Every campaign report shows revenue; very few show whether the campaign actually made money. This marketing ROI calculator starts from the standard formula — ROI = (revenue − spend) ÷ spend, expressed as a percentage — and then goes one step further than most: tick the product-cost box and it also computes a true ROI that subtracts what the products you sold actually cost you. The first number tells you how hard your ads worked; the second tells you whether the business kept anything.
The formula and what counts as “spend”
ROI = (revenue − spend) ÷ spend × 100. The formula is trivially simple; the fights are all about the inputs. Spend should be the full cost of the campaign: media, the tools and fees attributable to it, and agency or freelancer charges if you use them — but use the same definition every month, or your month-to-month comparisons are fiction. Revenue should be the revenue your analytics attributes to the campaign, ideally on the same attribution window each time. Switching between a platform’s 7-day click window and your analytics’ last-click model mid-quarter manufactures ROI changes that never happened in the market.
Worked example — and why the second number matters
A campaign spends 200 and returns 1,000 of revenue. Headline ROI = (1,000 − 200) ÷ 200 = 400%, profit 800. Now add the cost of the goods sold to produce that revenue — say 500. True profit = 1,000 − 500 − 200 = 300, and true ROI = 300 ÷ 200 = 150%. Both are “correct”; they answer different questions. The 400% compares the campaign with your other campaigns. The 150% compares the campaign with not running it — and it is the one that must stay positive when you scale, because product costs scale right alongside the ads. A campaign can post a wonderful headline ROI and still lose money on every order if the margin was never in the revenue to begin with.
ROI is not ROAS
ROAS divides revenue by ad spend and stops there: 1,000 ÷ 200 = 5×. It measures media efficiency. ROI subtracts the spend first and, in its true form, the product costs too. Confusing them is how a “5× ROAS” campaign gets celebrated in the same month the store’s bank balance falls. Use ROAS to compare creatives and audiences, ROI to decide budgets, and true ROI to decide whether the product itself can afford paid traffic at its current price and margin.
Marketing ROI — frequently asked questions
What is a good marketing ROI? There is no universal benchmark: the honest test is your own floor. If your true ROI stays above 0% after all costs, the campaign pays for itself; how far above it must be depends on the cash and overhead the revenue also has to carry. Compare campaigns against each other, not against an internet average.
Should salaries be in the spend? If a person’s time is dedicated to the campaign, including a fair share makes the ROI honest for planning; for judging the media alone, exclude it. Either way, keep the rule constant and write it down.
Why is my platform ROI higher than this calculator’s? Platforms grade their own homework: they claim conversions other channels also claim, on generous windows. Feed this calculator the revenue figure you trust — ideally from your store or analytics, deduplicated — and let the platforms compete on that number.
How often should I calculate it? Per campaign cycle, on closed data: wait for the attribution window and for refunds to settle, or you will scale campaigns whose revenue later walks back.
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Versión en español: Calculadora de ROI para Campañas de Marketing — ROI, ROAS y CPA al Instante · ROAS Calculator · CPC Calculator.
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