Industry surveyInfluencer Strategists, 4 May 2026
30% of marketers say wrong influencer selection is the main reason campaigns fail, but only 6% blame targeting and 3% blame lack of consumer research
Performance measurement
Top reason influencer campaigns underperform
| Reason | Share (%) |
|---|---|
| Wrong influencer selection | 30% |
| Poor creative / content quality | 21% |
| Unclear campaign objectives | 21% |
| Poor measurement / inability to prove impact | 12% |
| Targeting the wrong consumer audience | 6% |
| Insufficient budget / media amplification | 6% |
| Lack of consumer research before campaign planning | 3% |
- Reader Note:
- Most self-diagnosis points to execution, not targeting.
- Evidence:
- Self-reported behaviour
- Vendor interest:
- Moderate — This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
- Sample:
- Survey of 41 senior influencer marketing practitioners; sample skewed toward agencies and consultants (63% combined), with minimal brand-side representation (2%).
Good for
A rough sense of size and direction, and deciding what to look at first.
Not for
- Exact numbers, or saying that one thing caused another.
- The source never says when this data was collected. It could be considerably older than the publication date suggests.
- This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
- The source says how much it looked at, but not how any of it was chosen.




