In this age of information overload, end-buyers increasingly want more than assurances – they want proof, especially when evaluating the effectiveness of promo campaigns. Here, a marketing leader from a Counselor Top 40 distributor and an executive from a well-known supplier explain how to prove the ROI of promo products and give end-buyers peace of mind.

Distributor View

Andrea Stoll
Chief Marketing Officer, Counselor Top 40 Distributor Boundless (asi/143717)

Supplier View

Rustin Luedtke
VP of Strategic Development, BamBams (asi/38228)

Q: How important is it to give end-buyers proof that promo products are effective?

Andrea Stoll: It’s essential. Proving effectiveness builds credibility for our industry and helps unlock larger, more strategic budgets. Branded merchandise should be evaluated like any other media investment by measuring it against the business objective it was designed to achieve – whether that’s increasing brand awareness, improving employee engagement, driving event participation or generating qualified leads.

Rustin Luedtke: It really depends on the product category and the intended use. As an example, it’s hard to measure the ROI on an employee gift, but the branding and company recognition generated as the gift is viewed throughout local and national communities can yield huge dividends. When using ROI as part of the sales process, I find it important to have success stories to tell. Understanding the success and results that another entity had can help pinpoint a product and ultimately help close the sale. These examples are an important collaboration between suppliers and distributors.

Q: What’s your first response when someone says, “How do I know this will work?”

AS: Our first question is “What business outcome are you trying to achieve?” Every campaign should be designed around a measurable objective. As an agency partner, we use merchandise as a media channel to create tangible brand experiences that influence behavior, strengthen relationships and help organizations achieve their marketing, HR and sales goals.

RL: My first response would be a success story that I could share about how the product and campaign worked for another entity. Beyond that, I would dig into a few details on the overall campaign and desired outcome. From there, we could narrow down products that would have the highest probability of achieving the desired outcome.

Q: To prove ROI, what metrics should distributors track?

AS: The right metrics depend entirely on the client’s definition of success. A recruitment campaign might measure applicants and offer acceptance rates. An employee recognition program should track participation, engagement and retention. A trade show activation might focus on booth traffic, qualified leads, conversion rate and cost per lead, while a brand awareness campaign may measure impressions, social engagement and brand recall.

RL: It’s nearly impossible to point to only one or two metrics that should be tracked across all campaigns. For creating awareness, potential metrics could include site visits or social media views and shares. For fundraising, important measures include call or site volumes, conversion rates and total funds raised. Also worth noting: QR codes and NFC tags are making it quicker and easier to measure desired outcomes.

Q: What’s one simple, cost-effective way to measure campaign success?

AS: Define success before you order the merchandise. Every campaign should have a way to connect the product to a measurable business outcome, whether that’s a unique QR code, landing page, redemption offer, event registration, employee survey or post-campaign brand recall study. The bigger shift our industry needs is to move beyond ordering giveaways and toward designing campaigns where merchandise functions as a measurable media channel.

RL: A very simple way to measure campaign success is to ask clients to rate their overall satisfaction with the campaign or product. Using a simple 1 to 10 scale is an easy method to judge the overall success and ROI before doing a deeper dive into the analytics.