diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index b39800c..d7d3bd3 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -76,5 +76,6 @@ importFrom(rlang,is_empty)
 importFrom(rlang,is_scalar_character)
 importFrom(rlang,quo_is_null)
 importFrom(tibble,as_tibble)
+importFrom(tibble,tibble)
 importFrom(tibble,tribble)
 importFrom(withr,defer)
diff --git a/R/perform.R b/R/perform.R
index 4d023fa..8ad3bd7 100644
--- a/R/perform.R
+++ b/R/perform.R
@@ -1,12 +1,13 @@
 #' Perform a query
 #'
 #' @export
+#' @importFrom tibble tibble
 #' @param query an s3 object of class `privilege` or `row_policy, required.
 #' if `con` is not supplied, we attempt to get the connection
 #' from `query`; if it is not found we try to use a value passed to `con`.
 #' @param con DBI connection object, optional, see `query`
-#' @return error from PostgreSQL or Redshift upon error, or an integer
-#' value
+#' @return error from PostgreSQL or Redshift upon error; upon success a single
+#' row tibble with column "rows_affected" (integer)
 rls_perform <- function(query, con = NULL) {
   assert_is(query, c("privilege", "row_policy"))
   con <- as_con(query %||% con)
@@ -15,5 +16,6 @@ rls_perform <- function(query, con = NULL) {
     privilege = translate_privilege(query, con),
     row_policy = translate_row_policy(query, con)
   )
-  dbExecute(con, sql)
+  res <- dbExecute(con, sql)
+  tibble(rows_affected = res)
 }
diff --git a/man/rls_perform.Rd b/man/rls_perform.Rd
index 48bf3b7..d02227d 100644
--- a/man/rls_perform.Rd
+++ b/man/rls_perform.Rd
@@ -12,8 +12,8 @@ rls_perform(query, con = NULL)
 \item{con}{DBI connection object, optional, see \code{query}}
 }
 \value{
-error from PostgreSQL or Redshift upon error, or an integer
-value
+error from PostgreSQL or Redshift upon error; upon success a single
+row tibble with column "rows_affected" (integer)
 }
 \description{
 Perform a query