When choosing a CPA offer, do you just go for the highest EPC?

8 replies
Hey,

I'm a little stuck with knowing which of the hundreds of offers i should promote. I'm new to CPA so i'm willing to get into any niche. I know EPC can be inaccurate, but is it still a good idea to go for one of the highest EPC offers on the network, or is there a better way to know which offer to go for?

Thanks,

Tim
#choosing #cpa #epc #highest #offer
  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    Def not.. You need to stick with what works best for you.. don't just do an offer because others are having success
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    • Profile picture of the author COPEAC Stephen
      Also be aware that EPC's are going to fluctuate immensely depending on the method of promotion being used...

      For a Media buyer, they may get a $2.50 EPC on an **** offer and may lose money on this....a $2.50 EPC for someone running the same offer but via PPC, may be generating a healthy ROI...When asking networks or AM's about stats (EPC / Conversion Rates) ask them what kind of traffic is being sent and generating the EPC...if it's network wide, ask them to find a publisher in the network that uses the same methods as you and get that data to give you a more accurate gauge....

      Also, take into account the longevity of an offer...ask your network if they have worked with this ADV before, are they new, ever run into payment issues, scrub issues, ETC...if you feel so inclined do some research on the ADV on your own..

      This may not be directly tied to performance but no sense in building out an offer for weeks then hear from your AM that the offer is redirected because the ADV has gone MIA or cant pay their bill....
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      • Profile picture of the author Amir Luis
        I would definitely keep in mind the amount of action it takes to complete an offer...

        It is more than 2 pages.... not worth it...

        If it requires a social or a CC# I usually stay away too....

        The least amount of commitment will = greater conversions.

        You really have to find your own formula... at least that has been my experience.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ryan Dunn
    Originally Posted by tim_reeves View Post

    Hey,

    I'm a little stuck with knowing which of the hundreds of offers i should promote. I'm new to CPA so i'm willing to get into any niche. I know EPC can be inaccurate, but is it still a good idea to go for one of the highest EPC offers on the network, or is there a better way to know which offer to go for?

    Thanks,

    Tim
    Hey Tim,

    You're better off promoting a category rather than a particular offer. If you want to promote dating, for example, rotate 5 dating offers to find your winner. Your traffic and ads are different than everyone else's, so only you can tell what offer is going to work best.

    Once you get the offer you like best, find that offer on other networks as well and see if one network converts better. You'll be surprised to see how many pixels don't get fired at times.

    Also... sooner or later you're going to get kicked off an offer because its not profitable for the advertiser or the offer will go away from the network. By promoting a category vs an offer, you you have plenty of other offers to choose from when needed.

    Picking your niche/offer also has a lot to do with your budget. If you only have $25 to spend, than you're going to want to pick an offer with a low payout. That way you can get enough clicks to your offer within your budget to find out if it works for you.

    For example...
    • If you spend $25 worth of traffic to a dating offer that pays $4 and you don't get any conversions, then you have a problem somewhere.
    • But if you were to pick an offer that pays $60/lead, you'll need more money to buy either more traffic or more expensive traffic before you can get any sort of idea if it is good or not.
    Not that you can't spend several hundred dollars on a dating campaign to get it to profit for you, but the lower payouts can give you insight much faster.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kenster
    One thing you should be aware of is that EPC can be very misleading. EPC of an offer only gives you a small piece of the large picture. For example, perhaps for a given traffic source, the EPC of an offer is huge but for all other traffic sources it just doesnt convert for one reason or other and the EPC is very low.

    Well the networks can say the EPC is low because if you average all the EPCs of the offer its low, even though for the one traffic source, it was phenomenally high. This is just one example, of how EPC isnt the one only stat that should be observed!

    You really need to look at the amount of traffic you can get, where the traffic is coming from, and how expensive the traffic is and put those together to determine if an offer is worth promoting. Purely looking at EPC wont get you far, though admittedly its better than throwing a dart in the dark.

    Your best bet is to speak with your AM, let them know what type of traffic you are using and which vertical you are familiar with (if any).
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  • Profile picture of the author Sarah Russell
    Ummm... no. There's a lot more that goes into choosing a CPA offer than the EPC/payout (although it's certainly one factor you should take into consideration). For example, how well will it convert using your chosen traffic methods? How competitive is the market for the niche? How much will it cost you to reach the market? It doesn't make sense to promote a high EPC offer if you can't get the margins you need to make it profitable.
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  • Profile picture of the author williamrs
    The EPC is the last thing that I consider. First, I contact my affiliate managers and ask for suggestions. Second, I spy my competitors and find out what's working for them.

    The EPC of the network can be very different than yours. It's because there are people using different traffic sources and their CPCs also vary a lot. Of course, I'm not saying for you to ignore this number, if an offer has a much better EPC than another one it's likely that it's converting better, but, again, it doesn't mean that will convert better with your traffic source.


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  • Profile picture of the author KC-Coop
    EPC's are heavily skewed - especially if you're on a network that has a lot of CPV publishers.

    The EPC's can look really low - or really high compared to other offers depending on what promotion methods are being used on it the most.

    I would ask your affiliate managers for the top offers on your particular traffic source - and start your testing there. Don't be afraid to test offers that aren't as popular - sometimes those are where the real profit can lie for whoever is willing to test them.
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