The affiliate glossary ↗AFFDude / Field notes
ROI
In plain English
What does ROI mean?
Return on investment: profit divided by cost, expressed as a percentage. 100% ROI means you doubled your money.
ROI is the number that decides whether a campaign scales. Revenue minus all costs (traffic, tools, creatives, proxies) divided by those costs. Media buyers often quote ROAS instead (revenue divided by ad spend), which ignores other costs and therefore looks better.
Use the ROI calculator to model a campaign before you fund it.