Marketing Efficiency Ratio (MER) Calculator

Why It Matters

Platform-reported ROAS can each look healthy in isolation while overstating results, since every platform tends to over-claim credit for the same sale. MER sidesteps that entirely by comparing total revenue to total spend, making it one of the most trusted numbers for judging overall marketing efficiency at the business level rather than the campaign level.

Example

A business generates $80,000 in revenue in a month and spends $16,000 across all marketing channels combined. MER is $80,000 divided by $16,000, which equals 5x.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Why use MER instead of adding up platform ROAS numbers?

  Individual platforms often claim overlapping credit for the same conversion, inflating the sum of their reported ROAS. MER avoids that by using actual total revenue against actual total spend.

• What's a healthy MER?

  It depends on gross margin and business model, similar to ROAS, so it's most useful compared against your own break-even threshold and historical trend rather than a generic benchmark.