ROI vs ROAS
ROAS is revenue divided by ad spend; ROI is net profit divided by total cost. A campaign can show a healthy ROAS and a negative ROI once margin, tooling, and team cost are included. ROI is the number the business actually runs on.
Why it is hard, and worth it
True ROI needs costs and revenue the ad platform never sees, so it lives in your finance and CRM data, not the dashboard. That is exactly why it is trustworthy: it does not benefit from the platform's own attribution. Pair it with blended ROAS for a channel-agnostic read.
Common questions
What is the difference between ROI and ROAS?
ROAS measures revenue per dollar of ad spend; ROI measures profit relative to total cost. ROAS ignores margin and non-media costs, so a strong ROAS can still be a losing ROI.
How do you calculate marketing ROI?
Subtract the total cost from the gross profit it generated, then divide by the total cost. It requires margin and full cost data, not just ad spend and revenue.