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ROI calculator: what an investment gave back.

Return on investment compares what you got out with what you put in, and it works for a campaign, a tool, a hire or an automation project. Enter the investment and the value it returned, and the calculator shows the ROI as a percentage and a multiple, and the net gain in dollars.

Your numbers

Everything it cost: fees, tools, ads, time.

Profit gained or cost saved thanks to it.

Your results

ROI140%

An ROI of 140%: the investment returned $7,000 more than it cost.

Net gain
$7,000
Return multiple
2.4x
Value returned divided by investment.

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Find the automation with the best ROI, for free

A 30-minute strategy call maps the tasks that cost your team the most, what each costs today and what an agent would save. You get a scope with a fixed price before anything is built.

See how the consulting works

What ROI measures

ROI (return on investment) is the gain from an investment minus its cost, divided by the cost. An ROI of 140% means you got back the investment plus 1.4 times more. Unlike ROAS, which only looks at revenue and ad spend, ROI uses profit and the full cost, so it answers the question that matters: was this worth doing?

What a good ROI looks like

Always read ROI with its time frame. Marketing campaigns are judged in weeks, automation projects in months, equipment in years. A project that pays for itself within a year and keeps returning after that is generally an easy decision; one that needs three years to return 40% is not, unless it is protecting something bigger.

Automation projects tend to score high on ROI because the cost is paid once and the saving repeats: an AI receptionist that runs at $200 to $500 a month instead of a $3,000 to $5,000 human agent returns its setup cost within months, which is why our phone assistant case study quotes 30 times lower cost.

Using ROI to decide what to automate first

  • Put the full cost in the investment: the project fee, the tools, and the hours your team spends on it.
  • Count the return as profit gained or cost saved, not revenue.
  • Compare candidates on ROI over the same period (twelve months is a fair default).
  • Start with the task that combines the highest ROI with the lowest risk; that is what our AI consulting does in the strategy call, for free.
  • Use the employee cost calculator to price the hours an agent could take over.

Questions, answered.

How do I calculate ROI?

Subtract the investment from the value it returned, divide by the investment and multiply by 100. A $5,000 project returning $12,000 has an ROI of 140%.

What is a good ROI?

It depends on the time frame and the risk. Positive within a year is usually good for marketing and automation; compare candidate projects over the same period rather than against a fixed number.

What is the difference between ROI and ROAS?

ROAS compares revenue with ad spend only. ROI compares profit (or savings) with the full cost. A campaign can have a 4x ROAS and a negative ROI if the margins are thin.

Can ROI be negative?

Yes. If the value returned is lower than the investment, the ROI is below zero, meaning the investment lost money.

How do I calculate the ROI of automation?

Count the hours the automation saves per month, multiply by the loaded hourly cost of the people doing the work, add any revenue it recovers (answered calls, faster follow-up), and compare with the project cost plus the running cost of the tools.

Is ROI the same as a return multiple?

Nearly: the multiple is value returned divided by investment (2.4x), the ROI is the gain divided by investment (140%). Multiple = ROI + 100%.

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