Commission Junctions EPC Demystified?

I’ve been doing this about a year, and never did quite get CJ’s EPC. Earning Per Click?? NO F—in way it is generating $230 per click! (I would think to my self)

Well turns out that is earnings per 100 clicks (or so I was told at Affiliate Summit).
It kinda makes sense in the sick twisted way CPM makes sense.
CPM (Cost Per 1000 Hits — 1000 = Roman Numberal M)
EPC (Earnings per 100 — 100 = Roman Numberal C)

So.. EPL = Earnings Per 50? LMAO

Ok so anyways, this is useful in setting your starting PPC. (Price Per Click — Normally Pay Per Click… but w/e)

Lets say a program on CJ has earnings of $235 EPC.
This would mean they make 2.35 per click on average.

Say the payout of the offer is $55.

We now know how to get the conversion rate.

(If my math/logic is wrong tell me)

100 Hits Results in $235 in sales
$235 / 55 = 4.27
Which means 100 Hits Resulted in a 4.27% conversion rate (sounds about right…)
Lets cut that in half. (cuz I think conversion rates and things like that are ALWAYS inflated by merchants — and it helps boost profits for me by giving me a different goal to reach for)

So now I have my conversion rate of 2.135%
Multiply That by the Earning Per Action (in this case $55)
$55 * 2.135% = $1.17425 (pretty decent starting price….)
Now I cut it in half
$0.587125

My starting bid for this offer would be around 60 cents.
And then I would adjust up or down once I had my own statistics.

Now an easy formula.

EPC = Earning Per 100
CPA = Cost Per Action
PPC = Starting Pay Per Click (Adjust later)

PPC = EPC/CPA/2/100*CPA/2

And if you play around with the math you can drop out the CPA

PPC = EPC / 400

I’ll be revisiting this since it looks too simple.

2 Responses to “Commission Junctions EPC Demystified?”

  1. I don’t ever pay attention to EPC…. not since discovery that they nothing but crap. I was actually writing something on the subject…. Look for the link.

  2. The EPC at CJ is a good general indicator of how well affiliate programs are performing but you shouldn’t take it as the be and end all for choosing an affiliate program, there are other useful indicators.

    For example you could also look at the 2 EPC time periods, 7 days and 3 months and look at network earnings to decide which affiliate program to choose. I did write a blog post explaining commission junctions and it’s EPC at

    http://blaineblogger.com/commission-junctions-epc-explained/

    Blaine

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