Term
ROI (Return on Investment)
Top-level profitability KPI: profit relative to the investment made. Goes beyond pure ad spend and includes all relevant cost components.
ROI (Return on Investment) — in more detail
ROI stands for “Return on Investment” — the ratio of profit to invested resources. Formula: (profit − investment) ÷ investment × 100. In marketing, “investment” should ideally cover everything: media cost, agency retainer, tools, internal headcount time, licenses. That’s exactly what separates ROI from ROAS: ROAS is a pure ad-efficiency KPI on a revenue basis, ROI is a business KPI on a profit basis. For day-to-day bidding, ROAS/POAS is more manageable; ROI belongs in reports to leadership and CFO, not in the campaign setup.
Example / In practice
A quarter: €100,000 media + €20,000 agency + €5,000 tools = €125,000 investment. Result: €600,000 revenue × 35 % margin = €210,000 gross profit. ROI = (210,000 − 125,000) ÷ 125,000 = 68 %. Operational steering ran on tROAS 5 — leadership sees the ROI.
Distinction from similar terms
ROAS = revenue vs. ad spend only; POAS = margin vs. ad spend; ROI = profit vs. total investment. Payback Period measures time to break-even, not a ratio. MER is the operational cross-channel variant.
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Marketing
Corporate discipline that creates demand, wins customers and maintains relationships — from brand building and content through paid channels and SEO to CRM and loyalty.
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