Reachoz MediaTwo campaigns list an 8% and a 12% payout. The 8% one earns you more. This happens constantly in coupon and deal publishing, because the headline rate isn't the number that determines your earnings — EPC is.
What EPC actually is
Earnings per click (EPC) is total approved earnings from a campaign divided by total clicks it received. It compresses payout rate, conversion rate, and average order value into one number: what a click through your link is actually worth, on average.
Why the payout rate alone is misleading
A campaign's listed rate tells you what happens if a click converts. It tells you nothing about how often that happens. Take two real-shaped examples:
| Campaign A | Campaign B | |
|---|---|---|
| Payout rate | 12% CPS | 8% CPS |
| Average order value | ₹900 | ₹1,800 |
| Conversion rate | 1.5% | 4% |
| EPC (per 100 clicks) | ₹1.62/click | ₹5.76/click |
Campaign B pays a lower rate and earns more than three times as much per click, because it converts better and has a higher basket size. If you only compared the headline percentages, you'd have picked wrong.
Why EPC varies by publisher, not just by campaign
A network-wide EPC figure is an average across every publisher running that campaign — your own EPC on it can be meaningfully higher or lower depending on where your traffic comes from. A publisher whose audience arrives already intending to buy (a "[brand] coupon code" search) will usually out-convert a publisher whose audience arrives from a general deals roundup. Treat a listed EPC as a starting estimate, not a guarantee, and watch your own number once you're live.
Using EPC to prioritise placements
When you're deciding where to put a limited number of high-visibility placements — a homepage banner, a top spot in a deals newsletter — EPC is the number to rank by, not payout rate and not even raw conversion rate alone. A campaign with a modest conversion rate but a large average order can out-earn a "high-converting" low-ticket one.
The takeaway
Payout rate is what a campaign says it'll pay if things go well. EPC is what it actually paid, on average, across real clicks. Compare campaigns on EPC, watch how your own traffic performs against the network average, and reassign placements toward what your specific audience actually converts on — not what looks best on a rate card.