Affiliate marketing is a burgeoning modern trend in the online age, and has become a great way for savvy entrepreneurs to make some extra money with very little time and effort.
But what exactly is affiliate marketing, and what purpose do EPCs play?
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is an arrangement between a seller or business owner, and a third party individual who uses their own platform to generate more website traffic (and potentially sales).
This is a business model that has very much grown with the internet, especially with the rise of e-commerce, social media, and to a more exaggerated extent, the phenomenon of the modern ‘influencer’.
What Does EPC Mean?
Within the world of affiliate marketing, EPC stands for ‘earnings per click’, and this refers to how much commission the third party(see also: Is Affiliate Marketing Hard?) marketer earns every time a new user clicks on the link to their affiliated products.
With earnings per click, the third party marketer (and the seller) have a usable metric to calculate efficiently (and accurately) just how much revenue the marketer is entitled to – not to mention just how effective and useful they have been as an asset for the business.
What Determines EPC?
When calculating the deal that is made between the seller and the affiliate marketer, there are several factors that come into play to determine the overall EPC.
Product Type
The type of product that you’re selling is an important factor in calculating EPC, as it determines the extent to which the involvement of the affiliate marketer is required and useful.
Products that are more commonplace, such as clothing and other consumer items, will generally see more sales – either with or without your help – and as such are a more reliable return on marketing.
However, if the nature of the product is less common, or indeed just generally sees less sales, then the returns would be less often and more sporadic.
This is true of items used seasonally – such as camping equipment, barbecue accessories etc – which would only really see sufficient sales in the warmer, summer months.
Product Price
If the product you are advertising is cheap, then the percentage you receive per sale will be a lot smaller.
This is so that it is in keeping with the profits of the original seller, who will have to retain a larger proportion of the overall sale to ensure they are successful in business.
With cheaper products, this means that you would need to encourage more sales in order to see any noticeable returns on your affiliate marketing work.
If the product in question is more expensive as a whole, then you will see a more noticeable return per sale you influence.
Conversion Rate Of Landing Page
Within online marketing, the landing page appears through SEO (search engine optimization), and determines a sale due to the amount of information that is present. This could include the company’s information, or indeed a link to their products or services.
Retargeting ads (see also: Are Etsy Ads Worth It?)can be a great tool for increasing the amount of EPC, as this targets people who have already shown an interest in the website (or in the products/services within).
This means that people who were perhaps in two minds might now be swayed to make a purchase, thus working harder to ensure sales happen – even amongst unsure customers.
This might seem underhand in the great scheme of things, but it is a common advertising tool for online retailers. Just think how many times you see products advertised to you online, especially after you have been browsing for similar products elsewhere.
Offer A Discount
As part of your affiliate marketing work, you could also offer a discount for first time customers. This tends to be seen a lot with celebrities – particularly those who host podcasts with company sponsorships.
The hosts will often advertise a particular product, and then state that with a specific code, their listeners can get the same services for a reduced price.
This can be a great incentive, especially if the products match the interests of your fans, listeners, readers, or followers.
Improve The Landing Page
As mentioned, landing pages are important to achieving more sales, and improving these can make a lot of difference to the amount of EPCs that marketers receive.
Ensure the landing page is well designed, and that the whole layout is formulated to make people click on whatever links, or information, that you have arranged.
Use Compelling Ad Copy
The text on the advertisement also needs to be compelling. Ultimately, this whole thing comes down to sales tactics, and the more enticing something is, the more sales it will generate.
Target A Specific Audience
Targeted ads are also a good way to increase sales, mainly because you are directing products to the people who want to buy them the most.
This is commonly used in e-commerce, and can be a great way of increasing sales and improving success as a whole.
Final Thoughts
And there we have it, everything you need to know about EPCs, and their importance in affiliate marketing.
It’s true that EPCs are an important part of the whole process, and one that holds a lot of weight within the burgeoning online business of affiliate marketing.
So if you are getting into affiliate marketing and want to know how much you are earning, then why not check this out? Something tells me you won’t be disappointed!
