Definition: It is defined as the average amount of revenue earned each time a link gets clicked. This metric is often used in affiliate marketing to determine if a product is profitable enough to make a campaign out of it.
Explanation:
Everyone knows that affiliate marketing involves a lot of things other than promoting products and spreading affiliate links.
To be successful in this industry, affiliates always need to monitor important metrics that help them get insights to make better business decisions.
Earnings per click (EPC) is a formula that helps determine the mean average value of clicks and isn’t directly related to a cost-per-click campaign.
In simple words, EPC shows you the value for the clicks obtained and not the value of one click.
Since this metric involves high-value and low-value clicks, it helps affiliate marketers determine how much money they can earn in a batch of clicks.
Calculating EPC will give affiliates an idea if a product is worth their time and energy to drive sales.
It is computed using this formula:
EPC = total amount of commissions / number of clicks
For example, you were able to make $1,000 after 180 people clicked on your affiliate link.
Simply divide $1,000 by 180, and you’ll get $5.56 as a result.
Why is EPC important?
What makes earnings per click important is that it not only gives you an insight about which program yields better results, but it also helps in:
- Comparing different affiliate programs
- Understanding which platform to use
- Identifying problems (invalid links, bounce rate, etc)
- Comparing the performance of affiliate links
- Matching historical data with current data
What is the difference between Cost-per-Click and Earnings-Per-Click?
It can be a little confusing to tell these two metrics apart since they’re both based on clicks.
Earnings per click generally talks about the exact amount of money to expect for a batch of clicks.
Cost per click, on the other hand, is the actual price of one click that an affiliate gets paid for.
Both of them play important roles in affiliate marketing since it provides accurate data about their marketing strategies.
To get the net profit per click, it is done by subtracting the cost per click from the earnings per click.
Generally speaking, if the earnings per click is higher than the cost per click, it simply means that you’re making money.
Do affiliates get paid for clicks?
Affiliate marketing is getting compensated for helping an advertiser drive traffic to their website. However, depending on the program, the means of earning commissions can vary.
Here are common methods to get paid as an affiliate marketer:
Pay-per-click
Pay-per-click is an easy way to earn money as an affiliate since all you have to do is to encourage your audience to click your affiliate link.
The only thing that makes this program less interesting for some is that it’s usually lower than getting commissions per sale.
Some PPC campaigns offer $0.50 per click, which means that you need 100 clicks to get $50.
Although it’s still profitable, it can be hard to get the results that you want since this type of campaign takes time, unless you already have an audience.
Pay-per-sale
Pay-per-sale is the most popular type of affiliate program that pays well since it doesn’t rely on clicks, but on sales instead.
Let’s say the commission structure offers 10% commissions on sales and the consumer bought a product worth $500, this means that you will get $50.
Pay-per-lead
Pay-per-lead is also another program that pays well, but it is a bit more complex than the other two since it involves completing a particular action.
This program is common in companies that run referral programs to encourage affiliates to tell their target audience to fill out a form or buy a product.
Membership cards often have referral programs that give rewards to members who are able to get someone to join.
Do Amazon Affiliates get paid for clicks?
Amazon affiliates earn commissions per sale and not per click.
The commission structure of Amazon depends on the category it belongs to.
For example, the affiliate product belongs in the Kitchen category, which has a fixed commission rate of 4.50%.
If the affiliate product is worth $12.50, the affiliate marketer earns $0.5625.
How to increase earnings per click
EPC sure is a good metric that you should focus on, but it can be a little challenging at first especially when it’s not part of the analytics tools of the program you’re in.
So how exactly do you increase your earnings per click?
Build a sales funnel
A sales funnel helps you get good conversion rates and high EPC since it guides prospects in the entire sales process.
Since getting high EPC is your goal, applying this strategy in affiliate marketing is the key to achieving success effectively.
Always add a call-to-action
Getting a potential customer to convert is essential to earn commissions.
Adding a call-to-action motivates prospects to take the next step to conver as a buying customer.
Email marketing
Another method to increase EPC is through email marketing, where you interact with prospects via email to promote your affiliate links.
However, certain affiliate programs don’t allow this method, so always take time to read the fine print so as not to put your marketing efforts to waste.
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