An ad tracker displays dozens of columns—visits, clicks, CTR, conversions, EPC, eCPA, ROI—but watching all of them at once is useless. A pilot doesn't monitor every dial in the cockpit; they watch three that say 'we're fine' and one that says 'land now.' Affiliate marketing KPIs work the same way.
The metrics that matter answer three questions: is the traffic worth buying (iCTR, CPV, lander CTR), does the funnel convert (CR, CV, eCPA, average payout) and are you making money (EPC, EPV, profit, ROI, ROAS). iGaming affiliates add three more: registration-to-FTD rate, cost per FTD and player lifetime value. All 15 come with formulas and benchmarks.
Visit and click: two numbers people mix up
In Voluum, a visit is a landing on your lander or offer. A click is a move from the lander to the offer. An ad click counts as a visit. So Voluum's CTR column divides clicks by visits—your lander's click-through rate—while the ad's CTR lives in a separate iCTR column. Many traffic sources call the ad metric CTR. Without checking which is which, a 40% 'CTR' in your tracker looks miraculous next to 1.5% CTR in your ad network. It's not a miracle. It's two different questions.
Three metrics to judge the ad and audience
iCTR = visits ÷ impressions × 100. It tells you whether the ad earns attention. A falling iCTR on a campaign that used to work usually means creative fatigue: the audience has seen your banner so often it has become wallpaper. Benchmark against your own last 7 days for the same placement and GEO; format matters too much for a universal number.
CPV = cost ÷ visits. On pop and push, it's often your bid price. CPV must stay below EPV. If a visit costs $0.06 and earns $0.05, every visit loses a cent, and scaling only makes the hole deeper.
Lander CTR = clicks ÷ visits × 100. It measures how well your lander warms people up and sends them to the offer. A low lander CTR is not always bad—a lander that filters out tire-kickers might send fewer clicks but more buyers. Always read it next to CR.
Four conversion metrics
CR = conversions ÷ clicks × 100. It isolates the offer: of everyone who reached it, how many converted. If CR drops while lander CTR holds steady, look at the offer page, the payout terms or a cap before you touch your traffic.
CV = conversions ÷ visits × 100. It's the whole-funnel conversion rate, lander included. It works better for comparing campaigns with different landers or with no lander at all. There is no universal benchmark; search ads in WordStream's latest Google Ads benchmarks average 8.18%, but a pop campaign converting at a tiny fraction of that can still be very profitable because its visits cost a tiny fraction too. Judge CV together with CPV, never alone.
eCPA = cost ÷ conversions. It's the real price of one result, whatever cost model you bought the traffic on. eCPA must stay below your average payout—that line is your break-even and the cleanest number for an automated stop-loss rule.
Average payout = revenue ÷ conversions. On fixed CPA offers, it barely moves. On RevShare, tiered or dynamic payouts, it moves a lot, and a sudden dip can mean your traffic got cheaper for a reason: lower-quality users who convert but don't deposit or buy much.
Five revenue metrics
EPC = revenue ÷ clicks. Affiliate networks show EPC on their offer pages as a handy way to compare offers, but remember the network's EPC comes from other affiliates' traffic, not yours.
EPV = revenue ÷ visits. If you keep only one money metric for daily decisions, keep this one, because you can put it right next to CPV. EPV above CPV means each visit makes money. EPV below CPV means each visit costs money. It's as simple as a lemonade stand.
Profit = revenue − cost. It's the only KPI on this list your landlord accepts. A 300% ROI on $20 of spend is a great story and a terrible month.
ROI = (revenue − cost) ÷ cost × 100. It shows how hard each dollar works, making it the best metric for comparing campaigns of different sizes. Anything above 0% is profitable, though most media buyers set a target well above zero to leave room for payout delays, chargebacks and the days when a placement goes sideways.
ROAS = revenue ÷ cost. It's ROI's cousin, preferred by e-commerce teams and ad platforms. A ROAS of 1.5 equals an ROI of 50%. Use whichever your team speaks, but don't mix them in the same report.
Three metrics for iGaming
In iGaming, a conversion is often a registration, and a registration doesn't pay the bills.
Reg-to-FTD = first deposits ÷ registrations × 100. A source that sends plenty of registrations but few first-time deposits is sending browsers, not players. To see this in Voluum, you'll need registrations and FTDs as separate custom conversion types.
Cost per FTD = cost ÷ first deposits. On CPA deals, compare it with the CPA you're paid. On RevShare or hybrid deals, compare it with what a depositing player is worth.
LTV is the revenue a group of players generates over time, usually measured per player over 30, 60 or 90 days. It's the KPI that turns a loss-making source into your best one, or the other way around.
