ROI
return on investmentROI (return on investment) tells you how much profit an investment produced relative to the money spent on it. In marketing, ROI is calculated by subtracting all costs from the return and dividing the difference by the costs. The result is usually given as a percentage.
Good to know
The difference between ROI and ROAS is the scope of costs: ROAS compares revenue against ad spend alone, ROI compares profit against all costs, including labour and production. That is why the same campaign can look excellent as a ROAS figure and loss-making as ROI. Report ROI to management, use ROAS for channel optimisation.
The time horizon decides the outcome of an ROI calculation. SEO and content look loss-making in the first months and then turn into the most profitable channels, because the return compounds without added cost.
FORMULA
How ROI is calculated
ROI is the difference between return and costs, divided by costs. Marketing ROI includes labour, content and tools on top of ad spend.
ROI = (return − costs) ÷ costs × 100
A positive ROI means profit: a 100 % ROI says the investment came back twice over.
EXAMPLE
Every euro invested came back and brought 1.40 € of profit on top.
PITFALLS
Two ways to misread ROI
Only the last click gets the credit
If return is always attributed to the final touch, awareness channels look loss-making even though they fill the funnel.
Labour costs drop out of the maths
Ad spend is easy to count; your own and your partner’s hours get forgotten. Without labour costs ROI is just ROAS in new clothes.
One campaign wears the whole function’s cloak
One campaign’s good ROI does not prove all marketing profitable, nor does a bad one sink it. Level and trend are computed from the whole.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Frequently asked questions
What is a good marketing ROI?+
Anything above zero is profitable. In growth stage a low or temporarily negative ROI is often accepted if customers buy again.
Why is marketing ROI hard to calculate?+
Attributing return to one channel is difficult: a customer usually sees several touchpoints before buying. That is why ROI is usually calculated for the whole, not for a single ad.
Which should I use, ROI or ROAS?+
Both, for different jobs: ROAS steers weekly ad optimisation, ROI tells management whether to invest more in marketing.
How do I calculate the ROI of brand marketing?+
Directly, you cannot do it reliably. Use intermediate metrics such as branded search volume and direct traffic, and measure sales change over a longer period.
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Maintained by the VSCY editorial team · Updated 6 Aug 2026 · Part of the marketing glossary (99 terms)
