Free tool
Marketing Efficiency Ratio (MER) Calculator
See how total revenue compares with your marketing spend.
Enter your whole-business net revenue and marketing costs for the same dates. This MER calculator divides revenue by spend and shows how much of your revenue went toward the marketing costs you included.
You can use paid ad spend alone or add costs such as agency fees, creative and marketing payroll. Keep the same definition when comparing periods. MER includes returning customers and non-paid sales, so it does not show how much revenue your ads caused or how much profit you made.
Whole-business revenue · Your chosen marketing costs · Matching dates
Your reporting period
Use the same dates and currency for revenue and every marketing cost you include.
Replace these examples with your own numbers. Results update as you type. Your entries stay on this page until you copy them.
Need help finding your figures in Shopify?
Ask Sidekick for whole-business net revenue for your chosen dates. Check sales channels, discounts and refunds. Use ad accounts, invoices and accounting records for marketing costs that Shopify cannot show.
Paste the copied text into Shopify Sidekick.
What’s different about this calculator
Compare whole-business revenue with the marketing spending you choose to include.
| Basic calculation | What this adds |
|---|---|
| Revenue divided by marketing spend | Uses net revenue across the business, including sales not attributed to an ad |
| Advertising spend alone | Lets you include agency, creative and payroll in a consistent marketing-cost total |
| Revenue per unit of spending | Explains why this ratio does not show profit after all costs |
How this tool works
How to calculate MER
Divide net revenue across the whole business by the marketing spend you included for the same period. A result of 5× means the business recorded five times as much net revenue as that spend. Use revenue after discounts and refunds, excluding sales tax.
To see spend as a percentage of revenue, divide the same marketing spend by net revenue and multiply by 100. At 5× MER, spend is 20% of revenue. Zero spend makes MER undefined; zero revenue makes the spend percentage undefined.
Some teams call this blended ROAS. Before comparing figures, check whether the costs cover paid ads alone or a wider set of marketing expenses. A different cost total can change the result even when revenue stays the same.
MER = net revenue ÷ marketing spend. Spend share = marketing spend ÷ net revenue × 100.
Example: $100,000 revenue and $20,000 spend
$100,000 ÷ $20,000 = 5× MER. The reverse calculation is $20,000 ÷ $100,000 × 100 = 20% of revenue spent on marketing. Product costs, fulfillment, overhead and other costs still need to be deducted before judging profit.
Questions & answers
Understanding your result
What is marketing efficiency ratio?
Here, MER is whole-business net revenue divided by the marketing costs you include for the same dates. It is shown as a multiple, such as 5×. Write down which costs you included so you can make a fair comparison later.
What marketing costs should I include?
You can use paid ad spend alone or add costs such as agency fees, creative and marketing payroll. Add up the costs once, use the same reporting dates as revenue and keep that definition consistent. This calculator uses the one total you enter; it does not check which costs are in it.
Is MER the same as blended ROAS?
Teams often use blended ROAS for a similar whole-business revenue-to-spend ratio. Definitions vary, so check the revenue and cost totals before comparing. Campaign ROAS usually uses revenue attributed to an ad; MER uses revenue across the whole business, including returning customers and non-paid sales.
What is a good MER?
There is no single good MER for every business. Product margin, fulfillment, returns, overhead and the marketing costs you included all matter. Compare like-for-like periods and check the costs left out before judging whether your result supports a profitable business.
Why show marketing spend as a percentage of revenue?
It answers a different way of reading the same two numbers. At 4× MER, marketing spend is 25% of revenue. A zero revenue total makes this percentage undefined, even when MER itself is zero.
Does a higher MER mean I should spend more?
No. MER describes the period you entered. It does not show what the next advertising dollar will return. Before increasing spend, check customer acquisition costs, contribution after costs and what might change as the budget grows.