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Email & SMS Marketing ROI Calculator

Updated .

This calculator measures what your list is worth per send, per subscriber, and per dollar spent — in gross profit built up from sends, delivery, clicks, and conversion, rather than the inflated attributed revenue email platforms report. Revenue per recipient is the number to track over time.

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    Send me my email ROI

    We'll email the full model, including revenue per recipient for benchmarking future sends.

    How this is calculated

    Email ROI is usually quoted using platform-attributed revenue, which credits the channel for any order placed within an attribution window after an open or click. That window typically catches customers who were going to buy regardless, which is how the channel ends up with implausibly high reported returns.

    This model builds up from mechanics instead: sends, delivery, clicks, conversion. It still depends on your inputs being honest, but it makes each assumption visible rather than accepting a single attributed number.

    Revenue per recipient is the metric worth tracking over time. Unlike open and click rates, it cannot be flattered by sending more often to a shrinking engaged segment, and it exposes the trade-off between frequency and list health directly.

    Delivered = subscribers × campaigns × delivery rate Orders = delivered × click rate × conversion rate Gross profit= orders × AOV × gross margin % Cost = platform fee + (messages sent × cost per send) Return on spend = gross profit ÷ cost Revenue per recipient = revenue ÷ delivered

    Questions merchants ask

    Should I use attributed revenue from my email platform?

    Not for this calculation. Attribution windows credit orders that would have happened anyway, and the effect is largest for your most engaged customers. Build up from click and conversion rates instead, or run a holdout group to measure incremental revenue directly.

    How do I measure incremental email revenue?

    Hold out a random slice of your list from a campaign and compare revenue per person against the group that received it. The gap is the real incremental effect — usually a good deal smaller than attributed revenue, and far more useful for budgeting.

    Does sending more often increase revenue?

    Up to a point, then unsubscribes and deliverability damage outweigh the gain. Watch revenue per recipient rather than total revenue: if total revenue rises while revenue per recipient falls, you are burning list health to hit a monthly number.

    Why is SMS ROI lower than email ROI?

    Because SMS carries a real per-message cost while email is effectively free to send. SMS can still be worth it on conversion rate alone, but the cost per send input matters enormously — set it accurately rather than leaving it at zero.

    Estimates only. Enter your own processing rates and costs — nothing here is pulled from a platform price list, so it stays accurate as fees change.