Question 1

How does this projection work?

Accepted Answer

It follows four steps. Reach multiplied by engagement rate gives an engaged audience. That audience multiplied by your conversion rate gives conversions. Conversions multiplied by average order value gives revenue. Revenue divided by budget gives ROAS, and ROI is the same figure expressed as a percentage return on the money spent. Each step is visible, so you can see which assumption is carrying the result.

Question 2

What conversion rate should I enter?

Accepted Answer

The field defaults to 2%, which is a reasonable planning figure for a warm, well-matched creator audience landing on a good product page. If you have run creator campaigns before, use your own historical number instead — it is the single input that moves the output most. If you have never run one, model 1% as your pessimistic case and 3% as optimistic, and look at the range rather than the midpoint.

Question 3

How do I estimate reach before a campaign runs?

Accepted Answer

Ask the creator for their median reach on the last ten posts of the format you are buying, not their follower count and not their best post. Instagram Reel reach for a paid post typically lands well below follower count, and stories lower still. If a creator will not share insights, estimate conservatively from engagement: a post showing 1,000 interactions has been seen by far more people than that, but assuming reach equals followers is the mistake that makes most influencer forecasts useless.

Question 4

Is a projection like this actually reliable?

Accepted Answer

It is a planning tool, not a forecast you should bank on. The arithmetic is exact; the inputs are estimates, and small errors compound through four multiplications. Its real value is that it makes the assumptions explicit before money is committed. If the only way the campaign works is a 5% conversion rate and reach equal to the follower count, that shows up here rather than in a post-mortem.

Question 5

What ROAS should I expect from influencer marketing?

Accepted Answer

This tool labels 5x and above Excellent, 3x and above Good, 1.5x and above Marginal, and anything below that Below Break-even. Creator campaigns generally run lower than performance ads on first-touch ROAS and better on repeat purchase and brand search lift, so judging one on last-click ROAS alone tends to undersell it. Whether a given number is good still depends on your gross margin.

Question 6

Why does this ignore brand awareness and content reuse?

Accepted Answer

Because it is a direct-response model, and pretending otherwise would produce a falsely precise number. Two real sources of return sit outside it: the lift in branded search and direct traffic that follows a creator post, and the usage rights to content you can then run as paid ads, which often costs less than commissioning a shoot. Both are real; neither is projectable from these four inputs.

Question 7

Should I pay a creator a flat fee or a commission?

Accepted Answer

Flat fees are standard in India and are what most established creators will accept. Affiliate or commission structures shift risk to the creator and suit unproven partnerships, but strong creators generally refuse them because they carry the delivery risk while the brand keeps the upside. A hybrid — a reduced flat fee plus a performance bonus against an agreed target — is the version both sides tend to sign.

Question 8

How do I measure actual ROI once the campaign has run?

Accepted Answer

Give each creator a unique discount code and a UTM-tagged link, and accept that both undercount. Codes miss buyers who found you later through search; UTMs miss anyone who saw the post and came back on their phone a week on. The more honest read is a holdout comparison: total revenue and branded search volume during the campaign window against a comparable window before it.

Influencer ROI Calculator

Common questions