EPC in Affiliate Marketing: How to Increase Your Earnings

Earnings per click (EPC) refers to the average amount of affiliate revenue made per click sent to an offer. You take your total affiliate earnings and divide them by your total clicks to get your EPC.

This performance metric doesn’t represent the amount every affiliate receives for each click unless the program operates on a pay-per-click model. However, EPC in affiliate marketing is a useful way of determining the performance of an offer and your earnings potential.

If you’re expanding into affiliate marketing or wanting to improve your current offerings, we’ll break down EPC further below. Round Sky’s personal loan affiliate program defines EPC with the standard earnings-per-click calculation to help our partners grow.

Which Loan Affiliate Network Has the Highest EPC Right Now?

Since EPC data varies widely, it’s impossible to identify a single network as providing the highest earnings. Not only can EPC payouts change seasonally, but they also vary based on affiliate marketing strategies, traffic sources, offers, and networks. 

Additionally, most EPC affiliate programs won’t disclose their current EPCs. Even if they did, each affiliate partner produces different EPCs across networks based on their own strategies, traffic mix, and additional commission structures.

Overall, we recommend treating any published EPCs as benchmarks to test your own research rather than guaranteed traffic. Round Sky is a benchmark you can start with. While not a guaranteed figure, our affiliates see EPCs as high as $3 per click. 

What Determines an Affiliate Program’s EPC?

EPC in affiliate marketing doesn’t depend only on higher commissions. You also need enough clicks from qualified traffic to generate commission in the first place. 

Payout Amount and Conversion Rate

While higher commissions can raise EPC, this only happens when enough clicks generate a commission. The ultimate goal of any affiliate marketing program is conversion. Even a million clicks won’t mean much if nobody converts. 

For example, an offer with a lower payout but high conversions will have a higher EPC than high-paying offers with few conversions.

Traffic Quality

Where is your traffic coming from and why? Consumer intent is key to ensuring people visit because they’re looking for a financial solution. The more relevant their needs are to the solutions the offers you promote solve, the more likely the consumers are to convert and earn you commission. 

Conversion Requirements

The point at which an affiliate gets paid will have a major effect on your EPC. Conversions depend on the program: form submission, qualified lead, approved applicant, or funded loan. 

Landing Page Friction

Your landing page can make or break a qualified lead. If you clutter the page with too much information or make the next steps too complicated, the consumer may not convert and you’ll lose out on earning affiliate commission. 

A strong landing page should have a singular call to action with clearly defined next steps. For example, a visitor who wants a personal loan for a recent emergency will be looking for an loan request form to fill out; not an email newsletter sign-up.

Lender Coverage and Lead Demand

Having financial partners is a great way to get even more support for what you do. Depending on the program you sign up for, you can have access to specific lender coverage and the kinds of leads they typically accept. 

Round Sky provides our affiliate partners with valuable insights into what lenders are looking for. While all EPC affiliate marketing involves trial and error, we steer you in the right direction with forecasting, real-time reports, and access to affiliate managers.

How to Compare the Best EPC Affiliate Programs

The best programs will depend on your experience levels, financial goals, and the individual EPC metrics. We recommend using the following measuring sticks to get a clear view of which program will benefit you most.

Compare the Same Time Period

A 7-day EPC will look quite different from a 90-day EPC. Some affiliate partners prefer to move quickly and adjust their strategy on the fly, while others prefer to take more time to analyze their traffic and conversions. Make sure you’re not mixing up these time periods and accidentally setting yourself up for confusion. 

Understand the Conversion Event

Does the commission require a click, lead, approval, sale, or funded loan? Make sure you’re tracking the right event, so you don’t miss valuable insights into what’s working (or not working) in your strategy.

Look at Conversion Rate and Payouts Together

Marketing is a series of small events that form a bigger picture. EPC data is no different. Conversion rates and payouts give you a more well-rounded perspective on why customers move forward and which customers actually earn you commission.

For example, an affiliate campaign could see a high volume of conversions but low payouts. Another campaign could see fewer conversions but consistent payouts. 

Check Traffic Source Compatibility

Is the published performance relevant to SEO, PPC, email, social, or the affiliate’s acquisition channel? Keeping a close eye on your traffic source and its relation to conversions will keep you from wasting your time. You don’t want to pour all your energy into an SEO campaign only to overlook that your actual metrics are coming from another source entirely.

Test With Your Own Traffic

You can’t improve what isn’t there. An affiliate’s EPC is a meaningful benchmark only after you’ve tested different platforms and analyzed multiple data reports. 

There is no universal threshold for a good EPC in affiliate marketing because traffic acquisition costs vary immensely. Don’t depend on traffic numbers in isolation. They can tell very different stories when compared with other campaign details.

For example, EPC data that looks high in isolation may still produce a losing campaign if acquiring each click costs more than it generates. In other words, don’t aim for the highest EPC; aim for what produces a sustainable profit for you and delivers a product to your audience that solves their needs. 

Find the Highest EPC for Your Traffic With Round Sky

Payout requirements, conversion rates, landing page experience, and consumer intent are just a few of the details to consider when increasing your EPC. Growing your earning potential is easier with the right partner by your side.

Round Sky’s pay-per-lead structure, optimized forms, and affiliate support are some of the ways we assist our affiliate partners. Explore our loan affiliate offers today, and see how you can start growing your passive income online.