Return on investment (ROI) is easy to calculate as it equals return minus investment divided by investment; however, finding the values of each of these numbers is much more difficult. In truth, there is almost no way to determine your exact return on investment, but in this blog we will be discussing ways in which you can roughly determine how effective your investments are. These estimations will allow you to determine what marketing strategies work best for your business, and you can then tailor your marketing plan to match these results and optimize efficiency.
Tracking Customer Origin
One of the key ways to determine ROI is to learn your customers’ reasons for visiting your site or using your business. The easiest way to do this is with the typical “How did you hear about us?” form which has a list of options such as through a friend, online, etc. By doing this you will be able to see which forms of marketing are working best for your company. This information will be key in helping you determine ROI and alter your marketing strategy to fit your clientele.
Client Retention
Another way to determine ROI is to be keeping track of client retention and response to your marketing. This client retention can be best seen in the form of email campaigns – if your email campaigns are getting good responses from customers then odds are you have a high client retention and the email campaign is working. On the other hand, if nobody ever responds to your emails and it appears not to be helping your business then you probably have a low client retention and low ROI. This client retention applies to all forms of marketing, not just email campaigns, and is correlated to returning customers, which are a fundamental part of any business.
Conversion Rates
Return on investment is much easier to track with online marketing tools as you can often check conversion and click through rates. Your company should have target rates for these statistics and if the rates fall below this number then you should look to revamp or eliminate them. Low conversion and click through rates means a low ROI and also means that your investment could potentially be better spent elsewhere.
These strategies will help you roughly determine what your ROI is. These are not meant to give you the financial logistics and tell you the exact return and investment, but rather will help you decide what marketing strategy works best for your business. Determining the exact number of your return on investment is not important; rather, what is important is being able to roughly compare different forms of marketing and structure your marketing plan to match these results.
John Zahn is a Co-Founder of Omnibeat. As a long-time business owner with an interest in technology, he strives to help businesses embrace new technology while sharing their unique story online. John loves helping business owners “Catch the Wave of Digital Marketing.”
Omnibeat is the digital marketing outsource solution for growth in Los Alamitos and the greater Long Beach area.
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