid scheme which as time of writing was still in the courts.

So, is LifeVantage worth joining? I would say no – simply because this one just appears to need too many out-of-pocket expenses to get started that many others in this niche do not require. Just remember, regardless of the company, MLMs take solid, consistent work with some hard core selling to become successful – not to mention the monthly out-of-pocket expenses. For this reason, you may even want to start by looking into affiliate marketing rather than committing to an MLM program in short term.

Conclusion

So there you have it, my honest review and appraisal of the LifeVantage MLM program. I hope it has been of assistance but as usual, if you have any questions or experience with this program please do not hesitate to reach out by commenting below – especially if any of my information is inaccurate.

Are there any other programs you have been looking at but want to know more about? If so, please comment below and I will do my best to get some details for you.

Do you want further assistance with any of the above or need help to build your own health and wellness or MLM based website?

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Until next time

Have fun

Paul

Note: If you make a purchase from this page, there is a very good chance that I make a commission from it – these commissions do not increase your sale price.