Measure return on marketing investment (ROMI) the right way: from incremental revenue above your baseline, at your gross margin, against the full marketing cost. Compare channels side by side too.
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Revenue
$
Total sales tracked to the campaign or during it
$
Sales you would have made anyway; 0 if all revenue is attributed
%
(Price − cost of goods) ÷ price
Marketing cost
$
$
Creative, agency, tools, staff time
One per line; uses the same gross margin. Clear it to hide the table
Enter your values to see the result.
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How to use the Marketing ROI Calculator
Enter the campaign revenue and the baseline you would have earned without it.
Enter your gross margin so ROI is based on profit, not sales.
Add media spend and other costs such as creative, agency fees and tools.
Optionally list channels with their cost and attributed revenue.
Press Calculate marketing ROI to see ROMI, net profit and break-even revenue.
Example: a launch month brings in $48,000 when you would normally sell $18,000, so $30,000 is attributable. At a 55% margin that is $16,500 of gross profit. The campaign cost $7,500 in ads plus $2,500 in creative, $10,000 in total, so ROMI = ($16,500 − $10,000) ÷ $10,000 = 65%. It needed $18,182 of incremental sales to break even.
Revenue needed to break even
Gross margin
Incremental sales per $1 spent to break even
For 100% ROMI
20%
$5.00
$10.00
30%
$3.33
$6.67
40%
$2.50
$5.00
50%
$2.00
$4.00
60%
$1.67
$3.33
80%
$1.25
$2.50
Getting an honest number
Set the baseline first. Seasonal peaks can make any campaign look great; compare with the same period last year or a holdout group.
Watch double counting. Ad platforms each claim credit for the same sale. When channel totals add up to more than your real sales, scale them down to your actual incremental revenue.
Consider lifetime value. If new customers buy again, a campaign with low first-purchase ROMI can still be profitable over time.
Frequently asked questions
What is the marketing ROI (ROMI) formula?
ROMI = (incremental revenue × gross margin − marketing cost) ÷ marketing cost × 100. Using gross profit instead of revenue matters: a campaign that brings in $30,000 of extra sales at a 55% margin creates $16,500 of gross profit, so on a $10,000 cost the ROMI is 65%, not 200%.
What is attributable or incremental revenue?
It is the revenue the campaign caused, above what you would have sold anyway. Estimate the baseline from the same period last year, the weeks before the campaign, or a control group or region that did not see the campaign.
What is a good marketing ROI?
Any ROMI above 0% means the campaign paid for itself in gross profit. What counts as good depends on your other costs and goals; many businesses look for clearly positive ROMI on performance campaigns while accepting lower short-term returns on brand building.
What is the difference between ROMI and ROAS?
ROAS is revenue divided by ad spend and ignores product costs and non-media costs. ROMI uses gross profit and the full marketing cost, so it shows whether the campaign actually made money. A 3× ROAS can still be a loss at low margins.
What costs should I include?
Include everything spent to run the campaign: media, creative production, agency or freelancer fees, software, and the share of staff time spent on it. Leaving costs out makes ROI look better than it is.
Why is my ROMI negative when revenue went up?
Revenue can rise while ROMI is negative if the extra gross profit is smaller than the marketing cost. Check your margin: at 25% margin you need $4 of incremental sales for every $1 spent just to break even.
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