The Influencer ROI Bullsh*t Stops Here: We Finally Made Influencer Measurement Make Sense

For years, measuring the true ROI of influencer marketing has been a total nightmare. We’ve all had to rely on code redemptions, EMV, likes, and “engagement,” but these metrics are often meaningless, misleading, or downright inflated. They only capture short-term behaviour, not the long-term impact the channel naturally inherits.

Seriously, think about the last time you actually used a voucher code or clicked a tracked link. Chances are it wasn’t yesterday. Now think about the last time you bought something your favourite influencer recommended. You probably don’t even remember the exact post, and you may have purchased it days or weeks later through a completely different channel – in-store, via a Google search, or on the brand’s website.

This lack of clarity on effectiveness is the reason bold, scalable influencer campaigns so often get shut down. There’s no proof that the channel actually impacts your bottom line. Creative campaigns get watered down, ambitious concepts get shelved, and marketing teams are forced to play it safe – all because decision-makers can’t see the real value of the investment. Without reliable measurement, influencer marketing becomes a risky, scary gamble instead of a credible, reliable growth engine. 

But this ends now. Because let’s be real, in 2025, we’re all in agreement that influencers do work. It’s how most of your favourite brands or the ones you look up to as “marketing geniuses” dominate. The real problem for most brands wanting to achieve the same level of greatness has been the lack of a measurement system that speaks the same language as the boardroom.

No, it doesn’t mean building crazy data formulas in a behemoth Excel sheet using the same metrics we’ve always had. I’ve been there. I see you. But I gently say, shut down the tab and throw the file in the bin; it’s meaningless. 

Rather, it’s about adopting proven marketing science methods that have measured long-term channels like TV, Print and OOH for decades. Channels where direct attribution simply doesn’t exist. 

*Drumroll* meet MMM (Mixed Media Modelling). 

A measurement method that, when fed influencer data, shows the channel’s real, incremental impact (on your bottom line), drives confident decisions, and lets great ideas thrive.

Using MMM at Charlie Oscar, we’ve proven that 80% of influencer revenue is driven through indirect impacts – that is, from people whose behaviour is influenced by influencers but do not click on links or use voucher codes.

That’s your hard-earned influencer revenue lost and most likely attributed to another channel. 

To put that into context, for every £1 you see tracked against click-based purchases, there will be another £4 in untracked impact, which only exists because of influencer reach.

Every campaign we activate applies this industry-leading measurement so that we can accurately reattribute incremental orders and revenue driven by influencers and understand their total business impact. 

However, not only does MMM give us that elusive incremental revenue number we’ve been longing for, but it also provides data points you need to drive home the channel’s wider value to the business. For example: 

• Paid social campaigns, when leveraging influencer content, perform 30%-60% stronger 
• Paid search campaigns show 15%-20% stronger CTR and significantly softened diminishing returns impacts with influencer support. 
• Brand searches increase up to 30% with strong influencer reach.

These uplifts in channel performance wouldn’t exist without your influencer campaigns.

But wait. It gets even better. 

Once we understand the total channel impact, we can apply some trusty marketing science to dig even deeper and identify which types of influencers (by size and niche) perform best, and which kinds of content drive the most uplift. This gives us even more confidence to back our ideas.

For example, for a beauty client, we found: 

• Comedic content and event content drive strong Revenue per Reach, significantly outperforming traditional content stables of product placement and tutorials.
• Higher revenue per reach from lifestyle and entertainment creators than from typical fashion and beauty creators

But it’s important to note that these insights don’t mean you have to put guardrails up or create restrictions for what your influencers and content have to deliver. They’re just helpful guides to consider when shaping deliverables and to help optimise towards performance. 

At the end of the day, content is the final touchpoint your audience experiences in an influencer campaign. That’s why we still need to wear our brand marketer hats and craft entertaining, relevant ideas with talent that genuinely capture attention.

It all sounds almost too good to be true, doesn’t it? And it’s natural for us creatives and brand marketers to hesitate when it comes to embracing marketing science – nobody wants to make a channel that’s so inherently creative…boring and all about the numbers. 

But in today’s tough trading conditions and competitive market, we have to play ball and embrace the science, so that we can speak their language in the decision-making moments that matter. Because let’s face it, that’s how we’re going to secure the budget to turn our crazy, awesome influencer ideas into reality.