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MER calculator

Marketing efficiency ratio (also called media efficiency ratio) is total revenue over total spend, the blended number platforms can't inflate. See what your whole account is really returning.

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MER
4.0×
Total revenue is 4× total marketing spend.

Runs in your browser. MER is deliberately blended: it uses total revenue and total spend, so it reflects the whole business rather than any one platform's self-reported numbers.

How MER is calculated

Marketing efficiency ratio is the simplest honest read on efficiency: everything you made over everything you spent to make it.

  1. Total your revenue. All revenue for the period, not just ad-attributed revenue.
  2. Total your marketing spend. Every marketing and ad dollar for that same period.
  3. Divide revenue by spend. MER = total revenue ÷ total marketing spend. $300,000 on $75,000 is a MER of 4.0.

Why MER beats platform ROAS

When a patient sees a Meta ad, a Google ad, and an email before subscribing, each platform can claim the same conversion, so summed platform ROAS over-counts revenue by 30-100%. MER can't be double-counted. Use it as your north star and platform ROAS only for in-channel optimization. See MER and ROAS in the glossary, or add margin with the POAS calculator.

FAQ

MER, also called media efficiency ratio, is total revenue divided by total marketing spend across every channel. Because it is blended, it cannot be inflated by multiple platforms each claiming the same conversion, unlike platform-reported ROAS.

It depends on margin and channel mix, but many DTC and health brands aim for a MER of 3-4+ (revenue three to four times total spend) to stay profitable after cost of goods and overhead. Track the trend more than the absolute number.

Use MER to judge whole-business efficiency (what the bank account shows) and platform ROAS only as an in-channel optimization signal. When platform ROAS looks great but MER is flat, platforms are over-claiming shared conversions.

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