How to Estimate Experiential Marketing ROI

How to Estimate Experiential Marketing ROI


Idea
To estimate Experiential Marketing ROI, you need to gather or estimate six metrics and plug those metrics into PortMA’s ROI Dashboard. There are three ways you can do this:
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1. Easiest: Use this link to schedule a call with your PortMA Analyst
2. Easy: Use the existing data from your campaign directly
3. Still Pretty Easy: Estimate these metrics using PortMA’s Benchmarks and Tools

The Six Metrics

  1. Total Consumer Interactions
    For the purposes of running ROI, an interaction is defined as a person or household being engaged. For example, if you gave two samples to one person, that would count as one integration.
  2. Brand Awareness
    The resulting familiarity with the brand as a percent of “Non-Customers” (e.g., Newly Educated, Aware/ Non-Customer, Past Customer).
  3. Purchase Intent
    This reflects how likely participants are to purchase within the next buying cycle after the engagement on a five-point scale.
  4. Adjustment for Overestimating
    People don’t always do what they say they will do. Applying an adjustment corrects for this gap in your estimate.
  5. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
    CLV refers to the expected rev    enue generated per customer, either annually or over a 10-year (‘lifetime’) value.
  6. Campaign Budget
    The total spend for all included     activations. This is typically calculated as the cost per event day by dividing the total budget by the number of event days.

Where to Get This Data

Some metrics, like Interactions and Budget, can be tracked mid-campaign or pulled directly from program reporting. Others, like Brand Awareness and Purchase Intent, are typically collected at the end of a campaign through surveys.

If you're at the end of your campaign and have all of these metrics, use PortMA's ROI Modeling Tool to calculate an ROI projection.
If you’re missing pieces, PortMA’s Benchmarking Dashboard can fill the gaps by applying industry and venue standards. Simply select your industry and venue type, enter the data you have, and the dashboard will auto-populate the rest.

Metric
I Have This Data
My Campaign is Ongoing
I Need to Use a Benchmark
1. Total Consumer Interactions
Divide total interactions by the number of event days.
Use PortMA's Run-Rate Calculator to project the total number of interactions expected by the end of the program.
Use Venue Filters (i.e., Event Category, Sub-Category) to find the median interactions per event day.
2. Brand Awareness
Use the percent of Non-Customers (e.g., Newly Educated, Aware/ Non-Customer, Past Customer).
Use all available data or consider a benchmark.
Use Industry Filters (i.e., Categories 1 - 3) to auto-populate Brand Awareness metrics.
3. Purchase Intent
Use the top-two box percent (Likert scale) likelihood to purchase.
Use all available data or consider a benchmark.
Use Industry Filters to auto-populate Low and High Purchase Intent estimates.
4. Adjustment for Overestimating
Use the Adjustment for Overestimating Calculator using Brand Awareness and Purchase Intent inputs.
Use the industry standard 60.0% adjustment.
Use the industry standard 60.0% adjustment.
5. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Use either annual or 10-year (‘lifetime’) value.
N/A
Use Venue Type Filters (i.e., Event Category, Sub-Category) to find the median value per customer.
6. Campaign Budget
Divide total campaign budget by the number of event days.
Use the average cost per event day.
Use Venue Type Filters (i.e., Event Category, Sub-Category) to find the median cost per event day.

How to Use This Data

With your six core metrics in place, you can do more than just calculate ROI. Use these insights to build investment confidence, compare performance across campaigns, and test “what if” scenarios for upcoming RFPs.

If you need support interpreting results or applying benchmarks, PortMA can walk you through the process and ensure your numbers hold up with stakeholders. Call us to review your data with a PortMA Analyst and get actionable recommendations tailored to your campaign.


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