Entrepreneurship Finance Marketing Strategy

How Vendors Calculate ROI for Profitable Decision Making

Among the many hats you wear as a wedding business owner, CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) might be one of the heaviest. Marketing isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s how you attract the right couples, book consistently and grow sustainably.

That’s where ROI (return on investment) comes in. Knowing your ROI helps you understand which marketing efforts are actually driving leads and bookings, so you can spend smarter and market your business with confidence.

“Calculating your ROI can help you make better marketing decisions and find the best sources for reaching the right couples.”

Tom Chelednik, Director of Vendor Engagement

In this article, Tom Chelednik, Associate Director of Vendor Community, breaks down what ROI really means for wedding pros, how to calculate it, and the key metrics that make decision-making clearer (and less stressful).

What is ROI and Why is it Important for Wedding Vendors?

ROI means “return on investment” or simply how much you’re getting out from what you put in. 

Calculating ROI is important for wedding pros to make profitable decisions. For example, comparing ROI of lead sources can help wedding pros identify the best channels to reach the right couples. Tracking ROI can be beneficial to:

• Optimize your resources and justify your investments.
• Make more informed decisions based on predictable outcomes.
• Become more profitable and continuously improve your brand.

With 14 vendors hired per wedding on average, the opportunity for growth is through the roof. Knowing the numbers makes that growth far more accessible. 

From Gut Feelings to Smarter Decisions

When it comes to marketing and advertising, you’ll hear a lot about the 4 P’s—product, price, place and promotion. But once your marketing is in motion, the question becomes: what’s actually working for your business?

That’s where performance tracking comes in. Looking at your results helps you make decisions that drive real business outcomes—more profitable bookings, a stronger reputation, and a clearer edge over competitors.

As you plan for what’s next, the smartest place to start is looking back. Reviewing past performance gives you clarity on what’s working and what’s not, so future decisions aren’t based on gut instinct alone.

This is where facts and feelings work together. Your intuition matters—but pairing it with real performance data allows you to make confident, repeatable decisions that support long-term growth.

How to track ROI

Now that you understand why knowing your ROI is important to your business, let’s walk through how to calculate it. It’s not as hard as you may think. In fact, there’s only four main data points to track for a clear picture on ROI: 

1. Lead volume by lead source
2. Spend per lead source
3. Number of bookings by lead source
4. Booking revenue by lead source 
5. ROI per lead source

Lead Volume by Lead Source

How many leads are coming in from a particular channel, such as advertising on WeddingPro, social media, or email lists? 

You can easily find this on advertising platforms. For example, when you advertise with The Knot and WeddingWire, you can access this data from your dashboard. The WeddingPro Insights tools also offer a quick-and-easy snapshot, clearly stating info like the number of leads your Storefront has gotten over a specified time period. You can view numbers for TheKnot, WeddingWire, or both.

For social media inquiries and email lists, you can include a “how did you hear about us?” question on the submission form to track lead source. The more questions you ask, the better the data will be, the more accurate your ROI will show, and the smarter decisions you’ll make. 

Spend by Lead Source

How much are you spending on each of your marketing and advertising channels? (Most likely, you’re already tracking these amounts in your accounting and finance spreadsheets.)

Number of Bookings per Lead Source

How many confirmed bookings have you received from each channel?

Booking Revenue per Lead Source

How much are your bookings worth for each lead source?

Once you know the number of bookings, you can see how much each booking is worth. Total booking revenue per channel helps you understand the profit each channel generates. You can compare this to total advertising spend to see how effective your marketing efforts have been and identify which channels you could invest more in. Simply take the total revenue for a lead source in a set time period, then divide it by the number of leads you’ve generated, and you’ll get your revenue per lead source.

ROI per Lead Source

So what’s the gist? Ultimately, you can calculate your ROI percentage with the following formula.

Booking Revenue per Lead Source ÷ Spend by Lead Source x 100 = ROI %

Pro tip: If you want to get more into the nitty gritty, you can also calculate “lead to sales consultations.” WeddingPro’s Insights tool shows you how many leads and calls you get in a set time frame, making this super easy.

WeddingPro and your ROI 

When it comes to advertising, you don’t always have to invest more to get more. Sometimes, it’s as simple as finding small ways to improve your current efforts. 

As the most-trusted resources for wedding planning, The Knot and WeddingWire offer direct access to the largest audience of engaged couples anywhere (that’s more than 2.4 million couples signing up on these platforms each year) precisely when they’re looking to book wedding pros like you. 

To make sure you’re finding the right couples for you, here’s a quick checklist to ensure you’re getting the most out of WeddingPro:

• Keep your Storefront updated. Upload recent photos, update your bio, add pricing, and confirm contact information is accurate.
• Use your About section to tell your brand story. Don’t just leave it at your services. Wedding planning is an emotional business, so find a way to connect to couples right off the bat.
• Collect reviews from past couples. WeddingPro has more than 9 million reviews from couples. Make sure you have a collection of your own. This improves visibility and credibility (and make sure to respond to each one!). WeddingPro Insights gives you a quick snapshot of key data points, including how many reviews your couples have left for you.
• Consistency is everything. As couples look more closely at your business, make sure every touchpoint from your advertising listing to your website to your social media tells a consistent story, giving them more information to encourage them to book.

Becoming the CMO of your wedding business

So what’s next? Now that you understand the importance of measuring ROI and how to do it, it’s time to set yourself up for success. Try this checklist:

1. Add it to the cal.

Set quarterly check-ins for yourself to measure key metrics and add them to your calendar right away. You can automate this by setting one meeting and marking it as recurring on a certain day every 3 months (automation is a busy wedding pro’s friend).

2. Create a template.

Build out a simple template on a spreadsheet or customer relationship management tool, with spaces identified for each key metric that you want to calculate. This makes ongoing metric analysis quick and pain-free.

3. Set aside time for adjustment. 

The whole point of keeping tabs of ROI and related metrics is to understand where you’re thriving and where there’s room for improvement. 

As part of each meeting, note what’s working for you vs. what’s not. Readjust as necessary. Optimize resources so you’re allocating more time, money, and energy where they yield the highest returns.

Remember: Trust the numbers. Math gives you clear answers so you can make better choices.

If the math says you have a ton of leads but struggle to turn them into bookings, identify ways to better woo those leads, such as by responding within 3 hours (our data says couples are 2.2 times more likely to respond when you do this!).

4. Set goals for the future.

How do you know if the steps you’re taking to grow your business are working? Where do you want to be in 3, 6, or 12 months’ time? That’s where goal setting comes into play.

Knowing your ROI lets you accurately forecast where you’re headed. Set clear goals using the S.M.A.R.T. goals method (these are goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). 

Need help running your marketing? Get in touch to find out how WeddingPro can help with the power of The Knot and WeddingWire.

Photo: Love Stories by Smitty