EPCEarnings Per Click
The average revenue generated each time a user clicks an affiliate link.
Revenue ÷ Clicks
Benchmark$0.10–$0.50
What it tells you
Publisher profitability — whether sending traffic to your program is worth a publisher's effort.
Reference Guide
Affiliate Marketing KPIs
The 12 metrics every affiliate program manager should track — with definitions, formulas, benchmarks, and what each number actually tells you.
CVRConversion Rate
The percentage of affiliate clicks that result in a completed purchase or lead.
(Conversions ÷ Clicks) × 100
Benchmark1–5%
What it tells you
Offer quality and landing page effectiveness relative to publisher traffic.
AOVAverage Order Value
The mean revenue per completed order driven through the affiliate channel.
Revenue ÷ Orders
BenchmarkCategory-dependent
What it tells you
Customer quality — higher AOV enables higher commissions while maintaining margin.
CPACost Per Acquisition
Total program cost divided by the number of conversions generated.
Program Cost ÷ Conversions
Benchmark15–30% of AOV
What it tells you
Program efficiency — the actual cost to acquire one paying customer via affiliate.
ROASReturn on Ad Spend
Revenue generated for every dollar spent on affiliate commissions and program costs.
Revenue ÷ Spend
Benchmark3–8× for affiliate
What it tells you
Overall program ROI — whether affiliate is outperforming other paid channels.
GMVGross Merchandise Value
Total transaction value processed through the affiliate channel before returns or cancellations.
Sum of all affiliate-attributed transaction values
BenchmarkNo universal benchmark
What it tells you
Program scale — the total economic footprint of your affiliate channel.
APRActive Publisher Rate
The share of approved publishers who generated at least one click or sale in a given period.
Active Publishers ÷ Total Approved Publishers
Benchmark20–40%
What it tells you
Program health — low APR signals onboarding gaps or weak commission incentives.
PCPublisher Concentration
The percentage of total affiliate revenue attributable to your single largest publisher.
Top Publisher Revenue ÷ Total Revenue
Benchmark<30% from one source
What it tells you
Dependency risk — high concentration means one partner departure can crater the channel.
NCRNew Customer Rate
The proportion of affiliate-driven buyers who are first-time purchasers from your brand.
New Buyers (via affiliate) ÷ Total Buyers (via affiliate)
Benchmark40–60%
What it tells you
Incrementality — whether affiliate is growing your customer base or cannibalizing direct.
CCTClick-to-Conversion Time
Average hours elapsed between an affiliate click and a completed purchase.
Avg(Purchase Timestamp − Click Timestamp)
BenchmarkVaries by AOV
What it tells you
Funnel length — longer windows may require extended cookie durations to capture attribution.
RRReversal Rate
The percentage of commissions that are reversed due to returns, fraud, or chargebacks.
Reversed Commissions ÷ Total Commissions
Benchmark<5%
What it tells you
Fraud and return risk — high reversal rate erodes publisher trust and signals program abuse.
NERNetwork EPC Rank
Your program's EPC relative to the average EPC across comparable programs on the same network.
Your EPC ÷ Network Average EPC
BenchmarkTop quartile (>1.0×)
What it tells you
Competitiveness — publishers use this to decide which programs deserve their premium placements.
Need help interpreting your program's KPIs?
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