Free campaign profitability calculator

Marketing ROI Calculator

Calculate marketing return on investment from attributed revenue, gross margin, direct spend, and the campaign costs that simple ROAS leaves out.

Runs locally in your browser. Results depend on the revenue attribution, margin, and cost assumptions you enter.

Marketing return

60.0%

Positive return

Net marketing return

$21,600

Attributed revenue

$96,000

ROAS

3.20×

Break-even revenue

$60,000

Total investment

$36,000

Cost per acquisition

$200

Formula used

($96,000 × 60% − $36,000) ÷ $36,000 × 100 = 60.0%

ROAS uses attributed revenue divided by direct marketing spend; ROI also applies margin and other costs.

Transparent methodology

Calculate profit before calling revenue a return

Marketing ROI measures the profit left after delivery costs and marketing investment. That makes it different from ROAS, which compares attributed revenue with direct ad or marketing spend.

Marketing ROI formula

(attributable gross profit − marketing investment) ÷ marketing investment × 100

Attribute revenue

Multiply reported revenue by the share your measurement model credits to the campaign.

Apply gross margin

Convert attributed revenue to attributable gross profit after product delivery or cost of goods sold.

Subtract full investment

Include direct marketing spend plus creative, tools, agency, event, discount, and relevant overhead costs.

Divide by investment

Divide net marketing return by total marketing investment and multiply by 100 for ROI percentage.

Read the result correctly

Marketing ROI, ROAS, and profit are not interchangeable

Use each metric for the decision it can actually support, and keep the same attribution window when comparing campaigns.

Metric	What it answers	What it includes
Marketing ROI	Was the campaign profitable after margin and costs?	Attribution, gross margin, direct spend, and other campaign costs.
ROAS	How much attributed revenue returned per direct spend unit?	Attributed revenue and direct marketing spend; excludes margin and other costs.
Net return	How much attributable profit remained?	Attributable gross profit minus total marketing investment.
Break-even revenue	How much attributed revenue recovers the investment?	Total investment divided by gross margin.
CPA	What did each acquired customer cost?	Total marketing investment divided by acquired customers.

Worked scenario

The same revenue can produce very different ROI

Both scenarios report $120,000 in revenue with 80% attributed to marketing and $36,000 in total campaign investment.

30% gross margin

Healthy ROAS, negative ROI

$96,000 attributed revenue creates $28,800 in attributable gross profit. After $36,000 of marketing investment, net return is −$7,200.

Marketing ROI: −20.0% · ROAS: 3.20×

60% gross margin

Margin changes the investment decision

$96,000 attributed revenue creates $57,600 in attributable gross profit. After $36,000 of marketing investment, net return is $21,600.

Marketing ROI: 60.0% · ROAS: 3.20×

Input checklist

Build an ROI model your team can audit

The formula is simple; the difficult work is defining the same revenue, cost, attribution, and time window for every comparison.

Use incremental revenue

Where possible, compare against a baseline or control instead of assigning every sale during the campaign to marketing.

Match the time window

Include revenue and costs from the same campaign and account for sales cycles that continue after spend stops.

Include delivery cost

Use gross margin or COGS so a high-revenue, low-margin campaign does not look more profitable than it is.

Capture hidden costs

Add creative production, software, agency, event, discount, and internal costs when they materially change the decision.

Document attribution

Record whether the revenue share comes from last-click, multi-touch, experiments, blended reporting, or an agreed estimate.

Compare like with like

Keep currency, margin basis, attribution method, and evaluation window consistent across campaigns.

Frequently asked questions