Ad ROI
calculator
Use this ad ROI calculator to estimate how many customers Google or Facebook ads can bring you and whether they'll pay for themselves. Your own numbers, instant result, no email.
Will the ads
pay off?
The starting values are only examples. Replace them with yours and the result updates right away.
- Revenue from ads
- 0
- Your margin from that
- 0
- Cost of ads and management
- 0
- Cost per customer acquired
- 0
- ROAS (revenue / budget)
- 0
How the ad ROI calculation works
The calculator follows the path money takes. Your monthly budget divided by the cost per click gives the number of visits. Visits multiplied by the conversion rate give enquiries. Enquiries multiplied by your close rate give customers. Customers multiplied by the profit per customer give what the ads earned you, and the difference between that and what you spent is your return.
A worked example
Say you spend $1,000 a month and pay $4 per click. That's 250 visits. If 6% of visitors call or send a form, you get 15 enquiries. Close a third of them and you have 5 customers. If each customer leaves you $400 of profit, the ads earned $2,000 on $1,000 of spend. These numbers are only an illustration; yours will differ, which is why the calculator exists.
Three numbers people get wrong
- Revenue instead of profit. A $2,000 job with a $300 margin can't carry a $500 cost per customer.
- Ignoring repeat business. If customers come back, use their lifetime value, not one invoice.
- Optimistic close rates. Count how many enquiries really turned into paid work last quarter.
For more on the metrics, read how to measure marketing ROI or ROAS explained. If you'd like a professional to run the campaign, see Google Ads management.
Questions about
the calculation
Where do I get my cost per click?
If you've run ads before, it's in your Google Ads or Meta account. If not, Google's Keyword Planner shows a rough bid range for your keywords and area. Treat it as a starting guess: real costs depend on your competition, your ads and your landing page.
What conversion rate should I assume?
Use your own data if you have it: enquiries divided by visits from ads. Without data, run the calculator with a cautious and an optimistic value. If the cautious case still pays off, the ads are worth testing; if only the optimistic one does, fix the website first.
Does the result include your fee?
Only if you add it. For a fair picture, include the management fee in your monthly cost: Google Ads management starts at $750 a month and Meta ads at $700, in Canadian dollars. The ad budget itself goes directly to Google or Meta.
The calculator says ads won't pay. Now what?
Look at which number breaks the math. A low close rate points to follow-up and CRM. A low conversion rate points to the website. A thin margin may mean ads suit your higher-value services only. Bring the numbers to a free call and we'll find the weak link.
Check the numbers
with me
30 minutes, free. Bring your calculator result and I'll tell you what I'd change first.