Influencer Marketing ROI Calculator
Enter the creator's fee, audience and your conversion numbers to see whether a sponsored post will pay off before you sign.
Deal inputs
Forecast
Forecast ROAS
Why most brands overpay for influencer deals
Influencer marketing is one of the few channels where prices are still set by gut feel. A fitness creator with 100K followers might quote $5,000 for a sponsored Reel, $2,000 for a story and $8,000 for a YouTube integration, with no math tying that price to expected results. Brands often agree because the deal looks reasonable next to their paid social CPM. This calculator adds the step most brands skip: model the funnel before you sign, not after.
What reasonable assumptions look like
The default values reflect what we see in real campaigns. About 3% engagement is solid for a creator under 250K followers. A click-through of 1 to 3% to a brand site is realistic for non-affiliate content, and 1 to 3% conversion is normal for cold traffic to an online store. If your forecast only works with 8% engagement or 6% click-through, you are betting on a best case, not modelling reality.
The two numbers that decide profitability
Every influencer deal comes down to gross margin and customer lifetime value. Counted on first purchase alone, few deals work for low-priced products with average margins. If you have repeat purchase data, run the forecast again with lifetime value in place of order value. A deal that looks unprofitable on the first order often makes sense over a 12-month customer relationship.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate are these forecasts?
Only as accurate as the assumptions. Use your own data wherever you have it: your real conversion rate, order value and margin. Fall back on industry benchmarks only until you have your own numbers.
What about the awareness value of an influencer post?
The CPM equivalent captures part of it. If the fee works out below about $50 per thousand followers, you are paying less per thousand than many paid social campaigns. Awareness alone can justify a deal that does not pay back directly, especially for newer brands.
Should I use first-purchase revenue or lifetime value?
Both. First-purchase ROAS tells you whether the deal works as a single transaction. Lifetime-value ROAS tells you whether it makes sense as customer acquisition.