How it works
How the Marketing ROI Calculator works
Calculate campaign ROI and ROAS together, with gross margin and hidden costs in the maths — so a 3× ROAS that quietly loses money cannot slip past you.
Try Marketing ROI Calculator nowThe method
ROI = (revenue × margin − spend − other costs) ÷ (spend + other costs) × 100; ROAS = revenue ÷ spend. ROAS credits every rupee as profit, while ROI keeps only margin and charges all costs, so break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ margin — a "good" 3× ROAS at 25% margin can still be a loss.
Step by step
- 1
Enter the campaign spend and the revenue attributed to it.
- 2
Set your gross margin — the percentage of revenue you actually keep after delivering the product or service.
- 3
Add any other campaign costs: agency fees, tools, creative production.
- 4
Read the verdict, then compare the ROI and ROAS rows to see why they disagree.
- 5
Open “Show the maths” to check every step with your own numbers plugged in.
What it doesn't do
- Last-click credit: revenue attributed here gets full credit, so summing across a multi-touch journey overstates total ROI.
- No incrementality or LTV adjustment: some of this revenue would have happened anyway, and repeat purchases are not counted.
Frequently asked
What is a good marketing ROI?
Above 0% means the campaign is profitable after margin and costs; most teams aim for 100%+ — two rupees of gross profit back for every rupee spent. The often-quoted 5:1 revenue rule only holds near 20% margins, so always compute with your own margin instead of borrowing a benchmark.
What is the difference between ROI and ROAS?
ROAS is revenue ÷ spend and ignores what the revenue cost you to deliver. ROI applies your gross margin and subtracts every campaign cost, so it measures actual profit. A 3× ROAS at 25% margin is a −25% ROI — the same campaign, two opposite stories.
Should GST be included in the revenue figure?
No. GST is collected on behalf of the government and passed through, so it is not revenue you keep. Including it inflates both ROAS and ROI — at the 18% slab, by nearly a fifth. Use revenue net of GST, and keep spend net of GST too so both sides match.
Why does the calculator exclude customer lifetime value?
Because LTV is the easiest way to make a losing campaign look like a winner: multiply first-purchase revenue by an optimistic repeat rate and everything turns green. This tool measures what the campaign actually earned. If LTV genuinely matters in your business, model retention separately with real cohort data.
What gross margin should I use?
Gross margin = (revenue − direct cost of delivering it) ÷ revenue. For e-commerce that means after COGS, shipping and payment fees; for services, after delivery labour. If you only know your blended company margin, use that — it is far closer to the truth than the 100% that a plain ROAS number silently assumes.
Need this built into your business?
This tool is free because it's a small, solved problem. If what you actually need is bigger — Google Ads management, built and maintained for you — that's Scult's day job.
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