Affiliate KPI Dashboard: A Free Google Sheets Template for Brands
A ready-made spreadsheet that turns your network export into the handful of affiliate metrics worth reading each month.
Most affiliate reports are exports: a long table from your network that is hard to read and impossible to compare month to month. A dashboard turns the same data into a handful of numbers you can scan in five minutes. This one is a spreadsheet you can open in Google Sheets or Excel, fill in once a month and read for trends.
The template calculates the metrics from our guide to affiliate program KPIs, so the definitions match. Below you will find the download, how to import it into Google Sheets, where each input comes from, the formulas, a worked example and a monthly routine for reading it.
Download the template
- Affiliate KPI dashboard template (.xlsx): formulas and formatting included; opens in Google Sheets and Excel.
- Same template as a CSV: plain data and formulas, for tools that prefer it.
The short version
- You type 13 inputs per month from your network and your own order data. Eleven calculated columns update on their own.
- It tracks revenue and AOV, conversion rate, EPC, active partner rate, new-customer share, reversal rate, cost of sale, concentration and, optionally, incremental revenue.
- Use approved (validated) figures and the same attribution rules every month, or the trends mean nothing.
- Your own trend line is the benchmark. The template contains no industry averages.
How to open the template in Google Sheets
Google Sheets can import both file types. In Google Sheets, open or create a spreadsheet, click File, then Import, and upload the file. Choose an import option such as creating a new spreadsheet, which is the cleanest for a template (Google Docs Editors Help). The file keeps its formulas, so the grey columns calculate as soon as you type into the blue ones.
The sheet has one row per month for twelve months and a total row at the bottom. If you run more than one network, make a copy of the sheet for each network and keep one for the whole program, so you can see where numbers diverge.
The inputs: what to type and where to find it
Blue columns are inputs. Most come from your network's reporting or your own order system. Where networks use different names, match the closest report.
| Input | What to enter | Usual source |
|---|---|---|
| Clicks | Clicks on partner links in the month | Network performance report |
| Tracked orders (all) | Every order the network tracked, including ones later declined | Network transactions report |
| Declined or reversed orders | Orders declined, cancelled or reversed after tracking | Network transactions report |
| Approved revenue | Sales value of approved orders after the validation period | Network report, reconciled with your orders |
| New-customer approved orders | Approved orders from first-time customers | Network new-customer flag or your order system |
| Commission paid | Commission on approved orders | Network or payout report |
| Network and platform fees | Fees you pay the network or platform for the month | Invoices |
| Bonuses and flat fees | Bonuses, flat creator fees and other payments outside commission | Your finance records |
| Approved partners | Partners approved in your program at month end | Network partner list |
| Partners with 1+ approved sale (last 90 days) | Approved partners that drove at least one approved sale in the last 90 days | Partner report with a 90-day filter |
| Top 10 partner revenue | Approved revenue from your ten biggest partners | Partner report sorted by revenue |
| Partners activated | Partners whose first approved sale fell in this month | Partner report |
| Incremental revenue (optional) | Revenue you estimate would not have happened without partners, from a holdout test or similar | Your own test; leave blank if you have none |
Whatever you choose, apply it the same way every month. Decide whether pending sales count (we recommend approved only), which date you report on and which attribution rule your network uses. Changing any of those mid-year breaks the trend lines. If your numbers do not match your finance team's, that is a reason to audit tracking first, as in our affiliate program audit checklist.
The calculated columns
Grey columns are formulas; there is nothing to type. The formulas are the same ones our KPI guide uses.
| Column | Formula | Question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Approved orders | Tracked orders minus declined orders | How many sales actually counted |
| AOV | Approved revenue / approved orders | Is basket size from partner traffic holding up |
| Conversion rate (%) | Approved orders / clicks x 100 | Is partner traffic buying |
| EPC (per click) | Commission paid / clicks | How attractive the program is to partners |
| Active partner rate (%) | Partners with a sale / approved partners x 100 | How much of the partner list is working |
| New-customer share (%) | New-customer orders / approved orders x 100 | Are partners bringing new buyers |
| Reversal rate (%) | Declined orders / tracked orders x 100 | Returns, fraud and tracking quality |
| Cost of sale (%) | (Commission + fees + bonuses) / approved revenue x 100 | What the channel really costs |
| Partner concentration (%) | Top 10 partner revenue / approved revenue x 100 | How fragile the program is |
| Incremental share (%) | Incremental revenue / approved revenue x 100 | How much of revenue partners created |
| Revenue change (%) | This month's revenue / last month's - 1, x 100 | Is the channel growing |
Networks can report earnings per click in different units, for example per click or per hundred clicks. Check the unit in each network's own report, then multiply or divide so it matches the template's per-click EPC before you compare.
A worked example with round numbers
These figures are made up to show how the formulas behave. They are not benchmarks and do not describe any real program.
| Input | Value | Result | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clicks | 20,000 | Approved orders | 540 |
| Tracked orders | 600 | AOV | 66.67 |
| Declined orders | 60 | Conversion rate | 2.7% |
| Approved revenue | 36,000 | EPC | 0.18 |
| New-customer orders | 270 | New-customer share | 50% |
| Commission, fees, bonuses | 3,600 + 1,200 + 600 | Cost of sale | 15% |
| Approved partners, with a sale | 400, 60 | Active partner rate | 15% |
| Top 10 partner revenue | 21,600 | Concentration | 60% |
| Declined / tracked | 60 / 600 | Reversal rate | 10% |
Read together, this made-up month says: the program converts and costs a moderate share of revenue, but only three in twenty approved partners are active and ten partners hold most of the revenue. The next move would be recruitment and activation, not a rate change. That is the point of the dashboard: it tells you which lever to pull before you pull it.
How to read it each month
Spend ten to fifteen minutes on three questions.
- Is revenue moving, and why? Check revenue change next to orders, AOV and conversion rate. Revenue up on falling orders usually means a few large baskets. Revenue down with steady clicks points at conversion or tracking. Our guide to why an affiliate program stops growing walks through the causes.
- Is the program healthy underneath? Active partner rate, concentration and new-customer share show whether growth is broad and real. A high concentration with a low active rate is a fragile program even when revenue is up.
- What does it cost? Cost of sale and reversal rate show whether you are paying for sales that stick. If cost of sale climbs, look at commission structure and the partner mix, starting with our post on affiliate commission structures.
Keep one line of notes per month in a cell comment or beside the row: what changed, what you tested and what you decided. In six months those notes are worth more than the numbers.
Ways to customise it
- Add a partner type sheet. Copy the template and fill it for coupon, content and creator partners separately. The coupon vs content affiliates guide explains why blended numbers hide the difference.
- Add a chart. Select the revenue, cost of sale and new-customer share columns and insert a line chart. Three lines on one chart is easier to read than twelve.
- Add targets. Add a row of targets under the header once you have two or three months of your own data. Set them from your own history, not from published averages.
- Change the window. The active partner rate uses 90 days. If your sales cycle is longer, change the window and note it in the sheet.
What a dashboard cannot tell you
A KPI sheet shows what happened, not why, and it cannot prove that partners caused a sale. Incremental revenue needs a test, such as pausing a partner or partner type in one region and comparing. Leave that column blank until you have one. A dashboard also trusts your inputs: if tracking is broken, every number is wrong in a consistent way. If the numbers look odd, check tracking first. A deeper review is what affiliate program audit services are for.
Want us to set up your reporting?
We build and run affiliate, creator and community programs for ecommerce and SaaS brands, including the reporting that keeps them honest. If you want a dashboard connected to your network data and a monthly read-out of what to change, get in touch.
Frequently asked questions
What should an affiliate KPI dashboard include?
Can I use the template in Google Sheets?
How often should I update an affiliate dashboard?
Does the template include industry benchmarks?
Get in touch
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