Affiliate marketing metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) are essential for both brands and affiliates. The insights they provide help determine the effectiveness of an affiliate campaign – what’s working and what needs improvement.
By assessing metrics - such as clicks, conversion rate, and average order values - they can make informed decisions, optimise strategies, and maximise return on investment (ROI).
Popularity of affiliate marketing has grown over the years and is now seen as an effective way to drive sales and generate revenue. The global affiliate marketing was worth $19.2 billion in 2021, with the figure projected to grow to $36.9 billion by 2030.1
Partnering with affiliates allows advertisers to create brand awareness, reach a wider audience, gain new business, and drive sales. Affiliates, on the other hand, can earn commission on every sale they drive.
While it’s a potential win-win for both sides, without affiliate marketing KPIs and metrics, neither side can know for sure whether their partnership is working out or not. Tracking and reviewing metrics, therefore, are crucial to finding out what type of changes, if any, are needed.
Evaluating metrics is easy, as it’s possible to access comprehensive insights and data on affiliate marketing platforms. Let’s look at the most important affiliate marketing metrics available for brands and affiliates in this space to better understand what they need to track to make their affiliate marketing strategies more effective.
13 Affiliate Marketing Metrics for Advertisers
Being able to say whether an affiliate marketing campaign was a success depends on tracking and reviewing affiliate marketing metrics. It doesn’t matter whether brands are tapping into an affiliate program for the first time or have been using one for years - they must have an in-depth understanding of the metrics they need to track.
Here’s a list of the most important affiliate marketing metrics that advertisers can track to determine whether or not the outcomes meet their set goals and expectations.
1. ROAS: Return on ad spend (ROAS) is calculated by dividing the revenue attributed to the ad campaign by that campaign’s cost: Revenue / Spend = ROAS.2
It can help determine how an affiliate marketing ad on a website has impacted the revenue. Brands can use this as a guide for spending, compare with other digital channels, and look at this metric on an individual affiliate basis.
2. Sales Revenue: This metric refers to the total amount of money generated and is often a central affiliate marketing metric used to evaluate performance. By reviewing it, brands can find out if their affiliate marketing efforts are driving revenue growth or if they are meeting the set monthly targets. If that’s not happening, they can evaluate their affiliate marketing campaigns and figure out where they need to improve.
3. Clicks: Clicks refer to the affiliate traffic a program generates. They’re recorded when users click on banner ads, text links, deeplinks, promotional or data feed links. A high number of affiliate referrals means that the program is working. Insufficient clicks suggests that affiliate marketers need to analyse and review their programs and choose those that align with their content and target audience.
4. Sales or Conversions Numbers: The goals of affiliate marketing can be brand awareness or improving sales or conversation rate. With the number of sales or conversions metric, brands can determine the number of transactions that the affiliate marketing program generated. It’s worth looking at low and high-volume sale affiliates and affiliates who are driving traffic but are not converting. This would help identify what’s working and what’s not.
5. CTR: Click-through rate (CTR) helps gauge how well an ad and its message are performing. It is calculated by dividing the clicks that an affiliate link receives by the number of impressions it receives: Clicks / Impressions = CTR.
6. CR: Conversion rate (CR) is displayed as a percentage and helps determine how many of the total number of visitors completed a desired action. It’s calculated by dividing the number of total conversions by the total number of potential conversions: (Total Desired Actions / Total Potential Conversions) x 100 = CR.
The affiliate marketing campaign that generates the higher conversion rate is successful.
7. AOV: Average order value (AOV) refers to the average amount spent by a customer per transaction. It’s calculated by dividing total revenue by total number of orders: Revenue / Number of Orders = AOV.
Advertisers should compare their average website AOV to their affiliate AOV to gauge the channel’s performance. If affiliate AOV is higher, it indicates an ability to upsell or use consumer offers where higher-order values are generated. If it’s lower, more work needs to be done on increasing the value; for example, a higher commission rate for orders over a specific sale value.
8. New Vs. Returning Customers: This metric refers to the percentage of consumers who are first-time customers compared to those who have purchased something from a brand before and have returned to make a repeat purchase. This metric is also able to shine a light on how many loyal customers a brand enjoys thanks to the affiliate. Read more about new vs. returning customers here.3
9. CLV: Tracking customer lifetime value (CLV) helps marketers understand a campaign’s ability to cultivate lasting customer relationships. CLV represents the total revenue a business can expect from a single customer throughout their entire relationship. The metric can be calculated by multiplying the average revenue per user (ARPU) by their lifespan: ARPU x Customer Lifespan = CLV.
10. Percentage of Click Active Affiliates: This refers to the number of affiliates generating clicks for a brand versus the total number of affiliates who have joined the affiliate program. It’s important to review this periodically to ensure a high number of affiliates are driving the conversion. If the percentage is low, then activation strategy needs to be worked to convert inactive affiliates.
11. Percentage of Sale Active Affiliates: This refers to the number of affiliates driving sales or conversions compared to the total number of affiliates that joined an affiliate program. If the percentage is low, explore how to activate more affiliates in the program.
12. Percentage of Revenue Generated per Affiliate: This metric provides clear insights on which affiliates are generating the most revenue for the program. It’s calculated by dividing each individual affiliate’ sales revenue value by the total affiliate sales revenue for the period under review.
This data will help a brand to work on diversifying the affiliate activity, grow mid-tier affiliates, as well as ensure that any fluctuations in the top affiliates are flagged for review. Affiliate marketing is often driven by a handful of affiliates who generate the maximum affiliate revenue, so it’s best to look at ways to increase the top affiliate list to diversify and reduce the risk of relying on a small number of affiliates.
The above affiliate marketing metrics - either taken together or alone - allow an affiliate manager to review:
- The affiliate program’s overall performance and compare it with other channels
- The performance for a specific affiliate or affiliate type
- The performance of a channel’s individual campaigns
- The makeup and diversity of their affiliate activity
Affiliate marketing is a long-term strategy and, therefore, reviewing the above metrics regularly will allow brands to understand to make data-informed decisions over future campaigns and partnerships. It’s essential that advertisers focus on the right KPIs for a successful affiliate program.4
5 Affiliate Marketing Metrics for Affiliates
While the commission rate will take priority for most affiliates, there are several other aspects that an affiliate partner should consider when evaluating potential new brands or when reviewing an existing advertiser’s performance.
Understanding what resonates with the affiliate’s audience and what marketing channels or campaigns and advertisers work for their business come down to unlocking the data and analysing the marketing metrics important for affiliates. The emphasis on certain metrics may vary slightly between affiliates and advertisers, and there are some metrics that remain consistent for both parties.
Clicks, conversion rate, average order value (AOV), and number of conversions are key metrics for both affiliates and advertisers. But there are additional metrics for affiliates to consider when choosing advertisers to work with and review the performance of their campaigns.
1. Commission Rate: The commission rate is the agreed amount that affiliates earn for each referral or transaction they generate for advertisers.
2. AVC: Average commission (AVC) gives affiliates a quick snapshot of how much they are earning from each purchase they generate. AVC, which is mostly used on a per advertiser basis, is calculated by dividing the commission received by the number of sales: Commission / Number of Sales = AVC.
3. EPC: Earnings per click (EPC) is an important metric as it gives affiliates an idea of how much they can expect to earn from each click. The metric is calculated by dividing the commission received by the number of clicks: Commission / Clicks = EPC.
It’s useful for both reviewing potential new advertisers as well as monitoring the performance of advertisers affiliates are already promoting to ensure they’re being remunerated fairly.
4. Average Payout Time: This refers to the average number of days an affiliate has to wait before receiving their commission. This will depend on the affiliate program’s validation and payment terms. This average is shown in the advertiser directory so affiliates can make an informed choice about advertisers they want to promote.
5. Void Rate: The void, or cancellation, rate helps affiliates understand whether a brand has a high rate of cancellations or not and decide whether to continue with them or not. It’s calculated by dividing the number of voided transactions by the total number of transactions: Voided Transactions / Transactions = Void Rate.
It's worth looking at averages for different verticals since some verticals may have a higher return rate than others.
Most Important Affiliate Marketing Metrics
We can’t stress enough that affiliate marketing metrics are central to gauging performance and profitability of affiliate marketing efforts.
Important metrics are those that help advertisers and affiliates to support their claim of sales, profits and ROI, make informed decisions, and meet their affiliate marketing targets. The ones to prioritise may vary, depending upon campaign goals, target audience, and the products and services being promoted.
As such, for brands looking to boost revenue we’d suggest the most important affiliate marketing metrics to track and analyse are:
- Conversion rate (CR)
- Revenue
- Revenue generated per affiliate
- Percentage of sale active affiliates
If the goal is to generate brand awareness, then the most important metric is clicks, as only those attracted to the brand message will click through.
CR is the most commonly used affiliate marketing metric, as it allows advertisers to track different affiliates’ performance. It allows them to identify which are driving customers who are most likely to convert to a paying customer. In a similar way, revenue generated per affiliate helps identify which affiliates advertisers should focus on and nurture. Affiliates that aren’t delivering results, meanwhile, can be coached on how to improve their performance.
It is best to assess the business and what it intends to achieve through affiliate marketing before making the list of most important metrics to track.
Final Thoughts
Advertisers are increasingly choosing affiliate marketing to promote their brands and drive sales, while affiliates continue to see the inherent value of partnering with established brands.
It is, however, not enough to join an affiliate network and hope for the best. Success comes down to being able to track affiliate marketing metrics and iterate. These metrics help in assessing the overall performance of campaigns, optimising any underperforming aspects, determining the profitability of affiliate marketing efforts, and identifying the most effective messaging.
For a better and more effective affiliate marketing strategy, advertisers and affiliate partners must know the metrics that matter most to them inside and out. After gaining that understanding, it becomes easier to prioritise the affiliate marketing metrics that will help them to make informed decisions about their marketing goals.
Commission Factory is not only the Asia-Pacific region’s largest affiliate platform, working with more than 800 of the world's biggest brands, but is also a performance marketing platform that allows content creators and influencers to earn money and online businesses to increase sales.
Commission Factory has a demonstrated track record of helping its brand partners reach new and existing audiences, build awareness, and scale their online sales. Connect with the Commission Factory team to learn more about how we help to build brand awareness and grow affiliate sales.