What’s Your eCPC? What You Need to Know to Earn More

You’ve registered as an Amazon affiliate and the commissions have started rolling in. But are you utilising the Amazon Associates Program to its full potential to maximise your earnings? To do so, you need to know more about effective Cost-Per-Click, aka eCPC…

You’ll Learn:

• What is eCPC?
• How is it calculated?
• Why should you track eCPC for all campaigns?
• How do I calculate eCPC for Your Amazon Affiliate marketing campaigns?
• Benefits of tracking eCPC
• 10 actionable steps to boost your eCPC

What is eCPC?

eCPC (Effective Cost-Per-Click) is a key metric used by affiliate marketers. It shows the average revenue that an affiliate marketer earns for every click he/she sends to the affiliate link.

eCPC is therefore one of the key performance metrics that all affiliates should be tracking. Simply put, the eCPC indicates the average revenue that you generate for each click you are driving to Amazon.

If you aren’t tracking eCPC and using it to influence your affiliate marketing decisions, then you’re effectively leaving money on the table. Here, we show you what eCPC is, how to calculate it and how to use this key performance metric to maximise your earnings as an Amazon Associate.

How To Calculate eCPC?

Calculating the eCPC is quite easy. The formula for calculating eCPC is:

eCPC = Affiliate Earnings / Number Of Clicks

For example, if you received a commission of £2500 by sending 100 clicks from your site or blog to an offer, then the eCPC is 2500/100 = £25. The eCPC is a more effective metric compared to CPC, because it helps you analyse which offers pay better. Using the eCPC, you can increase your affiliate earnings faster.

Why Is eCPC A Must-track Metric For Amazon Associates?

As an affiliate, you are looking to maximise your earnings. The eCPC helps you to quickly find out which of your campaigns and offers perform best.

Let’s assume you’re currently marketing two campaigns one with a payout of £36 for each purchase, the other offering a payout of £40. At first glance, you’re likely to presume the second campaign with the payout of £40 is a better offer. However, it may not be so.

Here’s where eCPC can help you find out which offer is better.

For campaign A, you made 100 conversions each at a payout of £36 from a total of 700 clicks. Here, your total earnings are £3600 and the eCPC (calculated using the formula mentioned above) is £5,14.

Now, consider the second campaign. You made 70 conversions each at a payout of £40, from a total of 700 clicks. Here, your affiliate earnings are £2800, and the eCPC is £4.

As you can see, an offer with a higher payout doesn’t necessarily mean higher earnings. The eCPC helps you determine which offers convert better and maximise your affiliate revenues.

However, to determine the actual profit you make from a particular campaign, you have to consider the net profit per click, along with the eCPC.

Net Profit Per click = eCPC – CPC

If your earnings per click are higher than the cost per click, then you are making a profit from the campaign.

How To Calculate eCPC For Your Amazon Affiliate Marketing Campaigns

1. Create a new Tracking ID for each campaign you are promoting.
2. Add the corresponding Tracking ID to the landing page for each campaign.
3. Head to the Reports panel, and Choose Group By ‘Tracking ID’, to view the performance of each campaign.
4. You can find various metrics such as ‘clicks’, ‘total items ordered’, ‘ordered revenue’, and so on.
5. Use these metrics to calculate the eCPC for each campaign using the formula mentioned above.

This helps you judge the earning potential of each campaign and choose the right campaigns that offer you higher revenue.

Benefits Of Tracking eCPC

When you track the eCPC for each affiliate-marketing campaign you’re promoting, you can:

• Find out your net earnings from each affiliate campaign or scheme
• Identify the products/categories that generate maximum revenues for you
• Identify the products/categories that you should promote more to maximise revenues
• Compare different merchants to see who offers you higher revenues, regardless of the commission offered for each completed purchase
• Find out which websites/blogs/social media networks/advertising platforms offer you the highest yield and income
• Compare historical data with your recent performance data to find out if your campaigns are improving or slowing down
• Find out whether you are earning more from lower-cost sign-ups that are easier to win, or higher-cost sign-ups that take time to achieve
• Understand whether paid advertising is worth it, as you can find out how much you are earning compared to how much you are spending to promote a campaign
• Spot invalid or broken links and find out ways to correct it
• Carry out A/B testing for two different versions of your site/blog, to find out which is the most effective and profitable.

10 Actionable Steps To Boost Your eCPC And Increase Your Affiliate Earnings

1. Promote Products That You Know And Trust

Though this is one of the most basic tips for all affiliate marketers, it cannot be stressed enough. When you recommend products or brands that you don’t know or trust, you’re likely to alienate your loyal readers.

Be selective with the products/brands that you promote. When you have already used a product, you’re likely to appear genuine and trustworthy. This is essential if you want your clicks that you are driving to get converted into purchases.

With that said, some products are not likely your first choice. However, that doesn’t mean your readers won’t prefer them. In such cases, it’s better to list the pros and cons of a product so your readers can choose for themselves.

Remember to be honest and confident in your recommendations and ready to answer all the questions your readers may have about the product you are promoting.

2. Promote Only A Few Products In The Beginning

If you are a seasoned affiliate marketer, you can skip this tip. This applies only to beginner affiliate marketers. When you promote several products all at once, you’re likely to:

• Dilute your focus and end up promoting products that aren’t a match for your target audience
• Risk alienating your readers with multiple recommendations
• Lose the trust of your audience.

All of the above can have a negative impact on your affiliate earnings. Follow a focused approach in the beginning, and expand your campaigns list based on your eCPC calculations.

3. Learn To Use Affiliate Marketing Tools

The first two tips are fundamental rules and you’re likely to have come across them early in your career as an affiliate marketer. Now, let’s get down to the advanced tips that will significantly improve your affiliate earnings.

Using the right affiliate-marketing tools can help you earn more from your campaigns. These tools can help in a variety of ways:

• Link cloaking – to convert long links to shorter links that look better on your site and to protect your commissions from being stolen
• Optimise links directs based on geographical locations – this helps to redirect users to their corresponding local storefront. For instance, readers from the UK will be redirected to Amazon.co.uk, while readers from India will be directed to the product link on Amazon.in
• Displaying banner ads on your site/blog to attract and convert readers.

4. Publish Detailed, Long-form Content

Long-form articles and blog posts not only provide maximum value to your users, but also rank higher on search results. The average word count of a first-page result on Google is 1,890 words.

If you’re looking to differentiate yourself from other affiliate marketers, then you need to focus on publishing high-quality long-form articles that offer readers maximum value. However, don’t make an article long-winded just for the sake of doing so. Instead, research and publish high-quality long-form content.

5. Create A ‘Resources’ Page

You can list all your popular and high-earning affiliate links on this page. Make sure you include full disclosure on top of the page and keep the page updated.

6. Collaborate With Affiliate Brands

Very often, brands have affiliate managers who connect with affiliate marketers to ensure that you maximise your earnings.

These brands offer ‘exclusive coupon codes’, for your readers to get discounts while they make a purchase.

7. Include The Right Widgets On Your Site

To ensure that the exclusive offers you received by partnering with affiliate brands get the maximum conversion, use widgets such as Smart Bars and Exit Intent Pop-ups on your site.

However, remember that pop-ups can ruin the user experience, so use them with discretion. Exit intent pop-ups are triggered when a user is about to leave your site and are less intrusive.

8. Promote Content Created By Your Affiliate Brands

Aside from driving traffic to your Affiliate Links using your content, you can also use content created by your affiliate brands.

Use social media to share this content with your audience, while using your Affiliate Links to maximise earnings.

9. Update Your Popular Content

This not only provides greater value to your readers, but also helps you maximise your affiliate earnings.

Update and publish your most popular articles – the ones that generate maximum clicks, conversions, and revenue.

Apart from updating the content, you could also repurpose it in another form, such as an ebook, webinar, podcast, checklist, etc.

10. Make Use Of Heat Maps On Your Site

Heat maps are an effective tool that helps you identify where your users are clicking (or not clicking) on your site. Using the information generated by heat maps, you can reposition CTAs (Calls To Action) for maximum conversions.

Maximise Your Earnings As An Amazon Associate

While it’s easy to get started with the Amazon Associates Program, if you’re looking to maximise your revenues, then you need to spend some time on tracking the performance and evaluating the metrics of your campaigns. However, tracking the numbers and assessing metrics may feel overwhelming and time-consuming, especially when you are not focusing on the right metrics.

By focusing on Earnings Per Click, you ensure that your efforts are streamlined on the campaigns, products and brands that offer you higher revenues. Use the tips listed here to boost your eCPC and increase affiliate revenues.