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Campaign ROI calculator

Enter what your campaign costs and how many people you expect, and see the cost per lead, the ROI and the break-even point. Free, no sign-up, and every formula is shown.

Costs (€)

Pre-filled with Scratcher Professional: €699 per month excl. VAT. Change it to match your plan and how long the campaign runs.

For example design, agency hours or shipping of prizes.

Reach

Example value. Replace it with the number of visitors you expect for your campaign.

Example value, not a benchmark. Replace it with the rate from your own past campaigns.

Value of a sign-up (optional)

Result

Total cost
–
Sign-ups
–
Cost per sign-up
–
Revenue
–
ROI
–
Break-even
–

How it is calculated

  • Total cost = software + prizes + promotion and media + other costs
  • Sign-ups = visitors × sign-up rate, rounded to whole people
  • Cost per sign-up = total cost ÷ sign-ups
  • Value per sign-up = value per new subscriber, or average order value × share of sign-ups who buy
  • Revenue = sign-ups × value per sign-up
  • ROI = (revenue − total cost) ÷ total cost × 100
  • Break-even = total cost ÷ value per sign-up, rounded up

The calculator runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent to us. The pre-filled visitors and sign-up rate only show how the calculator works. They are not averages or promises, so use your own numbers. For a stricter ROI, enter your profit per order instead of the order value.

How to calculate campaign ROI

Return on investment compares what a campaign brings in with what it costs. The formula is simple: take the revenue, subtract the total cost, divide by the total cost and multiply by 100. A campaign that costs €2,000 and brings in €5,000 has an ROI of 150%. At 0% you have exactly covered your costs.

The hard part is not the formula but the inputs. Two numbers matter most:

  1. The total cost. Count everything the campaign needs: the software, the prizes, paid promotion and the hours spent by your team or agency. A campaign that looks cheap often has costs hidden in other budgets.
  2. The value of a sign-up. A new subscriber is worth something even before they buy. Work it out from your own data, for example the revenue your average newsletter subscriber brings in over a year, or the average order value multiplied by the share of sign-ups who go on to buy.

Our guide on gamification ROI goes through both in more detail and shows how to present the result to your management.

Cost per sign-up and break-even

If you don't know the value of a sign-up yet, start with the cost per sign-up (often called cost per lead): the total cost divided by the number of sign-ups. It lets you compare a campaign with other ways of getting new subscribers, such as paid social ads or lead forms.

The break-even point turns the question around. Instead of asking what the campaign will earn, it tells you how many sign-ups you need before it pays for itself. If that number looks realistic for your audience and channels, the campaign is worth testing. If it is far above anything you have reached before, change the costs or the plan.

Use your own numbers

Sign-up rates vary a lot with the audience, the prize, the format and where the campaign is promoted. That is why the rate in the calculator is only an example. Use the rate from your own earlier campaigns or a cautious estimate, and try a low and a high scenario to see how sensitive the result is. Track the real numbers while the campaign runs: our list of gamification marketing KPIs shows what to measure.

What goes into the software cost

The calculator is pre-filled with one month of Scratcher Professional, €699 excl. VAT. See all plans on our pricing page. If your campaign runs for several months, multiply the monthly price. For a seasonal campaign like a digital advent calendar, read what a digital advent calendar costs for a full budget, including prizes and promotion.

The calculator gives an estimate based on the numbers you enter. It does not predict how a campaign will perform.

Questions

Questions about campaign ROI

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  • Yes. It is free to use as often as you like, and you don't need an account. Nothing you type is sent to us.

  • Use the rate from your own earlier campaigns if you have it. Rates depend on your audience, prize, format and channels, so the pre-filled value is only an example. Try a cautious and an optimistic rate to see the range.

  • Cost per lead tells you what each sign-up costs. ROI tells you whether the campaign earns more than it costs, so it needs a value per sign-up. Cost per lead is useful for comparing channels; ROI is useful for deciding whether a campaign pays off.

  • Look at your own data: the revenue an average subscriber brings in over a period, or the average order value multiplied by the share of subscribers who buy. Our guide to gamification ROI shows a few ways to estimate it.

  • That is the monthly price of Scratcher Professional excl. VAT. Change it to the plan and number of months you need, or to the cost of the tool you use. See all plans on the pricing page.