Enter full marketing cost, attributed revenue, and duration. Get ROI, net profit, and monthly return so you can scale, pause, or fix without treating platform ROAS as profit.
ROI is (revenue minus cost) divided by cost. Count media, creative, tools, and people time. A high ROI with thin contribution or long payback is still a no-scale decision.
ROAS asks what ads returned. ROI asks whether the whole campaign paid for itself after creative, tools, and people time. Vegan and ethical teams need the second number before they scale a “winning” ad account.
ROI is (revenue minus marketing cost) divided by marketing cost, shown as a percentage. Net profit is revenue minus that cost. Monthly return spreads profit across the campaign window. It is an investment read, not a platform efficiency score.
For a plant-based food launch, certified apparel drop, or ethical hospitality campaign, the cost that matters is the full brief: media, production, UGC, agency or founder hours, landing-page work, and tools. Leaving those out makes ROI look like ROAS with a percent sign.
This tool does not subtract COGS. A 180% ROI on revenue can still be a loss after certified ingredients, cold-chain, or returns. Use ROI to judge the campaign investment, then check contribution before you treat profit as cash.
Use ROI when you are reviewing a campaign, a quarter, or a channel mix that includes more than ads: email, content, PR, or a launch. Use the ROAS calculator when the question is paid-media efficiency on one platform.
Run it after the sales cycle can actually close. A 30-day vegan education journey attributed into a 14-day campaign window will look worse than the business is. If the window is short, treat the result as directional and pair it with LTV and payback.
If reported return looks strong but you suspect brand search and retargeting are claiming organic demand, pressure-test with the incrementality calculator before you raise budget.
ROAS vanity vs ROI. A 4:1 ROAS can still be a weak campaign ROI once you add creative, landing work, and founder time. Conversely, a modest ROAS on prospecting can be fine if LTV and contribution hold. Do not pick the metric that flatters the channel.
Incomplete cost. Agency retainers, sample kits, photography, and compliance review are campaign costs. Ethical brands that skip them in the model “prove” ROI they cannot repeat.
Revenue that is not contribution. Attributed Shopify revenue is not profit. Haircut for COGS and variable costs, then re-read ROI. Channel ROAS guidance for sustainable DTC is in the ROAS benchmarks guide.
fisagency helps vegan and ethical brands turn campaign ROI into a spend plan that still holds after contribution, not just after ads.
Talk with fisagency →Use these to interpret the number before you change budget.
Trust it when cost and attributed revenue cover the same window, and cost includes media plus the work that ran the campaign. If attribution is partial or the education cycle is longer than the campaign, treat the result as directional and pair it with LTV or break-even.
Include media, creative, tools, samples, and the people time that ran the work. Leaving out agency fees, UGC, or founder hours makes ROI look healthier than the vegan or ethical brand can repeat next quarter.
ROAS is attributed ad revenue divided by ad spend. ROI can include broader marketing cost and is shown as a percentage of that cost. Use ROAS to judge a paid channel. Use ROI for the fuller investment question: did this campaign earn its keep after production?
Yes. Platform ROAS ignores creative, landing work, retainers, and often COGS. A 5:1 Meta ROAS on a certified-materials SKU can still be a poor campaign ROI once you add production and haircut contribution. That is the vanity trap. Read ROAS as a pulse, ROI as the campaign verdict, contribution as the cash test.
A common planning floor is about 100% (2:1) on fully loaded cost, then check margin and payback. Stronger vegan and ethical brands often need more headroom because COGS and education stretch first-order profit. Benchmarks are directional, not a guarantee. See ROAS benchmarks for paid-channel context.
Confirm channel ROAS, blended CAC, conversion quality, and payback before you raise budget. Strong ROI with weak retention or long payback can still be a bad scale decision. If the win is mostly retargeting credit, run incrementality.