Marketing Campaign ROI Calculator
Marketing Campaign ROI Calculator
What was your total spend on advertising platforms?
Examples: Meta Ads, Google Ads, TikTok, etc.
How much did you spend on content creation or creative assets?
Examples: videos, images, copywriting, freelancers, production, etc.
Did you use any paid tools or software for this campaign?
Examples: email marketing tools, analytics tools, landing page builders, etc.
How much did you pay in agency or consultant fees?
If you worked with a third party to manage the campaign.
Were there any other costs related to this campaign?
Examples: giveaways, events, shipping, influencer payments, etc.
What was the total revenue generated directly from this campaign?
Based on sales tracked, UTM links, or codes used.
How many new customers did you acquire from this campaign?
This helps calculate your customer acquisition cost and provides insights into campaign effectiveness.
Did this campaign lead to any upsells or repeat purchases?
Include follow-up purchases that originated from this specific campaign.
Do you expect more revenue to come in over time from this campaign?
If yes, estimate how much more you think will come in over the next 3-6 months.
For every $1 spent, you earned $0 in return.
What is considered a "good" ROI in digital marketing?
There’s no universal number — a good ROI depends on your business model, margins, industry, and goals.
For e-commerce, an ROI (or ROAS) of 3x might be solid if your margins are healthy. For info products or SaaS with high LTV, even a 1.5x return can be excellent if customers stick around.
Meanwhile, in high-ticket services, a single sale might justify thousands in ad spend. Context matters more than the number itself.
Can the same ROI be good in one case and bad in another?
Absolutely. A 2x ROI might be amazing for one business and a disaster for another.
For example, if you're selling a $500 product with a 70% margin, spending $250 to earn $500 leaves you with a solid profit.
But if your margin is only 20%, a 2x ROI barely covers your costs. ROI should always be judged in relation to your margins and backend economics — not in isolation.
Why does a profitable campaign sometimes have a poor ROI?
It’s possible to generate sales and still have a poor ROI if your margins are thin or if you're not tracking total costs accurately.
For example, if your ad spend is profitable on the surface but ignores backend costs like fulfillment, returns, or support, your ROI might actually be negative.
Always factor in net profit, not just revenue, when calculating return on ad spend (ROAS). A 3x ROAS means little if your profit margin is 20%.
Why is ROAS not always the best KPI for long-term scaling?
ROAS is great for short-term tracking (we have a free tool if you want to calculate it), but it can be misleading when you’re acquiring customers who will buy again later.
In high-LTV businesses, your first sale may barely break even — and that’s fine. What matters is the overall value of that customer over time.
If you only chase high ROAS, you may miss out on scalable growth opportunities. Instead, balance ROAS with customer acquisition cost (CAC) and LTV. You can calculate your CAC here and your LTV here.
Can a campaign have a strong ROI but still be unscalable?
Yes — sometimes your best-performing campaigns only work on a small, warm audience. Once you try to scale, performance drops.
This often means the creative or offer is too niche or not broadly appealing. Strong ROI at small spend doesn’t always translate to high-volume success.
Before scaling, test your best campaigns on cold audiences to validate their broader potential.
What if your campaign ROI is break-even — is that a failure?
Not necessarily. A break-even ROI can be a win if you're acquiring high-LTV customers or growing your email list for future monetization.
For example, if you spend $100 to make $100, but gain 50 new customers who will each buy again, the long-term ROI is actually high.
This strategy works best when you have strong retention or upsell flows in place.
How do delays in attribution affect your perceived ROI?
When you use tools like Meta Business Suite, reporting isn’t always in real-time, and conversion windows (like 7-day click or view-through) can delay full ROI visibility.
If you pause or kill a campaign too soon based on early numbers, you might miss out on sales that come in later and boost your ROI.
Wait at least 3-5 days after making changes to evaluate true performance. Use tools like UTMs and post-purchase surveys to cross-check attribution.