How to track infographic ROI

Tracking the ROI (Return on Investment) of an infographic is critical for determining its effectiveness in meeting business or marketing goals. Infographics are powerful visual tools that convey complex information quickly, but understanding whether they deliver value beyond engagement and reach requires a structured approach. Below, we will explore a step-by-step process on how to track infographic ROI, covering essential metrics, tools, strategies, and case studies that showcase the methods for assessing the impact of these visual assets.

1. Understanding Infographic ROI

Before diving into how to track ROI, it’s essential to define what ROI means in the context of infographics. In marketing and design, ROI refers to the returns or outcomes you achieve relative to the cost or effort you put into producing and distributing the infographic. In the case of infographics, ROI could be measured in several ways, depending on your business objectives. Some common goals for infographics include:

Brand awareness: Infographics help establish your brand in your audience’s mind.
Lead generation: Infographics encourage visitors to engage and take actions such as downloading resources or filling out forms.
SEO benefits: Infographics can drive traffic to your website, which helps in improving search engine rankings.
Sales conversions: Infographics might prompt customers to make purchases by highlighting product benefits, customer reviews, etc.
Engagement and social sharing: Infographics often drive interaction on social media, which can be valuable for increasing reach and engagement.

To track ROI, you need to identify clear KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) related to these goals. This ensures that the efforts put into creating the infographic can be measured against the outcomes.

2. Establishing Clear Goals

Before creating the infographic, it’s crucial to establish clear goals for what you want to achieve. Different types of goals will require different metrics. Some possible objectives might include:

Increase in Website Traffic: You might aim to drive more people to your website to learn about a product, service, or topic.
Higher Engagement on Social Media: The goal could be to generate more shares, likes, comments, or brand mentions.
Lead Generation: If your aim is to collect email addresses or other contact details, tracking sign-ups or downloads associated with the infographic is critical.
Sales Conversions: If the infographic is part of a sales funnel, you’ll want to track the number of conversions directly tied to the content.

Your infographic might even have multiple objectives, such as a combination of brand awareness and lead generation. By defining your goals upfront, you can tailor your strategy for measuring ROI and know exactly what to track.

3. Metrics to Track Infographic ROI

There are several key performance metrics you can track to measure the ROI of your infographic. These metrics align with the goals you’ve established and help you assess the effectiveness of the content. Let’s look at the most common ones:

i. Website Traffic

If one of your goals is to drive traffic to your website, you’ll want to track the volume of visitors referred by your infographic. The steps involved in tracking this are:

Referral Traffic: Use tools like Google Analytics to check how much traffic the infographic has driven to your website. If you’ve published your infographic on a blog or a landing page, track the specific page URL to isolate traffic directly attributed to the infographic.
Click-Through Rate (CTR): If the infographic contains a call-to-action (CTA) such as a link to a landing page or product page, track the CTR to measure how many visitors clicked through to another part of your website.
Behavior Flow: You can analyze what users do once they land on your site. Did they stay, navigate through other pages, or bounce away? Analyzing this can help you understand if the infographic is delivering the quality of traffic you want.

ii. Social Media Metrics

Social media platforms provide rich data to assess the performance of your infographic. The following metrics can be helpful:

Shares: Track how often your infographic is shared across platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Shares indicate how valuable the content is to your audience.
Engagement Rate: Look at the number of interactions (likes, comments, and shares) the infographic receives compared to the total reach or impressions. A higher engagement rate typically signals that the content resonates well with your audience.
Social Referrals: Like referral traffic, this metric tracks how much traffic is coming from social media platforms where the infographic has been posted or shared.
Mentions: If your infographic has been cited or mentioned by other content creators or influencers, this is a good indicator of its viral potential.

iii. Lead Generation

For infographics focused on lead generation, you should track the following metrics:

Conversion Rate: If the infographic includes a CTA, such as signing up for an email list or downloading an eBook, monitor how many visitors complete the desired action.
Number of Leads Generated: Track how many new leads or contacts (like email addresses) were collected through the infographic.
Cost Per Lead (CPL): To determine ROI in financial terms, calculate how much you spent on creating and distributing the infographic and divide it by the number of leads generated.

iv. SEO Impact

Infographics can help improve your website’s SEO performance. Here’s how you can track that:

Inbound Links: Infographics are often shared across websites, blogs, and news outlets. Track how many inbound links (backlinks) your infographic generates, as these can improve your search engine rankings.
Organic Traffic: If your infographic ranks for a specific keyword or topic, monitor how much organic traffic comes from search engines.
Keyword Ranking: Track how well the infographic helps improve rankings for target keywords in search engines. If it drives a significant amount of traffic, it’s likely improving your SEO performance.

v. Sales Conversions

If your goal is to drive sales, tracking the following metrics is essential:

Conversion Rate: Track how many people who interacted with the infographic end up making a purchase or converting on your website.
Revenue Generated: If you can tie your infographic directly to a sales event or transaction, calculate the revenue generated from these sales.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): If the infographic targets potential long-term customers, tracking CLV could give you a more holistic understanding of the infographic’s impact.

4. Tools to Track Infographic ROI

Tracking ROI involves leveraging analytics and tracking tools. Below are several tools you can use to measure infographic performance:

i. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is one of the most versatile tools for tracking website traffic. It can help you measure referral traffic, track conversions, and evaluate the performance of specific pages where the infographic is hosted.

ii. Social Media Analytics Tools

For social media, platforms like Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics, and LinkedIn Analytics provide valuable data about how your infographic is performing. Tools like Buffer, Hootsuite, or Sprout Social can give you more detailed reports across multiple platforms.

iii. UTM Parameters

UTM parameters (Urchin Tracking Module) are a powerful way to track how your infographic performs across different channels. By adding unique tags to the URLs within your infographic, you can see where your traffic is coming from and which campaigns are driving results.

iv. CRM Software

If your goal is lead generation, CRM software like HubSpot or Salesforce can help you track how many leads are converted through the infographic. These tools can also track the cost per lead and sales metrics, providing you with a detailed picture of ROI.

v. Heatmaps and User Behavior Tools

Heatmap tools like Hotjar or Crazy Egg allow you to track how users interact with your infographic. You can see which sections of the infographic attract the most attention, helping you understand what resonates most with your audience.

5. Analyzing Data and Calculating ROI

Once you’ve gathered the relevant data, it’s time to analyze it and calculate ROI. There are different ways to measure ROI, depending on your goals:

i. ROI Formula

A common formula for calculating ROI is:

$RO I = Cost of Infographic Gains from Infographic - Cost of Infographic \times 100$

For example, if you spend $500 on an infographic and it generates $2,000 in sales, the ROI would be:

$RO I = 5002000 - 500 \times 100 = 300%$

ii. Attribution Models

Consider using attribution models to understand which touchpoints contributed most to your business outcomes. Multi-touch attribution can give you insights into how the infographic fits into your broader marketing strategy.

iii. Qualitative Analysis

Beyond the numbers, qualitative analysis is also crucial. For instance, did the infographic spark meaningful conversations on social media? Did it result in positive feedback or media coverage? These intangible benefits can be hard to quantify but still important when assessing overall success.

6. Case Study: Measuring Infographic ROI

Let’s say a company, “XYZ Electronics,” publishes an infographic about the benefits of its new product line. They distribute it through their website, social media channels, and email newsletter. Their goals are:

Increase Website Traffic: Track how much website traffic the infographic generates.
Lead Generation: Collect email addresses for their upcoming product launch.
Social Engagement: Increase social shares and comments on Facebook and Instagram.

XYZ Electronics uses Google Analytics to track traffic, collects leads using an email sign-up form linked to the infographic, and uses Buffer to track social media engagement. After one month, they find:

Website traffic increased by 30%, with 15% of that being direct referrals from the infographic.
They collected 500 new leads, resulting in 100 sales worth $5,000.
The infographic was shared 1,000 times on social media, generating 200 comments.

Based on these metrics, XYZ Electronics calculates their ROI and finds it’s 600%, indicating a highly successful campaign.

Conclusion

Tracking the ROI of an infographic is essential for understanding its impact and justifying your investment. By defining clear goals, using the right metrics, leveraging powerful tools, and analyzing the data, you can measure the success of your infographics effectively. With a solid tracking system in place, infographics can become even more powerful marketing assets, driving traffic, generating leads, and increasing sales while maximizing your return on investment.