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
AcronymWhat It Means
CPSCost Per Sale
CPACost Per Action (or Acquisition)
CPLCost Per Lead
CPICost Per Install
CPECost Per Engagement
AOVAverage Order Value
CRConversion Rate
EPCEarnings Per Click
LTVLifetime Value
CPCCost Per Click
CPMCost 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.

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