EPC explained
By Allan Gardyne |
Published 02/3/2005 |
Monetizing a site |
printer friendly version
EPC: What it is and why it's so important
EPC stands for "earnings per click".
EPC is the ultimate test to tell which of the affiliate merchants you're promoting is performing the best.
It can also show you the duds.
Is an affiliate program that pays $100 commission better than a program that pays $5 commission? Maybe. Maybe not.
You can find out by calculating the EPC.
To calculate the EPC, you simply divide the commission generated by the number of clicks.
For example, if you receive a commission of $20 after sending 100 clicks (visitors) to the merchant...
Divide $20 by 100 = 0.20.
Your EPC is 20 cents per click.
It's very important to know this figure. It tells you exactly how much you're earning for each visitor you send to a merchant.
Do the sums for a few merchants and you'll probably find you're earning wildly varying payouts.
After such research, you may decide to dump some merchants and put more time and energy into promoting the ones which perform best.
Some merchants won't reveal affiliates' average EPC but will tell you their average sale. One merchant might have an average sale of $15 while another has an average sale of $100. The merchant with the higher figure would appear to have a site which is good at achieving sales.
In some cases, they may also tell your their conversion rate - their visitor-to-sales ratio.
However, the most important figures are the ones you calculate for yourself based on your own results. You may do much better or much worse than any quoted figures.
Exceptionally good EPC
For example, I've strongly recommended John Evans' book Success Alert - Conversations with Successful Internet Entrepreneurs to my newsletter subscribers.
I've just calculated the EPC to see how much John is paying me per click. It worked out at $1.29.
That's an exceptionally good earnings per click. It tells me that it's worth putting time and effort into promoting this book.
Your earnings per click for this product may vary hugely from mine, depending on how effective you are at preselling, warming up the potential customer in preparation for a purchase.
Most of my sales have been achieved by this review in my newsletter: Web success stories you can't put down
Warning signals
If you keep an eye on the EPC, changes - for better or worse - can alert you when the merchant has done something that affects the site's conversion rate. If your EPC plunges, perhaps the merchant has started diverting affiliate traffic to areas that don't earn you a commission.
Also, if a merchant has a low EPC and you're sending a lot of traffic to the merchant, you may be able to use the EPC as a bargaining lever to negotiate a higher commission.
Affiliate network Commission Junction confuses things by having a different definition of EPC. To CJ, EPC means earnings per 100 clicks.
Therefore, CJ's EPCs look 100 times better than normal EPCs.
However, I'm delighted that CJ is displaying merchants' EPCs. Doing so keeps merchants on their toes and also gives affiliates a rough idea of whether an affiliate merchant will be worth promoting.
It's only a rough idea, because there's no guarantee that you will earn the average EPC. You may do better or worse, depending on your skills and on how well the product matches your visitors' interests.
EPC is the ultimate test to tell which of the affiliate merchants you're promoting is performing the best.
It can also show you the duds.
Is an affiliate program that pays $100 commission better than a program that pays $5 commission? Maybe. Maybe not.
You can find out by calculating the EPC.
To calculate the EPC, you simply divide the commission generated by the number of clicks.
For example, if you receive a commission of $20 after sending 100 clicks (visitors) to the merchant...
Divide $20 by 100 = 0.20.
Your EPC is 20 cents per click.
It's very important to know this figure. It tells you exactly how much you're earning for each visitor you send to a merchant.
Do the sums for a few merchants and you'll probably find you're earning wildly varying payouts.
After such research, you may decide to dump some merchants and put more time and energy into promoting the ones which perform best.
Some merchants won't reveal affiliates' average EPC but will tell you their average sale. One merchant might have an average sale of $15 while another has an average sale of $100. The merchant with the higher figure would appear to have a site which is good at achieving sales.
In some cases, they may also tell your their conversion rate - their visitor-to-sales ratio.
However, the most important figures are the ones you calculate for yourself based on your own results. You may do much better or much worse than any quoted figures.
Exceptionally good EPC
For example, I've strongly recommended John Evans' book Success Alert - Conversations with Successful Internet Entrepreneurs to my newsletter subscribers.
I've just calculated the EPC to see how much John is paying me per click. It worked out at $1.29.
That's an exceptionally good earnings per click. It tells me that it's worth putting time and effort into promoting this book.
Your earnings per click for this product may vary hugely from mine, depending on how effective you are at preselling, warming up the potential customer in preparation for a purchase.
Most of my sales have been achieved by this review in my newsletter: Web success stories you can't put down
Warning signals
If you keep an eye on the EPC, changes - for better or worse - can alert you when the merchant has done something that affects the site's conversion rate. If your EPC plunges, perhaps the merchant has started diverting affiliate traffic to areas that don't earn you a commission.
Also, if a merchant has a low EPC and you're sending a lot of traffic to the merchant, you may be able to use the EPC as a bargaining lever to negotiate a higher commission.
Affiliate network Commission Junction confuses things by having a different definition of EPC. To CJ, EPC means earnings per 100 clicks.
Therefore, CJ's EPCs look 100 times better than normal EPCs.
However, I'm delighted that CJ is displaying merchants' EPCs. Doing so keeps merchants on their toes and also gives affiliates a rough idea of whether an affiliate merchant will be worth promoting.
It's only a rough idea, because there's no guarantee that you will earn the average EPC. You may do better or worse, depending on your skills and on how well the product matches your visitors' interests.
Spread The Word
12 Responses to "EPC explained" 
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Robert said this on 25 Jan 2008 11:49:29 PM EDT
This page is really old, it should be updated. I just spent like 3 minutes looking for that affiliate tracking software for my virus software site, only to discover both links are not active. :( http://www.virussoftwarereviews.com
[Thanks for the alert. The links to RevTrends and Afftrack have been deleted. Allan.] |
Author/Admin)|
Benny said this on 13 Apr 2008 9:21:30 PM EDT
I just wanna thanks for advice.
Because I'll be going to join an affiliate program now....... http://bennydotnet.blogspot.com |
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Bento said this on 15 Apr 2008 9:31:43 PM EDT
I never known about how does EPC works ?
I just wanna to learn from you about more than explaining, because I just join from the affiliate which can bring Banner historical about 26.80 $ EPC... wHATS THAT MEAN...???? http://bennydotnet.blogspot.com [If the EPC figure was quoted by an affiliate network, it probably means earnings per100 clicks, suggesting that sites which have published the banner have earned an average of $26.80 for every 100 clicks on it. This does not mean that YOU will earn that amount. Allan.] |
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Turk said this on 19 Jul 2008 1:54:53 AM EDT
Thanks dude! I was wondering about the CJ's definition of what EPC is, for it is, for sure, not "earnings "per" click, though it is supposed to be. Now that I've read your article, the mystery is solved.
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kris said this on 13 Aug 2008 7:16:40 PM EDT
I think you are one heaven sent here. You solved the mystery for me as well. just become an EPN affiliate. And kept gazing at the figure but never could gauge what it was all about. I have a question though.
there are four figures here in the daily report. ACRU earning, Winning bid revenue earnings, EPC earnings, and Earnings. so how do i calculate my total. what to add with what. Im really confused as im already on a spending spree on google CPC. this little detail could help me tremendously. thanks kris [I assume you're talking about eBay, which uses ACRU - Active Confirmed Registered User. If so, log into eBay Partner Network and go to the eBay US terms and conditions in the "Programs" tab on eBay Partner Network. There are also FAQs in the Help section of EPNl and in the user guide in the advertisers and programs tab under "value-based pricing". Allan.] |
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Stephanie said this on 03 Jan 2009 3:18:24 PM EDT
Ok Question... I just signed up for CJ and I have a pending application that says the EPC is $437 that is there earnings for every 100 clicks so how do I calculate what my earnings will be? How do I find out what I make for every click or 100 clicks?
[You can't forecast what YOUR EPC will be. The EPC stats provided by CJ just give you a very rough idea. Your results may vary hugely from the average depending on the quality of your website and the quality of your traffic. Near the start of the above article are instructions which describe how to calculate your EPC. Allan.] |
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ALEXS said this on 21 May 2009 9:44:19 PM EDT
Very informative article, but as one comment said, this article should be updated.
Thank you for the info, I just signed up with commission junction, now everything is clear. [The page HAS been updated. What else in the article do you think needs updating. Allan.] |
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alex said this on 04 Jun 2009 12:45:21 PM EDT
the published date on the article
[If the facts are all correct and still useful, why do you think there is a need to update the article? I have more productive things to do. Allan.] |
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Blaine Bullman said this on 04 Aug 2009 7:47:07 PM EDT
Commission junctions EPC is a good general indicator of how well an affiliate program are converting but do look at the 2 time periods for EPC and look at network earnings when considering an affiliate program. I did write a post explaining commission junctions EPC at
http://blaineblogger.com/commission-junctions-epc-explained/ Blaine |
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randy said this on 17 Aug 2009 6:31:30 AM EDT
Thanks for these information. I'm a newbie and this things are very interesting
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JAke said this on 27 Aug 2009 10:25:00 PM EDT
Thanks, the article's still worth a read, the CJ version of EPC had me head scratching. EPC is a lot more useful than CB gravty, a stat which seems to me to be a bit like self perpetuating affiliate sucking black hole.
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