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.

Try PostWyse

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.