I’ve been running influencer campaigns in both markets for about two years now, and I keep running into this weird pattern: a campaign that looks like it’s crushing it in Russia—great engagement, solid conversion rates—suddenly looks mediocre when I try to compare it directly to what we’re doing in the US.
I started thinking maybe it’s just that the metrics are fundamentally different between markets, but that feels like a cop-out. I think the real issue is that I’m not benchmarking correctly, or maybe I’m not even measuring the same things.
Like, in Russia, I tend to focus on engagement and brand mention velocity because that’s what moves the needle. In the US, everything gets filtered through last-click attribution and CAC. But here’s the thing—I know both approaches have merit, I just can’t figure out how to actually compare them side-by-side without feeling like I’m comparing apples to oranges.
I’ve tried normalizing the data by adjusting for audience size and platform mix, but the numbers still feel off. Part of me wonders if the issue is that I’m just not connected to enough other people who are doing cross-market campaigns. Like, if I could see real case studies from someone who’s actually solved this problem, I could stop reinventing the wheel.
How do other people handle this? Do you keep separate ROI frameworks for each market, or do you have a unified system that actually works across both?
This is actually a really common problem, and I think the issue is that most people conflate ‘different results’ with ‘broken measurement.’ They’re not the same thing.
Here’s what I’ve found: the fundamental difference isn’t the metrics themselves—it’s the conversion funnel architecture. In Russia, influencer campaigns often sit earlier in the funnel because brand awareness is still a major play. In the US market, especially for DTC brands, influencers are expected to drive immediate conversion.
The fix I use is to measure against adjusted benchmarks, not raw numbers. I break down each market’s influencer campaigns into their actual funnel position (awareness vs. consideration vs. conversion) and then benchmark against comparable campaigns in that same position. So I’m not comparing a Russian brand-awareness influencer play to a US conversion campaign. That’s the mistake.
For ROI specifically: calculate it as (incremental revenue attributable to influencer channel) / (total influencer spend). The ‘incremental’ part is key—use incrementality testing or media mix modeling if you have the budget. If not, at least carve out a control group.
I keep a shared benchmark sheet that tracks CPE (cost per engagement), CPL (cost per lead), and ROAS by market, campaign stage, and creator tier. That’s what lets me actually compare apples to apples.
What attribution model are you currently using across both markets?
One more thing I should add: the platforms themselves skew the data. TikTok engagement in Russia looks different than TikTok in the US—the algorithm is calibrated differently, audience behavior is different. Instagram and VK are almost incomparable because they serve different purposes in each market.
Before you worry about the ROI framework, make sure you’re isolating by platform first. Then by creator tier. Then by campaign objective. If you’re mixing all of that up, no normalization formula is going to save you.
I think the real issue here is that you’re trying to create a unified ROI model when what you probably need is a portfolio approach. Each market has different unit economics, different customer acquisition costs, different lifetime values. Influencer ROI has to map to those realities.
What we do at our DTC brand is this: we model the baseline CAC for each market using all our paid channels. Then we measure influencer ROI relative to that baseline. So if baseline CAC in Russia is $15 and an influencer campaign brings it down to $12, that’s a win. If baseline CAC in the US is $45 and influencers bring it to $38, that’s also a win—even though the absolute numbers look different.
The comparison that matters isn’t ‘did influencer campaign X outperform influencer campaign Y’—it’s ‘did influencers improve our overall CAC efficiency relative to paid.’ Once you frame it that way, the numbers actually talk to each other.
You’ll also want to measure brand lift separately. Use surveys or incrementality studies to track how much awareness and purchase intent moved. That won’t convert into a single ROI number, but it’ll give you context for why the conversion metrics might look different.
You know what I think is fascinating about this question? You’re running into it partly because you don’t have enough visibility into what other people are actually doing in these markets.
I’ve been connecting brands with influencers across Russia and the US for the last few years, and honestly, the biggest breakthrough comes when someone finds a peer who’s solved the problem first. Like, once you see a real case study—‘here’s what we measured, here’s what worked’—suddenly the whole thing becomes less abstract.
There are definitely people in this community who’ve built frameworks that work cross-market. I know at least two or three who track this rigorously. The conversation usually happens over direct partnerships, but I think it would be amazing to have a more open discussion about benchmarks.
Would it help if we organized a small roundtable discussion with people who are actively running campaigns in both markets? Might be a way to surface some proven patterns.
Here’s the pragmatic answer: stop trying to find one unified ROI number and instead focus on ‘was this campaign efficient relative to our CPA target in that market?’
At my agency, we manage campaigns across multiple regions, and the lesson we learned is simple: one ROI metric doesn’t work. You need market-specific targets.
For Russia, we target a 4:1 ROAS on influencer spend. For US, we target 3:1 ROAS because the market dynamics are different, costs are higher, and the baseline benchmarks are tighter. Both are ‘good ROI’—they’re just calibrated to market reality.
If your campaigns in both markets are hitting their respective targets, you’re doing fine. Stop comparing the raw numbers. That’s the mistake most people make.
The deeper question: are your US campaigns underperforming compared to similar US competitors, or are they underperforming compared to your Russian campaigns? Those are two totally different problems with two totally different solutions.