Searching for answers about EPC? This comprehensive article will answer ALL your questions and more.
Earnings Per Click (EPC) is a term that pops up constantly in affiliate marketing.
It tells you if a product is worth promoting.
And if you’re starting affiliate marketing…
You must fully understand this metric because it determines your income potential.
Stick around, and you’ll learn:
- What is EPC in affiliate marketing
- Why it’s important in affiliate marketing
- How to calculate EPC
- Ways to improve your EPC
Sounds good?
Let’s continue.
What Does EPC Mean in Affiliate Marketing?
Earnings Per Click (EPC) measures your average earnings whenever a customer clicks on your affiliate link.
This allows you to evaluate offer profitability and optimize affiliate campaigns.
This metric can often be found on dashboards in affiliate marketing networks to help affiliates evaluate and compare their earnings potential to that of other merchants.
Key Takeaway: EPC allows you to quickly evaluate earning potential and filter through affiliate programs that don’t meet your criteria.
Why Is EPC Important In Affiliate Marketing?
EPC allows you to quickly evaluate earning potential and filter through affiliate programs that don’t meet your criteria.
It measures the average earnings generated for every click on an affiliate link.
And that’s pretty useful for a few reasons:
- Assessing Campaign Performance. A high EPC indicates the product can likely sell itself. It’s a high probability the audience will click on affiliate links and complete purchases.
- Comparing Affiliate Programs. Certain products may offer higher commissions. But a lower EPC affiliate program might make promoting a product with a lower commission but a higher EPC more profitable.
- Projecting Future Earnings. Easily calculate potential affiliate revenue if you know your site’s average click-through rate (CTR), visitors, and EPC.
- Optimization. Focus on writing product roundups or reviews that have the highest EPC. You can also identify areas where adjustments or experiments could enhance conversion rates.
But here’s the one important caveat…
EPC tells you the average or mean value of your overall clicks. Not just one.
One outlier bringing in most of the commissions would skew the number.
In this case, it’s more accurate to take the median.
That’s why EPC alone won’t paint the full picture.
You must pair it with metrics like conversation rates and individual commissions to evaluate your performance properly.
Why Do New Affiliate Marketers Get Confused Between EPC and Cost Per Click (CPC)?
Costs Per Click (CPC) and EPC are common metrics in digital marketing.
The confusion likely arises because they both deal with “per click” performance.
But they are distinctly different:
- CPC (Cost Per Click): Used in paid advertising campaigns, such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads. It represents the amount an advertiser pays each time someone clicks on their ad. Newbie affiliate marketers will look at CPC when using ads for an affiliate product link.
- EPC (Earnings Per Click): This represents an affiliate marketer’s average earnings each time someone clicks on their affiliate link. It’s a revenue metric to indicate earnings from those click-throughs.
Mixing them up is easy because they involve clicks but measure different things.
If the EPC is higher than the CPC, that’s a profit.
If the CPC is higher than the EPC, that’s a loss.
(I got confused too. Don’t tell worry…)
As long as your EPC surpasses your CPC, you are safe.
How To Calculate EPC?
Here is how to calculate the EPC.
EPC = Total Affiliate Campaign Earnings / Total Affiliate Link Clicks
Thats it.
Here’s an example.
Say you were promoting an affiliate product and made $2,500 in commissions.
And all of that came from 200 affiliate link clicks.
Your EPC is:
$2500 (Total Affiliate Campaign Earnings ) / 200 (Total Affiliate Link Clicks)= $12.5 (EPC)
What Is A Good EPC in Affiliate Marketing?
There’s no universally bad or good EPC in affiliate marketing.
It varies between individual programs and industries.
Other factors that can affect this metric include:
- Quality and relevance of promotional content
- The appeal of the offer
- Effective marketing strategies
- Conversion rates
- Customer satisfaction
It’s relative.
Affiliate products with higher EPC don’t always mean it’s a good choice.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say you’re comparing two affiliate programs.
- Program A’s EPC is $1.00
- Program B’s EPC is $0.50
Which is better? You might think A is “good” because it’s higher.
But if B’s products are more relevant to your audience, that WILL get more clicks and increase overall revenue despite its lower EPC.
Let’s flip this around…
Program B might have a lower EPC than A.
But it could be more profitable if its conversion rates are higher and you can generate more clicks.
How To Increase Your EPC for Affiliate Marketing?
Here are 13 simple ways to boost your EPC for affiliate marketing.
- Add Affiliate Links In Blog Post Body Content
- Get Fast Web Hosting
- Choose High-Converting Offers/Products
- Target The Right Audience
- Use Non-Intrusive Floating Popups
- Use Exit Intent Popups
- Supercharge Your Landing Pages
- Analyze Your Traffic Sources
- Add Affiliate Links In Your Email Series
- Have Relevant Content
- Add Comparison Tables Above The Fold
- Add Inline CTA Affiliate Blocks
- Test, Test, Test
1. Add Affiliate Links In Blog Post Body Content
Almost 40% of all affiliate commissions in the United States were generated by blog content.
That’s quite a figure.
EPC rises the more people click on your affiliate links, and you can generate a ton of organic traffic from blog content.
How Do I Know This?
Because I do it too.
If you blog regularly, attach affiliate links to the body content and drive more affiliate sales.
It works amazingly well because it provides an immediate product solution to the problem while readers go through your article.
For affiliate links in blogs to work, these types of blog content are most effective:
- Product Roundup and Reviews
- Product Comparisons
- High-traffic informational posts
Remember to follow SEO copywriting best practices to rank and compel readers to click.
Note: Add links throughout in appropriate sections of the blog post. Also, explicitly mention the product/service in the anchor text and use the rel=”sponsored” link attribute to align with Google’s guidelines and maintain transparency.
2. Get Fast Web Hosting
The average person spends less than a minute on a webpage, and the average load time for a webpage is 2.5 seconds on desktop and 8.6 seconds on mobile.
If your page loads one second longer, readers will bounce.
(Humans and their attention spans…)
They can get the information from your competitor.
This sucks if you want to make affiliate sales.
Slow page speeds will also negatively affect your Google rankings.
Meaning…
No one will even read your article.
So do yourself a favor and get the best website hosting for affiliate marketing.
It might cost a bit more.
But if you’re serious about increasing your EPC.
Do it.
3. Choose High-Converting Offers/Products
The whole concept of affiliate marketing is promoting products people WANT to buy.
Choosing products that have good conversion rates is a good indication that people are interested in such products.
For example, choosing to be an affiliate for a DVD company in the age of Netflix and streaming services would be a waste of time and give you a low EPC.
Research and identify affiliate programs that have a track record of success.
Look for affiliate programs with:
- Compelling products or services
- Attractive commission structures
- Positive reviews
Get the right offers and increase your chances of getting more clicks.
More Clicks = Higher EPC.
4. Target The Right Audience
Know your product and the people who buy them.
That’s the Number 1 Rule of Affiliate Marketing.
Know what makes them tick.
Research where to find them and the tone to speak to them.
Focus your efforts on reaching the most likely interested in your promotion.
What works for Gen Z won’t work for Millennials.
For example, marketing a Gen Z product and going to LinkedIn won’t do much for your EPC, unlike when you go to Tiktok and Instagram.
When you are 100% sure you understand the audience you are marketing your goods to, then use strategies like targeted ads and social media magic to land the whale.
Your clicks turn into cool money when you speak their language and give them what they want.
5. Use Non-Intrusive Floating Popups
We all fear people will run away from our landing page or website when they see popups.
That’s not true.
People hate seeing multiple spammy popups, you know, that type that brings random advertisements about fake jobs or
When used correctly, popups can increase your sales and clicks drastically.
How?
Because if it’s always there and has value, eventually, your reader will get curious or want to check it out.
And if you are serious, that’s all you need in the affiliate marketing funnel to close the deal.
There are multiple types of popups you could try out, but I am personally in love with the floating popups.
Why?
Well, it’s floating, doesn’t block the content, yet is impossible to ignore.
It’s always at the corner or top of the page, just like the proverbial elephant in the room.
It’s hard to miss.
6. Use Exit Intent Popups
As the name suggests, this popup only triggers when visitors want to leave the site.
It’s your last line of defense before a reader leaves your website.
Most sites use it to capture emails…
(Move your cursor to close this tab now to see mine… but remember to come back!)
But most affiliate articles will send them to an affiliate product page to increase your EPC.
Here’s an example.
This works way better than a regular popup because it’s not invasive.
It’s not being shoved in their face…
More like a friendly reminder before they leave.
Neat trick, right?
7. Supercharge Your Landing Pages
Your landing page is like the receptionist of your campaign.
It is a potential customer’s first impression of your product when they click on your ad or link.
It can’t be boring.
Ensure your landing page copy compels visitors to click or purchase.
Play with hooks and copy…
And use compelling CTAs (Calls to Action) to drive your point home.
Experiment with designs and page layouts to see what gets people in the Clicky or Purchasing mode.
The more interest they show, the more they click and the higher your EPC.
Get their attention? Get their money.
8. Analyze Your Traffic Sources
Focus your efforts on the platforms that yield the highest potential conversions.
If TikTok drives the most conversions, make more short-form video content and plug your affiliate links.
If a blog is your main source, like me…
Optimizing new or updating old content for SEO can increase traffic to your affiliate links.
More traffic → more clicks → more EPC
But don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Explore other channels like:
- Guest posting
- Newsletter cross-promotions
- Paid ads
9. Add Affiliate Links In Your Email Series
What better way to get warm audiences who are primed for purchase than in your email series?
Sprinkling in some affiliate links is an excellent way of improving your EPC.
You have been nurturing them…
So why not recommend a product?
But you have to be careful here, though.
Attaching too many links can land your emails in the dreaded spam folder.
But do it right, and you’ll see your affiliate commissions skyrocket.
How many affiliate links can you add?
While there is no fixed number…
I tend only to insert a product or service if it’s relevant to the topic of that particular newsletter issue.
But many will include all their “favorite/recommended products” every time.
Try to avoid that.
10. Have Relevant Content
No one likes their time wasted.
The same goes for your potential customers.
If you don’t have relevant content on your website or blog, they will leave as fast as they came.
So you must create kick-ass content that solves your reader’s problems.
(like this article…)
Create content that is valuable and hooks your audience.
Do this correctly, watch those conversions rise, and your EPC shoot up.
Because if you demonstrated expertise…
They will be more willing to buy your affiliate products.
11. Add Comparison Tables Above The Fold
People want answers NOW.
And most skim for answers. They don’t read.
Look at my article on “Best Website Builder for Affiliate Marketing,” I added a comparison table of my top 3 picks.
But not just anywhere…
It’s the first thing they see when they click into the roundup.
I answered their search intent IMMEDIATELY.
And they can read more if they want.
Note: Most website builders in the article above will allow you to create beautiful comparison tables for affiliate marketing.
This will increase the chances of a click converting and boosting your EPC.
Compare this to most affiliate blogs…
Readers must scroll to the middle to see the list.
Good luck to them.
They will leave before seeing the CTA.
12. Add Inline CTA Affiliate Blocks
Most affiliate marketers either use inline CTA affiliate blocks way too much or…
Not at all.
I fall in between.
Here’s an example.
It’s pretty big and hard to miss.
(that’s what she said…)
But why does this work so well at boosting EPC?
Four reasons:
- Increased engagement: Your readers are already engaged with your article. It’s a natural and seamless integration.
- Contextual relevance: This works exceptionally well when solving a problem, and the solution is an affiliate product. If you’re gonna tell someone about a fix… tell them what the fix is.
- Forced visibility: Unlike the sidebar or at the end of the article, you can’t miss a CTA block because it’s woven into the content body.
- User experience: Make it easier for the audience to take action rather than hunting all over your article for the affiliate link.
Speaking of compelling CTA buttons…
Read my article on direct response copywriting if you want some secrets to stacking those conversions.
13. Test, Test, Test
Every good affiliate marketer knows experimenting is the only way to optimize for conversions.
There are too many dynamic variables…
And you’ll never know what is “best” until you try.
It’s the same for increasing your EPC.
You have to analyze, tweak, and split-test all elements.
Test your:
- Ad Creatives: Check if your ad creatives still resonate with your audience or if they match the tone of your audience.
- CTAs: Are they still eye-catching? Are they still bringing In clicks?
- Copy: Is it engaging and compelling enough to convince readers?
- CPC: Your own. Not the platform’s average
- Timing: Time can make or mar some campaigns. Know when your customers are most active and target them during that time.
It’s like testing various skill and equipment builds in your favorite MMORPG.
Try. Iterate. Pivot. Double down.
What Is EPC In Affiliate Marketing (FAQs)
What Is the Difference Between CPC and EPC?
EPC refers to your average affiliate earnings per click.
While CPC is the amount, advertisers pay for each click on their ads.
EPC represents earnings, and the CPC focuses on cost.
How Can I Find Out What an EPC Is in My Affiliate Marketing Program?
You can usually find the EPC in your affiliate dashboard or analytics platform.
Calculate it by dividing total earnings by the number of clicks. Look for click-through rate, conversion, and earnings data.
Ask your affiliate manager for help if you can’t find it.
What Does It Mean When They Say “EPC $500” In Affiliate Marketing Offers?
EPC, or “Earnings Per Click,” is a fancy term that tells you how much money or affiliate commissions you can make.
In this case, the $500 is calculated based on an average of 100 clicks.
Just because the offer is $500, it doesn’t mean you are sure to get $500 for every 100 clicks.
Remember that the value is an average. You might find yourself with thousands of clicks but zero sales.
It’s an indicator of money-making potential. Not a guarantee.
What Does 30 Day EPC Mean?
It’s the average affiliate earnings for every 100 clicks you send to a merchant’s program over the past 30 days.
The formula is (Commission Earned/Clicks) x 100.
Is It Possible To Increase My Earnings per Click?
Yes, it’s possible to increase your earnings per click. My favorite strategies are optimizing landing pages, improving targeted traffic, promoting high-value affiliate products, exit intent popups and inline CTA blocks.
Does Running Ads for an Affiliate Boost My Earnings per Click?
Yes, running ads for an affiliate can boost your EPC. But you must also account for the CPC. You’re making money as long as your EPC is higher than your CPC.
What Does EPC Mean on CJ Affiliate?
It represents the earnings per 100 clicks across an affiliate’s merchant program on the CJ affiliate network. You can calculate it using (Commission Earned/Clicks) x 100.
If you send 100 clicks to a merchant’s website and earn $50 in commissions, your EPC is $50.
What Does EPC Mean on ClickBank?
EPC on ClickBank is the total commissions divided by the number of clicks driven through your affiliate links.
If you earned $1,000 in affiliate commissions from a specific merchant from 100 affiliate link clicks, your EPC is be $10 ($1,000 commissions / 100 clicks).
To Sum Up
Alright, that’s a wrap.
If you skipped to the bottom.
Shame on you… But no worries. I do that too.
You learned how to define EPC in affiliate marketing, and here’s a summary:
- It allows you to gauge the effectiveness and profitability of your campaigns.
- The calculation is simple. Total affiliate revenue / Total affiliate link clicks.
- There’s no bad or good EPC. It depends.
- Improve EPC by using strategies like pop-ups, creating affiliate link placements, CTA snippets, targeting high-paying merchants, and using fast web hosting.
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