EPC (Earnings Per Click)

Earnings Per Click is total commission divided by total clicks, usually shown per 100 clicks. It is the headline metric affiliates use to compare offers because it folds conversion rate and payout into a single number — a high EPC means each click is worth more.

EPC divides total commissions earned by the number of clicks sent, then usually multiplies by 100 to express earnings per hundred clicks. Because it folds both conversion rate and payout into a single figure, it captures how much money a link actually returns per visitor rather than how often it converts. This makes it the fastest way to rank offers that pay differently and convert at different rates on the same footing.

Publishers rely on EPC to decide where to place traffic. An offer paying a large commission but converting rarely can lose to a modest-payout offer that converts often, and EPC surfaces that trade-off automatically. Networks frequently publish a 7-day or 30-day network EPC so affiliates can gauge an offer's earning power before sending a single click.

A healthy EPC is entirely relative to vertical and traffic source: pennies per click can be excellent for a broad display campaign, while several dollars is common in high-ticket finance or software. Compare an offer's EPC only against alternatives you could realistically run with the same audience. Track it as a trend rather than a fixed target.

The main pitfall is small-sample noise, because a handful of clicks and one lucky sale can inflate EPC to a meaningless level. Network-reported EPC also blends every affiliate's traffic, so a source that skews toward buyers will beat the published average and cheap bot-like traffic will trail it. Always segment EPC by placement and wait for enough clicks before trusting the number.