Free toolPostWyse

Marketing ROI Calculator

Enter spend, revenue, margin, and conversions. Get true (margin-adjusted) marketing ROI, ROAS, cost per acquisition, and net profit, and a plain-English verdict on whether to scale or fix the channel.

Inputs

Marketing spend

USD

Revenue generated

USD

Gross margin

Conversions / new customers

True ROI uses gross profit, not raw revenue. ROAS below uses top-line revenue, the way ad platforms report it.

Marketing ROI

+215%

Strong. You more than double margin-adjusted spend.

ROAS

4.50x

revenue per $1 spent

Net profit

$21,500

after spend & COGS

Cost per acquisition

$111

Revenue / conversion

$500

ROAS lies, ROI tells the truth

The most expensive mistake in performance marketing is optimizing to ROAS while ignoring margin. A 4x ROAS feels great until you remember you keep 30 cents on the dollar, at which point that “winning ” channel is barely above water. ROI folds margin and the spend itself back in, so the number you read is real profit.

Pair this with the CAC & LTV calculator: ROI tells you whether a campaign paid off this month; LTV:CAC tells you whether the customers it acquired pay off over their lifetime. You need both to decide where the next dollar goes.

How to read your result

Negative ROI: losing money after margin. Cut or fix before scaling.
0–100%: profitable but thin, fragile to any rise in acquisition cost.
100%+: healthy. 300%+ is a compounding engine worth more budget.

Want this on autopilot

PostWyse tracks spend and revenue per channel, drafts the content, and tells you which campaign to scale and which to cut, ROI math running in the background.

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Frequently asked

What is the marketing ROI formula?

Marketing ROI = (gross profit from marketing − marketing spend) ÷ marketing spend, expressed as a percentage. The key is using gross profit, not revenue, a 5x ROAS at 20% margin can actually lose money once you subtract cost of goods and the spend itself.

What's the difference between ROI and ROAS?

ROAS (return on ad spend) is revenue ÷ spend, a top-line ratio ad platforms report. ROI subtracts costs and margin to show real profit. ROAS tells you the channel is working; ROI tells you whether you're actually making money. This tool shows both.

What is a good marketing ROI?

A common benchmark is 5:1 revenue-to-spend (≈400% ROI at healthy margins), with 2:1 often the break-even floor once COGS and overhead are counted. The right target depends on margin: high-margin software can thrive at lower ROAS than a low-margin physical product.

How do I improve marketing ROI?

Three levers: lower acquisition cost (better targeting, more organic and owned channels), lift conversion rate (offer, landing page, follow-up), or raise average order value and retention so each acquired customer is worth more. Fixing conversion usually returns the fastest.