{"id":71899,"date":"2023-07-18T20:19:59","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T20:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/glossary\/roi-return-on-investment\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T11:03:32","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T11:03:32","slug":"roi-return-on-investment","status":"publish","type":"glossary","link":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/roi-return-on-investment\/","title":{"rendered":"ROI (Return on Investment)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The term ROI is the acronym for Return On Investment<\/em>, known in Spanish as retorno de la inversi\u00f3n. ROI is a financial KPI<\/a> that tells us the return obtained from a project, investment, marketing campaign, etc.<\/p>\n\n

Put more simply, ROI tells us how much has been generated for every euro invested in, for example, an email marketing campaign<\/a>. The relationship between the money invested and the money generated by that investment.<\/p>\n\n

ROI stands for return on investment<\/em>. In Spanish it is called retorno de la inversi\u00f3n or rentabilidad de la inversi\u00f3n, although in practice almost everyone uses the English acronym. A positive ROI means the investment has made a profit. A negative one means money has been lost.<\/p>\n\n

How is ROI calculated or measured?<\/h2>\n\n

Calculating ROI is not complicated at all. Just use this simple formula:<\/p>\n\n

ROI = ((Ingresos - Gastos) \/ Gastos) x 100<\/code><\/p>\n\n

Let’s take an example: an Ads campaign costing \u20ac1,650 (total cost of the time invested, the cost of the Ads campaign, and payment to the graphic designer who creates the design and the copywriter<\/a> who writes the copy), which brought in \u20ac9,500 in sales.<\/p>\n\n

ROI = ((9.500 - 1.650) \/ 1.650) x 100 = 475,8 %<\/code><\/p>\n\n

So for every euro spent we have earned \u20ac4.76 net (and brought in \u20ac5.76). As a percentage, that is a 475.8% return on investment.<\/p>\n\n

Concept<\/th>Amount<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Investment (ads, design, copy and hours)<\/td>\u20ac1,650<\/td><\/tr>
Sales generated by the campaign<\/td>\u20ac9,500<\/td><\/tr>
Profit (sales \u2212 investment)<\/td>\u20ac7,850<\/td><\/tr>
ROI (profit \/ investment \u00d7 100)<\/td>475,8 %<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n

For every euro invested, \u20ac5.76 comes in and \u20ac4.76 is earned net. If the sales include the cost of the product, it is better to use the gross margin instead of sales. Otherwise, the ROI comes out inflated.<\/p>\n\n

\"How<\/figure>\n\n
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Measure what each campaign earns you<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tag the links in your emails for Google Analytics and check how many sales each send brings in. Get started for free with Mailrelay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Create a free account<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

Revenue<\/h3>\n\n

Revenue is understood as the money collected from the sales generated by the campaign.<\/p>\n\n

ROI can be calculated more precisely by area, for example by taking the money obtained in a campaign and counting only the sales generated by email marketing campaigns (only the sales that came through that channel, separated from the total).<\/p>\n\n

Costs<\/h3>\n\n

This refers to all the costs that had to be covered to make the campaign viable and carry it out.<\/p>\n\n

Here you need to be as precise as possible so that the ROI you get is as realistic as possible. To do so, take into account, proportionally, items such as staff costs (hours invested), the cost of running the ads on the chosen platform, website hosting, outsourced staff, etc.<\/p>\n\n

The importance of ROI<\/h2>\n\n

It is no secret that return on investment is a key metric for businesses to measure whether they are on the right track. Knowing your ROI is also very useful in several ways:<\/p>\n\n