Earnings Per Click/EPC in Affiliate Marketing: What is it?

We get it.

There are already enough acronyms in marketing and advertising – why add more to your vocabulary?

Well, if you’re an affiliate manager, you’ll want to pay close attention to this key metric because it’s one of the most important metrics to your current and prospective affiliate partners:

Earnings per click (EPC).

But what exactly is EPC, and why is it so crucial to your affiliate partners? We’re going to dive into the ins and outs of EPC, how it’s calculated, what’s a “good” EPC, and much more.

Let’s do this.

What does EPC stand for in advertising & affiliate marketing?

EPC stands for “earnings per click”.

It’s an essential metric for affiliate marketers to understand because it shows the expected earnings your affiliate partners can make for the number of clicks they send to your affiliate program.

It’s especially important to affiliates who can bring massive amounts of traffic to your products because it allows them to quickly see where your products may fit into some of their promotional strategies.

How is EPC calculated in Affiliate Marketing?

To calculate EPC in affiliate marketing:

EPC = Total commissions earned by affiliate partner divided by the number of clicks your affiliate partner sent through their tracking links.

Now, let’s jump into an example:

Your affiliate partner earned $1,000 in commissions from promoting your products and sent 100 clicks through their affiliate links.

To calculate EPC for this affiliate partner:

$1,000 commissions / 100 clicks = $10 EPC

But you should know when affiliate networks like CJ Affiliate, Impact, or PartnerStack, share the “network EPC” that’s a blended EPC for all their affiliate partners.

Just because a brand’s EPC may seem high, you need to consider other factors such as; Period the program has been live, types of products, sales cycle, AOV, etc.

How is EPC 7-Day Calculated?

The 7-Day EPC measures the average earnings per click over the last 7 days. It's calculated by dividing the total earnings by the number of clicks within 7 days, i.e., $50/1,000 = 50 cents.

How is EPC 30-Day Calculated?

The 30-Day EPC measures the average earnings per click over the last 30 days. It's calculated by dividing the total earnings by the number of clicks within 30 days, i.e., $50/1,000 = 50 cents.

What is a Good EPC in Affiliate Marketing?

You may hate this answer but…

It depends.

A good EPC will depend on the type of industry, product pricing, traffic, partners, the timing of promotions, and many other factors. The general rule of thumb is that the higher the EPC the better it is in affiliate marketing.

If you’re looking to improve your EPC in affiliate marketing, follow these four tips:

1. Double-check the product offer.

Is the product offer enticing enough to get users to 1) click through the affiliate link and 2) convert on the landing page? How is the offer priced in comparison to your competitors?

2. Geolocation of traffic to the page.

Does the location where the traffic comes from match your ideal customer profile? 

For example: If 100% of your customers are based in the U.S. because you can only ship within the U.S., but you have affiliates targeting countries outside the U.S., the likelihood of that traffic converting to sales will be minimal. Therefore, that will impact your EPC.

3. Optimized landing page.

If your goal is to drive conversions and sales from your affiliate partners, you want to ensure you have the most optimized landing pages you’re sending traffic to. When you have this in place, in theory, your traffic will convert higher; therefore, your EPC will also increase over time.

4. Improve AOV.

Another way you can improve the EPC is by optimizing your site to drive higher AOV with your customers. Higher AOV means more commission for your affiliates, therefore increasing your EPC.

EPC in Affiliate Networks

Are you an affiliate marketer or manager working out of some of the affiliate networks? Curious about what “EPC” stands for within these networks? Well, we’ll pull together some definitions below.

What is EPC in Amazon?

EPC within the Amazon Associates affiliate network stands for “earnings per click”. This is the sum of your earnings divided by the number of clicks driven through your affiliate links.

What is EPC in ClickBank?

EPC within the ClickBank affiliate network stands for “earnings per click”. This is the sum of your earnings divided by the number of clicks driven through your affiliate links.

What is EPC in Impact?

EPC within the Impact affiliate network stands for “earnings per click.” This is the sum of your earnings divided by the number of clicks driven through your affiliate links.

Within the Impact platform, they calculate a brand's EPC in 30-day and 7-day windows.

What is EPC in CJ Affiliate?

EPC within the AJAffiliate network stands for “earnings per click”. This is the sum of your earnings divided by the number of clicks driven through your affiliate links.

What is EPC in Rakuten?

EPC within the ClickBank affiliate network stands for “earnings per click”. This is the sum of your earnings divided by the number of clicks driven through your affiliate links.

What is EPC in ShareASale?

EPC within the ShareaSale affiliate network stands for “earnings per click”. This is the sum of your earnings divided by the number of clicks driven through your affiliate links.

ShareASale calculates their EPC and displays them within the marketplace as 30-day and 7-day windows.

Wrapping up Earnings Per Click

Now that you know the ins and outs of what EPC stands for in affiliate marketing, it’s time to optimize your program to increase this!

Take some of the tips listed above, meet with your affiliate team and see which levers you can pull over time to improve this and attract more affiliate partners to your program.

Remember, EPC shouldn’t drive your entire affiliate strategy, so don’t get hung up on this number and run into analysis paralysis.