Escape Room Revenue Percentage by Channel

In the last 30 days we have spent $35,600 on behalf of our escape room clients resulting in 2,040 bookings for a total of $189,000 in revenue.

We generate a lot of money for our escape rooms using Google Ads but we are always clear with our clients that Google Ads only account for 10% to 25% of their entire revenue.

The next question we get is - where does the rest of our client's revenue come from? 

In this post we're going to address this. We do want to remind you that these are benchmarks based on what we typically see.

We have some escape rooms in tourist locations or locations with extreme seasonality that do vary.

Google Ads - 10-25% of Revenue

In this digital age Google ads has become one of the most powerful tools for businesses to reach potential customers actively searching for escape room experiences. If used correctly Google ads can make up 10-25% of your business revenue.

By strategically placing ads in Google's search results, you can drive significant targeted traffic (people looking for escape rooms) to your website and increase your bookings for your business.

Connor recently made a video showcasing some incredible ads we use for escape rooms that generate this kind of return:

Meta (Facebook / Instagram) ads - ~10% of Revenue

The Meta Suite, which in our experience accounts for 10% of an escape room owner's traffic, is an invaluable tool in capturing escape room bookings.

Our strategy is two fold. We run a conversion campaign urging a targeted but colder audience to book now. This yields roughly a 5-10x return on ad spend.

The second campaign we run is a remarketing campaign showing a strong call to action to people who visited the escape room website but did not checkout.

Remarketing can consistently go above 10x ROAS and is one of our favorite campaigns.

Overall we set expectations for social media ads at roughly 10% of an escape room's revenue.

Yelp - 5% of Revenue

Yelp is a trusted online platform for reviews and recommendations which in turn plays a vital role in attracting new customers to your escape room business.

Well-executed Yelp pages, while only accounting for 5% of total traffic, have a large impact on your reputation and can lead to an increase in foot traffic.

Taking the time to engage and respond to reviews (both positive and negative) will help your escape room harness the power of this influential platform.

Direct - 30-40% of Revenue

Direct, which consists of bookings made through word of mouth/offline marketing or people directly typing in your website address in the URL bar of their web browser, is a substantial source of income making up 30-40% of escape room revenue.

A large part of this revenue stream is returning customers who have experienced your escape room before and loved it, or those referred by satisfied friends and family members.

In our experience dialing in your online booking systems and using loyalty programs with attractive promotions can really lead to more consistent returns for your escape room business.

Organic Search - 30-40%:

Having a well-optimized website and a strong presence in organic search results through the use of relevant keywords is crucial for attracting potential clients.

Local SEO, which is what an escape room should aim for, is a little bit different than your typical SEO endeavor though.

There are only so many escape rooms in a person's geographic region, so making sure the escape room's home page is configured properly is the majority of what needs to be done.

Traffic from organic search ends up being 30-40% of an escape room's revenue when all is configured properly.

Conclusion

Proper benchmarking and understanding the sources of escape room revenue is vital for a thriving escape room business.

By strategically understanding your revenue channels like Google Ads, Yelp, Direct, Organic Search, and Social Media Ads, you can maximize your bookings and create memorable experiences for your customers while sustaining long-term success in the competitive escape room industry.

If you feel like these numbers could be different for your situation or if you want help diagnosing your numbers over your competitors, feel free to reach out and shoot us a message!