For PartnerRe, a reinsurance company, we conducted quantitative phone surveys with key decision-makers at their potential client companies to identify how much impact different customer communications had on a variety of outcomes, including two behaviors: calling my client to request a sales call to discuss something they read or heard about or being a tipping point in choosing to sign a six-figure contract with my client. To calculate the ROI for any one of the channels, like the customer magazine or business events, we calculated the “gain” part of the ROI formula by multiplying several numbers for a particular channel; for example, for the customer magazine:
- The percentage from the survey of customers who said that something they read in the magazine during the last 12 months led them to call PartnerRe for a sales call to talk about a new project.
- The number of companies on their client list receiving the magazine.
- The percentage of sales calls that typically result in a signed contract.
- The average annual revenue from a signed contract.