Key Metrics in Affiliate Marketing

Statistical metrics show the effectiveness of Internet business processes. In traffic arbitrage, metrics are ratios of such values as: revenue, clicks, number of users, leads, investments, etc. Can be expressed as a percentage or as a number.

Entrepreneur performance is not measured by bare numbers, they only show part of the big picture. To analyze their work, webmasters rely on certain indicators that provide a deeper understanding of the current processes. They should be used both in work and in discussions within the community.
 

Key metrics in CPA-marketing

CTR (Click-through rate) — an indicator of the frequency of clicks on an advertisement (click-through rate). The ratio of ad clicks to the number of impressions. 

CTR = (number of clicks / number of impressions) × 100%. CTR reflects the attractiveness of a particular advertisement to the audience. Based on it, you can draw conclusions about the effectiveness of creatives or the relevance of the ad to the target audience.

CR (Conversion Rate) — user conversion rate. The ratio of the number of users who completed the target action to the number of clicks to the offer page.

CR = (number of leads / number of clicks to the offer page) × 100% The conversion rate reflects the effectiveness of the lower part of the sales funnel, that is, what percentage of users who have switched to the resource perform the target action. Based on its value, one can draw conclusions about the attractiveness and convenience of the landing page and the relevance of the offer.

ROI (Return On Investment) — indicator of return on investment. The ratio of profit received to the volume of investments.

ROI = (investment income - investment volume) / investment volume × 100% The indicator shows how well you have invested your money. If ROI < 0, then you are operating at a loss. If ROI = 0%, then you have returned your investment, but have not earned beyond it. If ROI = 100%, your investment returned double. ROI has no ceiling, so in a successful campaign it can reach up to 1000%.

AR (Approval Rate) — confirmation rate. The ratio of applications confirmed by the call center to the number of completed applications.

AR = number of confirmed requests / number of all requests × 100% Approval is part of the sales funnel in the COD payment model, and the AR indicator reflects the quality of the resulting traffic.

EPC (Earnings Per Click) —average revenue per click. The ratio of revenue received to the number of clicks on an advertisement.

EPC = income / number of clicks. The EPC indicator is often used in offer cards as basic information about how much income a single click brings on average. EPC allows the affiliate to understand how much he earns from each click, and based on this information builds a further strategy.

CPC (Cost Per Click) — cost per click on an ad. The ratio of the budget spent to the number of ad clicks.

CPC = amount of investment / number of clicks. webmasters use this indicator to understand the effectiveness of investments at the top of the sales funnel. It is also used in advertising systems, where they work according to the PPC (Pay-per-Click) model. It has another meaning - the payment model, it is important not to confuse.

CPA (Cost per Action) — indicator of the cost of the target action (lead). The ratio of the spent budget to the number of target actions completed.

CPA = volume of investments / number of targeted actions.

This indicator allows you to determine how much each lead cost and demonstrates the quality of the setup.It also has another meaning - the payment model.

There are also specific metrics for working with gambling and betting offers, where the FTD (First Time Deposit) conversion point is used according to the CPA model:

Click2Reg (Click to Registration) — number of registered users. The ratio of users who have registered on the advertiser's platform to the number of clicks.

Click2Reg = number of registrants / number of clicks on an advertisement × 100%. The indicator reflects the compliance of traffic expectations from advertising with the attractiveness of the advertiser's offer.

Reg2Dep (Registration to Deposit) — indicator of users who made a deposit. The ratio of depositors to registered.

Reg2Dep = number of users who have made a deposit / number of registered users × 100%. Allows you to understand what percentage of users out of all those listed make money on the first deposit and start playing.

Inst2Reg (Instal to Registration) — registration rate in the casino after downloading the application. The ratio of the number of registered users to the number of downloads.

Inst2Reg = number of registrants / number of app downloaders × 100%.
 

Comment from the editors of AffJournal

There are many variables in CPA-marketing that can frighten an unprepared webmaster. But if you learn how to analyze them correctly, then you can draw conclusions about the effectiveness of your work and make changes to it not on a whim, but guided by facts. Thanks to existing metrics, there is no need to reinvent the wheel to understand how productively the work is moving.

There are many more performance indicators than we have given in this article, but you most likely will not have to use all of them. The applicability of metrics depends on the offer vertical, payment model, conversion point in each case. It is enough to have an idea about the main indicators and be able to calculate them. However, it is important not to drown in numbers and percentages - metrics should be an analysis tool, not an end in itself.