Common acronyms in the affiliate marketing industry and their meanings

Scattered across the Affpinions website, and others in the industry, you’ll see many different acronyms. It’s not always obvious to work out what each abbreviation stands for. Here’s a list of the most commonly used acronyms in the affiliate marketing industry and what they stand for.

Acronyms used in affiliate marketing
Acronym What It Means
CPS Cost Per Sale
CPA Cost Per Action (or Acquisition)
CPL Cost Per Lead
CPI Cost Per Install
CPE Cost Per Engagement
AOV Average Order Value
CR Conversion Rate
EPC Earnings Per Click
LTV Lifetime Value
CPC Cost Per Click
CPM Cost Per Thousand (it’s “M” because that’s the roman numeral for “Thousand”)

Examples of the affiliate acronyms being used in sentences

  • If you own a website about financial debt and join a CPL program, that program may pay you £25 per debt consolidation customer lead you send to them from your website.
  • If you’re an app developer and join a CPI program a company may pay you $0.50 per new install of another app you promote inside of your app.
  • If you have a popular social media profile and join a CPS program, that program may pay you 5% commission for each person who clicks thru your link and buys a product.

Please note they are completely hypothetical examples with made-up figures for demonstration purposes only. If there are any more acronyms not defined here please contact us and we’ll help out.

This page is supported by users, it may contain ads and affiliate links.