Determining ROI on Digital Campaigns

Before starting any type of ROI calculation, it is important to understand two limitations. There will always be a portion of ROI that is impossible to track and attribute to digital advertising. For example, let’s say I see ads for a particular law program on my Facebook feed that captures my interest. I decided to click on an ad to explore a little further — but I do not fill out the request for information (RFI) form. Weeks later, I am reminded of the program after seeing a remarketing ad while browsing the web. I figure, it’s now or never, so I decide to get started on my application. Digital advertising without a doubt played an important role in my application, but because I did not fill out the RFI form on the landing page there is no way for the advertiser to know this.

The recruitment cycle may take months — even years. Let’s say that we ran digital ad campaigns from January to June in order to increase applications for the August start date of a law program. With such little time allowed for lead nurturing (2-7 months), it is important to understand that it will be common for leads received from January-June to matriculate into applications and enrollments for fall of that year, the next year, and beyond.

Keep in mind that there are short-term and long-term ROI metrics, and that you are never really finished calculating ROI — you should be revisiting this metric year-over-year. It is certainly helpful to understand the direct ROI of digital ad campaigns on the August start date, but it does not tell the full story of ROI — and that cannot be truly calculated for years down the road.

Also, remember that an effective ROI measurement of international recruitment efforts is based on two categories:

• Hard returns are the number of leads generated by a given activity, website page views, inquiries,  enrollees. If you are already our client, then these are the inquiries you get on your profile. 
• Soft returns include brand awareness, presence in new platforms, student engagement, and partnerships.