Rethinking ROI

by Jordan-Ann Powell | Feb 20, 2024

It’s time to rethink the definition of ROI (Return on Investment). 

At the most basic level, ROI is the result of an exchange. It’s a metric that either confirms or denies that my investment of time, money, and resources was worth it. 

Most businesses expect directly attributable metrics to prove worth. 

Attributable metrics are easy to understand, but much harder to prove. Paid media campaigns are often required to show attributable results. Meaning, a clear report that shows the exact number of people who clicked on an ad within a specific campaign for the 1st or only time, went straight to your website, took one glance (assuming they’ve never seen or heard about your brand or product ever before) and said yep, I’m ready to buy the thing right now. 1-1. $-$. 

While that may be within the realm of possibilities for B2C or an e-comm company, that is not the reality for B2B. When was the last time you purchased a service for your business without extensive research? This means you are looking at competitive reviews, hearing referrals from the market, checking out their online presence – the list goes on.

ROI is really an expression of value. 

Value has many considerations. For B2B companies, value is a combination of available attributable results, lead and lag performance metrics, learnings and capacity. 

Here are some questions to consider as you’re evaluating ROI: 

• Is my investment in a partner relieving internal capacity for my team to do other revenue-generating work?
• Were there impacts to processes or people that improved efficiency, or led to better close rates?
• Does this investment help mitigate risk in other areas of the business?
• Have there been meaningful results from testing, leading to key learnings?

When you’re selling, you are in a position to prove value for your business. Your buyers won’t make a linear decision (like clicking the first paid ad they see and making an immediate decision), but they need to see examples of ROI. If you can’t show a calculator, use methods that show you understand your audience. This might include project recaps, case studies, pictures of finished products and testimonials from customers like your target audience. 

Referencing only directly attributable metrics for ROI will fail to capture the full value for your customer. Shifting our perspective to encompass broader indicators of value allows us to better understand the impact of investments on business processes, efficiency, risk mitigation, and overall performance. By asking the right questions and adopting a more holistic approach to ROI assessment, businesses can more accurately measure the true returns on their investments and make informed decisions for future growth and success.