{"id":4255,"date":"2026-10-20T19:32:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T19:32:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webaffiliatemanager.com\/affiliate-marketing-kpis-for-advertisers\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T22:23:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T22:23:04","slug":"affiliate-marketing-kpis-for-advertisers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webaffiliatemanager.com\/da\/affiliate-marketing-kpis-for-advertisers\/","title":{"rendered":"Affiliate marketing KPIs every advertiser should track"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Network dashboards are full of numbers, but only a handful tell you whether your affiliate programme is actually making money. Many advertisers look at total sales and commission paid, then wonder why the channel feels expensive or hard to scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Below are the seven KPIs we recommend every advertiser tracks, what each one tells you, how to calculate it, and what to do when it moves in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What partners look at first<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Publishers decide where to send their traffic based on what they can earn. These two KPIs shape how attractive your programme looks from the outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. EPC: your programme&#8217;s attractiveness to partners<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earnings per click is the commission a partner earns divided by the clicks they send. Networks usually show it per click, and some per 100 clicks, so always check which one you are comparing. For a publisher choosing between two shops in the same category, EPC is often the deciding number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Formula: total commission paid to partners \u00f7 total clicks.<\/li>\n\n<li>A low EPC usually points to a weak conversion rate, low order value or low commission, not to bad partners.<\/li>\n\n<li>Compare your EPC with competing programmes in the same network and category where the network shows it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Conversion rate by partner<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Conversion rate is tracked sales divided by clicks. Look at it per partner and per partner type, not just as a programme average. A review site and a cashback site will naturally convert very differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Unusually high rates can be a sign of attribution problems such as cookie stuffing or coupon hijacking.<\/li>\n\n<li>Unusually low rates can point to broken tracking, poor landing pages or a mismatch between the partner&#8217;s audience and your products.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Order quality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Average order value<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Average order value (AOV) from affiliate traffic, compared with your site-wide AOV, shows what kind of customers each partner brings. Partners who drive larger baskets may deserve a higher commission or better placements, even if their volume is modest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Reversal and cancellation rate<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the share of tracked sales you decline because orders are cancelled, returned or invalid. It matters twice: it protects your margin, and it affects how partners see you. A programme that declines a large share of sales without clear reasons will lose good partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Formula: declined transactions \u00f7 all tracked transactions, by value and by count.<\/li>\n\n<li>Use only legitimate decline reasons such as cancellations, returns, duplicate attribution or breaches of programme terms.<\/li>\n\n<li>Validate on time. On Awin, for example, commissions that are not reviewed within the validation period can be approved automatically.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Incremental value and programme health<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Share of new customers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The share of affiliate sales that come from first-time customers is one of the clearest measures of incremental value. If most affiliate sales come from people who already buy from you, the channel may be taking credit for demand you created elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Pass a new or existing customer flag to the network in your tracking so you can report on it.<\/li>\n\n<li>Consider a higher commission for new customers and a lower one for returning customers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">6. Active partner ratio<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most programmes have far more approved partners than active ones. Track the share of approved partners who generated at least one click or sale in the last 30 or 90 days, and how concentrated revenue is among your top partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A low ratio means recruitment is not turning into activity, often because of weak materials, low EPC or no follow-up.<\/li>\n\n<li>Heavy dependence on one or two partners is a risk if they change focus, are sold or lose traffic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Profitability<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">7. ROAS and cost of sale<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cost of sale is your total affiliate cost divided by affiliate revenue. ROAS is the inverse: revenue divided by cost. Include everything, not just commission: network fees, tracking fees, fixed placement fees, bonuses and management costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Calculate it on validated revenue after cancellations and returns, not on tracked revenue.<\/li>\n\n<li>Compare it with other paid channels on the same basis, ideally including new customer share.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Set a target cost of sale per product category or margin level rather than one figure for the whole shop. A category with thin margins needs a lower target than one with high margins, and your commission structure should reflect that difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Make sure your data is complete<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every KPI above depends on tracking that actually records sales. Browser restrictions and ad blockers can cause missed conversions, which makes EPC look low and puts partners off. Awin reported in September 2025 that in an internal sample of 25,000 sales, 22% of tracked conversions were visible only because of server-to-server tracking. Brands also expect more from measurement: in impact.com&#8217;s 2025 State of Affiliate Marketing report, 94% of brands said they are experimenting with, or plan to adopt, alternative attribution models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Monthly KPI checklist<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>EPC per partner type, compared with the previous month.<\/li>\n\n<li>Conversion rate per top partner, with outliers flagged.<\/li>\n\n<li>AOV from affiliate versus the whole site.<\/li>\n\n<li>Reversal rate by value and count, and all transactions validated on time.<\/li>\n\n<li>New customer share of affiliate sales.<\/li>\n\n<li>Active partner ratio and revenue share of your top five partners.<\/li>\n\n<li>Total cost of sale and ROAS on validated revenue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No single number tells the whole story. Read the KPIs together: a rising conversion rate with a falling new customer share means something very different from the same rise with more new customers. Review them monthly, act on what changes, and your programme will be easier to defend and to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Want to know how your programme scores on these KPIs? Start with a free audit of your affiliate programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Kilder<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/help.commissionfactory.com\/earning-per-click-epc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Commission Factory Help \u2013 Earning per click (EPC)<\/a><\/li>\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/help.awin.com\/docs\/validating-transactions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Awin Help Centre \u2013 Validating transactions<\/a><\/li>\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/hellopartner.com\/2025\/09\/23\/awin-reports-100m-in-revenue-recovery-thanks-to-cpi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hello Partner \u2013 Awin reports $100M in revenue recovery thanks to CPI (September 2025)<\/a><\/li>\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/impact.com\/research-reports\/state-of-affiliate-marketing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">impact.com \u2013 State of Affiliate Marketing Research Report 2025<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EPC, conversion rate, AOV, reversals, new customers, active partners and cost of sale: the seven KPIs that show if your programme pays.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4289,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"slim_seo":{"title":"Affiliate marketing KPIs every advertiser should track - 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