---
title: "How do I prove social media ROI if my client doesn't track sales?"
description: "Count the conversations social started that asked about buying or booking, ask the client each month which ones became customers and roughly what they were worth, and calculate value from their answers. Report the confirmed value and any estimate as separate numbers, next to what the retainer cost."
author: "Kaitlyn Bricker"
author_url: "https://www.inexra.com/about"
date: "2026-10-14"
updated: "2026-10-14"
canonical: "https://www.inexra.com/answers/prove-social-roi-without-revenue-data"
---

# How do I prove social media ROI if my client doesn't track sales?

Count the conversations social started that asked about buying or booking, ask the client each month which ones became customers and roughly what they were worth, and calculate value from their answers. Report the confirmed value and any estimate as separate numbers, next to what the retainer cost.

Most ROI advice assumes revenue data or website conversions. Small service businesses usually have neither, but they can always tell you which people became customers when shown a list of names.

A simple quarterly view:

- 63 people asked to book
- the client confirmed 15 became customers, at about $500 each: $7,500 confirmed
- 9 they weren't sure about, at the same close rate: about $1,250 estimated
- retainer for the quarter: $3,600

If the client won't confirm customers, use proxies in order of closeness to money: conversations asking to buy, booking or quote requests, tracked clicks to a booking page, calls. Say plainly that they're proxies.

The full method is in [How to Prove Social Media ROI When the Client Doesn’t Track Revenue](https://www.inexra.com/resources/prove-social-roi-without-revenue-tracking).