Revenue tells you what came in. Cost per click tells you whether it was worth it. The Pro Tools add on adds two fields to every link so WCT can work out profit and loss and return on investment, not just revenue.
Entering Your Cost:
On the Create Link and Edit Link forms, beside Link Name, Slug and Destination URL, you get two extra fields:
- Cost Per Click ($). What you pay for each click on paid traffic. It accepts up to four decimal places, so fractions of a cent are fine. Leave it blank for free traffic.
- Notes. A private note for campaign details, ad set information or traffic source. It is never shown publicly.
The cost is a flat rate that you enter. WCT does not read it from your ad platform, so update it if your bid changes.
Where You See The Numbers:
- Links tab. Three extra columns: CPC, Cost, which is the CPC multiplied by the link's clicks, and P/L. The CPC column is sortable.
- Dashboard. Total Cost, Profit / Loss and ROI cards, and a Cost vs Revenue and Profit / Loss chart. Like every card and chart they can be hidden.
- Link Stats. The same three cards for one link, and Cost and P/L columns in the Sub ID Breakdown, so you can see which traffic source is profitable.
- AI Traffic Analyst. Ad cost and profit or loss per link go into the summary the Analyst reads.
How Profit Is Worked Out:
Profit / Loss is your Net Earnings, which is what you keep after fees and affiliate splits with refunds taken off, minus the cost. ROI is that profit divided by the cost, as a percentage. Because it uses net earnings, a refunded sale reduces your profit the way you would expect.
Getting Reliable Numbers:
- Set the cost on every link that receives paid traffic. If different sources cost different amounts, give each source its own link, because the cost belongs to the link.
- A click from a blocked IP or a known bot is not recorded, so it is not counted in your cost.