Real‑world examples of measuring ROI of influencer marketing in 2025

Real examples of measuring ROI of influencer marketing

Let’s start where most marketers want to start: real examples of measuring ROI of influencer marketing, with actual numbers and methods you can copy.

Example 1: Beauty brand tying influencer content to revenue with codes

A mid‑size beauty brand partners with 20 mid‑tier creators on TikTok and Instagram. Instead of paying for vague “awareness,” the team sets up:

• Unique discount codes per creator (e.g., SARAH15)
• UTM‑tagged links in bios and Stories
• A dedicated landing page per creator

How they measure ROI:

• Track revenue from each code and UTM link in their ecommerce platform
• Compare cost per creator to revenue attributed to that creator
• Calculate ROI per creator:
  ROI = (Attributed Revenue − Influencer Cost − Product Cost) ÷ Influencer Cost

In one 60‑day campaign:

• Spend on creators: $120,000
• Attributed revenue (codes + UTMs): $380,000
• Product cost (COGS): $95,000

ROI = (\(380,000 − \)120,000 − \(95,000) ÷ \)120,000 = 1.37 (137% return)

This is one of the cleanest examples of measuring ROI of influencer marketing when you sell directly online: every tracked purchase rolls up to a specific creator, and you can quickly spot who to double down on.

Example 2: DTC fitness brand measuring CAC and LTV from creators

A fitness app selling a $19.99/month subscription cares less about one‑time sales and more about subscriber value. They run influencer campaigns on YouTube and Instagram Reels.

Tracking setup:

• Unique sign‑up URLs for each creator
• A “source” field in their CRM labeled by creator handle
• Monthly cohort analysis to track churn and LTV

Key metrics:

• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) from each creator
  CAC = Total paid to creator ÷ New paying subscribers they drove

• 90‑day LTV per cohort

Sample results from three creators:

• Creator A: CAC \(42, 90‑day LTV \)68
• Creator B: CAC \(29, 90‑day LTV \)54
• Creator C: CAC \(51, 90‑day LTV \)49

Even though Creator C brought in more sign‑ups, their audience churned faster and spent less. That makes Creator C a negative ROI channel over time. This is a strong example of measuring ROI of influencer marketing beyond vanity metrics by connecting creator content to downstream revenue and retention.

Example 3: B2B SaaS tracking pipeline and closed‑won revenue

B2B marketers love to say “influencer marketing doesn’t work for us.” It usually means they aren’t measuring it correctly.

A B2B SaaS company partners with niche LinkedIn creators and podcast hosts. Instead of discount codes, they focus on:

• Webinar registrations via creator‑specific landing pages
• Free trial sign‑ups tagged with a “referring creator” field
• Attribution rules in their CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, etc.)

How they measure ROI:

• Lead volume and cost per lead (CPL) by creator
• Pipeline generated (value of opportunities influenced by creator‑sourced leads)
• Closed‑won revenue tied to those opportunities

Example from one quarter:

• Spend on creators: $75,000
• Creator‑sourced opportunities: $650,000 in pipeline
• Closed‑won from those: $210,000

ROI = (\(210,000 − \)75,000) ÷ $75,000 = 1.8 (180% return)

This is a textbook example of measuring ROI of influencer marketing in B2B: you track opportunities and revenue, not just clicks and impressions.

For marketers needing to defend this approach internally, pointing to established B2B attribution practices from academic and industry research (for example, marketing analytics courses at Harvard Business School) can help you align influencer tracking with your existing demand‑gen model.

Example 4: Retail brand using influencer whitelisting and paid amplification

A fashion retailer runs influencer content as paid ads (whitelisting) on Meta and TikTok. Instead of treating this as a pure “brand” play, they set it up like performance marketing.

Tracking setup:

• Creator content is run through the brand’s ad accounts
• Campaigns are optimized to Purchase events using the platform pixel
• Each creator has separate ad sets so performance can be compared

Metrics they track:

• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) by creator
• Cost per Add‑to‑Cart, Cost per Purchase
• View‑through conversions (people who saw the ad, then purchased later)

In a 30‑day test:

• Traditional brand ads: 2.1x ROAS
• Influencer‑based ads: 3.4x ROAS

This gives the team one of the best examples of measuring ROI of influencer marketing in a blended organic + paid scenario. They see not only which creators drive sales organically, but which creator content scales profitably with media spend.

Example 5: CPG brand measuring offline sales lift from influencer campaigns

Not everything is ecommerce clicks. A consumer packaged goods brand selling in grocery stores uses influencers to push a new product line. There’s no direct link from an Instagram Story to a supermarket shelf, so they combine influencer data with retail sales data.

Approach:

• Run a 6‑week influencer campaign in select metro areas
• Compare scanner data (from retailers or syndicated sources) in:
  • Markets with influencer activity
  • Similar control markets without influencer activity

They look at incremental sales lift in the test markets, controlling for seasonality and promotions.

Results:

• Test markets: +18% unit sales vs prior period
• Control markets: +6% unit sales vs prior period
• Incremental lift attributed to influencer marketing: 12 percentage points

They then estimate ROI by comparing the profit from that incremental lift to the influencer budget. This kind of analysis mirrors methods used in public health and policy evaluation — for example, difference‑in‑differences approaches commonly taught in econometrics courses at universities like MIT.

For brands selling through retail, this is one of the best examples of measuring ROI of influencer marketing when the last mile happens in‑store, not online.

Example 6: Healthcare and wellness influencers and patient inquiries

Healthcare is heavily regulated, but wellness clinics and telehealth platforms still use creators. Because aggressive discounting is sensitive, they often measure softer conversions.

A telehealth mental health platform partners with licensed therapists who create educational content on TikTok and YouTube.

Tracking setup:

• Creator‑specific landing pages with educational resources
• “Start intake” or “Book consult” as primary conversion events
• A “referral source” field in the intake form

Metrics:

• Cost per qualified inquiry (CPI)
• Show‑up rate for appointments from creator traffic vs other channels
• 6‑month revenue from creator‑sourced patients

By comparing creator‑sourced patient outcomes and retention with other acquisition channels, they can quantify ROI while staying aligned with guidance from organizations like the National Institutes of Health on ethical health communication.

This gives healthcare marketers a practical example of measuring ROI of influencer marketing without crossing regulatory lines.

Example 7: Measuring content ROI when creators feed your always‑on library

Sometimes creators are not just distribution; they’re content production. A CPG brand uses creators as an always‑on content studio for TikTok and short‑form video ads.

How they measure content ROI:

• Track performance of creator content vs agency‑produced content in paid campaigns
• Compare cost per creative asset (video) and its lifetime performance
• Evaluate how many assets hit internal performance benchmarks (e.g., 2.5x ROAS)

In one quarter:

• Agency videos: average ROAS 1.9, cost per video $8,000
• Creator videos: average ROAS 2.8, cost per video $1,200

Even when creator content doesn’t have direct organic tracking, this is a powerful example of measuring ROI of influencer marketing based on creative efficiency and ad performance.

Example 8: Brand lift studies as part of ROI

Not everything shows up in last‑click revenue. For larger brands, a full view of ROI includes brand metrics: awareness, favorability, purchase intent.

A global beverage brand runs a multi‑creator TikTok campaign and pairs it with a brand lift study through the platform.

What they measure:

• Ad recall among exposed vs control groups
• Brand favorability shift
• Purchase intent lift

They then:

• Estimate the dollar value of that lift by comparing to historical MMM (marketing mix modeling) results
• Combine that with directly attributed sales from trackable links

This becomes a hybrid example of measuring ROI of influencer marketing where brand and performance metrics are tied together instead of treated as separate universes.

Core metrics behind these examples of influencer ROI

Looking across these examples of measuring ROI of influencer marketing, the same set of metrics keeps showing up. The mix changes by industry, but the building blocks are consistent.

Revenue and profit metrics

• Attributed revenue: Sales directly tied to influencer clicks, codes, or tagged leads.
• Incremental revenue: Extra revenue above what you would have expected without the campaign (using control groups or historical baselines).
• Gross profit: Revenue minus cost of goods sold; important so you’re not celebrating unprofitable growth.

Efficiency metrics

• CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost): Total influencer spend ÷ new customers acquired.
• ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): Revenue from influencer‑driven ads ÷ ad and creator spend.
• CPL (Cost per Lead) and CPI (Cost per Inquiry): For B2B and healthcare.

Long‑term value metrics

• LTV (Customer Lifetime Value): Revenue generated by a customer over a defined period.
• Churn and retention: How long influencer‑acquired customers stick around.

Using these consistently is what turns scattered case studies into repeatable examples of measuring ROI of influencer marketing inside your own reporting.

Setting up tracking so your ROI examples hold up in front of finance

None of these examples work without clean tracking. A few non‑negotiables if you want your own examples of measuring ROI of influencer marketing to survive a CFO review:

Use UTM parameters and unique links

Every influencer should have:

• A unique URL with UTM parameters (source=instagram, medium=influencer, campaign=spring_launch, content=creator_handle)
• Consistent naming rules so reports are comparable

Tools like Google Analytics and most modern analytics platforms make this easy. The discipline is in enforcing it across every brief and contract.

Assign codes and landing pages strategically

Discount codes are not only about conversion; they’re about attribution. Even if you don’t want to train customers to wait for discounts, you can:

• Use small perks (free shipping, bonus samples) instead of deep discounts
• Use creator‑specific landing pages that are not indexed in search

This gives you more examples of measuring ROI of influencer marketing at the creator level, so you can re‑invest in the right relationships.

Connect your CRM and analytics

For B2B, healthcare, and subscription businesses, the handoff from click to CRM is where attribution usually dies.

You need:

• A “source” and “campaign” field in your CRM that maps to influencer data
• A process to keep that data intact from form fill to opportunity to closed‑won

This is the only way to build credible examples like the B2B SaaS and telehealth cases above.

Respect privacy and regulation

Especially in health, finance, and education, you can’t just shove tracking pixels everywhere and call it a day.

• Review guidance from sources like the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on endorsements and disclosures
• For health‑related campaigns, align with privacy and communication best practices similar to those promoted by organizations like Mayo Clinic and NIH

Compliance doesn’t kill influencer ROI; sloppy measurement and non‑compliant campaigns do.

Common mistakes that ruin your influencer ROI numbers

If your internal examples of measuring ROI of influencer marketing look underwhelming, check for these issues before you kill the channel.

Over‑relying on last‑click attribution

Influencers often drive discovery, not final purchase. If you only credit the last click, performance will look weak. Use:

• View‑through conversions where allowed
• Multi‑touch attribution for higher‑consideration purchases
• Branded search and direct traffic lifts during campaigns as supporting evidence

Ignoring creative and audience fit

Not all impressions are equal. A smaller creator with a tight, relevant audience often outperforms a big name with a broad, unfocused following.

If you see wildly different ROIs across creators, that’s not random noise — it’s a signal about:

• Audience quality
• Message‑market fit
• Creative format (short‑form, long‑form, live, etc.)

The best examples of measuring ROI of influencer marketing are usually built on a handful of high‑fit creators, not whoever has the biggest follower count.

Not separating organic and paid effects

If you run influencer posts and then boost them as paid ads, you need to separate:

• Organic performance (creator’s own audience)
• Paid performance (media budget amplifying creator content)

Otherwise, you’ll either overcredit the creator or undercredit the media strategy. Treat each as its own line item with its own ROI.

Turning examples into a repeatable influencer ROI framework

All of these examples of measuring ROI of influencer marketing point toward the same playbook:

• Decide what “success” means in your business (sales, leads, LTV, brand lift)
• Design tracking before you brief creators, not after the campaign launches
• Benchmark creator performance like you would any other paid channel
• Keep iterating: cut the bottom 30% of creators, double spend on the top 20%

When you can walk into a budget meeting with clear, specific examples — “Our spring influencer campaign generated \(380k on \)120k spend at 137% ROI, with Creator A at 3.2x ROAS and Creator B at 0.9x” — you’re no longer debating whether influencer marketing works. You’re debating how fast to scale it.

That’s where you want to be.

FAQ: examples of measuring influencer marketing ROI

How do you calculate a simple example of influencer marketing ROI?
Take the revenue attributed to the influencer (via codes, links, or tagged leads), subtract the cost of the influencer and product cost, then divide by the influencer cost. For instance, if you pay a creator \(10,000, generate \)45,000 in revenue, and your product cost is \(15,000, your ROI is (\)45,000 − \(10,000 − \)15,000) ÷ $10,000 = 2.0, or a 200% return.

What are some easy‑to‑track examples of measuring ROI of influencer marketing for small brands?
Use unique discount codes, UTM‑tagged links, and a simple spreadsheet. Track clicks, conversions, revenue, and content performance (saves, shares, comments). Even a basic setup can give you clear examples of which creators are profitable and which are not.

Can brand awareness campaigns provide real examples of ROI, or only sales campaigns?
Awareness campaigns can absolutely provide examples of measuring ROI of influencer marketing, but the metrics change. You’ll lean on reach, frequency, brand lift studies, and modeled revenue impact from marketing mix modeling, instead of only last‑click revenue.

How long should I wait before judging influencer ROI?
For low‑price ecommerce, you can usually assess ROI within 30–45 days. For subscriptions, B2B, or healthcare, you may need 60–180 days to see full LTV and retention patterns. Many of the best examples of influencer ROI come from brands that measure both short‑term and long‑term impact.