Can someone help me understand EPC/conversion data?

[monkeyxg]

I'm getting ready to run my first "real" campaign and was wondering if someone could show me how to utilize the EPC and conversion % data that's available for campaigns.

I know what they are, but how exactly can I use this information to my advantage when deciding what to bid, how much I need to break even, etc.

For example, there's an offer I want to run on a network. My AM told me that it has low search volume, but is converting at 6% and has a search EPC of $1.00. The offer pays out $18.00. Does this mean that I'll need to be able to buy clicks for less than $1.00 to make a profit?

Thanks for the help.

 

[xmcp123]

I'm getting ready to run my first "real" campaign and was wondering if someone could show me how to utilize the EPC and conversion % data that's available for campaigns.

I know what they are, but how exactly can I use this information to my advantage when deciding what to bid, how much I need to break even, etc.

For example, there's an offer I want to run on a network. My AM told me that it has low search volume, but is converting at 6% and has a search EPC of $1.00. The offer pays out $18.00. Does this mean that I'll need to be able to buy clicks for less than $1.00 to make a profit?

Thanks for the help.

It's not that simple. Some of the guys are going direct to offer, some are using landing pages. Make the best LP you can, and test it. Track the EPC by keyword and the source of the clicks. Either reduce the CPC of the keywords that aren't converting, optimize the LP so the EPC>CPC, or create a separate lander for the different keywords that aren't doing well on your current one (perhaps they have a different motivation to buy).

All the EPC data from the network means is that it's converting out there for someone, and probably isn't a dud offer.

 

[micker]

never use the affiliate networks epc data... how do you know its legit? how do you know they dont have a spiff if they get extra leads on that offer this month?

As far as knowing what to bid, this is how I work it out. For this example, lets say this is a ringtone offer paying $17. I look at my previous campaigns and I know that for ringtones my PPC converts around 1:10, my contextual popups at around 1:150 and my adware pops get around 1:500. Knowing that a 100% ROI is my target minimum I now know that MY CPA is $8.5 (I can spend up to $8.50 to acquire each lead) which means I can set max bids for PPC at .85, for context pops at .056 and my adware pops at up to $17/M.

How do you get those base conversion rates to calculate your costs? You run ads, you spend money. I recommend spending atleast 10 times the offers payout on traffic to get a statistically significant amount of clicks so that you can come up with these base figures. Track Track Track and keep detailed records. The past repeats itself and reaching for notebooks filled with old conversion data and notes has made me money more times than I can count.