ROI Calculator
This skill helps you calculate and communicate the return on investment for influencer marketing campaigns using various methodologies appropriate for your goals and available data.
Cross-discipline (paid ads): this is the shared return-math engine for paid ads — paid-measurement-loop, attribution-reconciler, and budget-optimizer delegate ROAS/CPA/payback ratios here rather than recomputing them. Save paid runs under memory/ad/roi-calculator/.
Quick Start
Shortest invocation:
Calculate ROI for our influencer campaign: $25K spend, $72K revenue, 2.1M reach
Common scenario — compare methods before reporting:
What's the ROI of our campaign using direct revenue, EMV, and LTV-based methods?
Skill Contract
- Reads: campaign spend breakdown, results data (reach, impressions, engagements, clicks, conversions, revenue, new customers), AOV and repeat-rate data if LTV is in scope, any prior performance output from
performance-analyzer.
- Writes: ROI calculation file at
memory/influencer/roi-calculator/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>.md containing direct ROI/ROAS, EMV, cost-efficiency metrics, attribution-modeled revenue, LTV-based ROI, by-influencer ROI, and a summary report block.
- Promotes: durable headline numbers (final ROI %, ROAS, total investment, net profit, recommended attribution model) to
memory/hot-cache.md.
- Done when:
- At least one ROI methodology is computed with the inputs and formula shown.
- Each headline metric is stated against a benchmark with a pass/fail status.
- A bottom-line assessment (profitable / break-even / loss) and 1-3 recommendations are written.
- Primary next skill: report-generator
Handoff Summary
Emit the standard shape from skill-contract.md §Handoff Summary Format.
Data Sources
This family is Tier 1 — it works with no live integrations. Ask the user for spend and results data and compute everything from those inputs. Connectors below can pull the numbers automatically when available:
~~social platform analytics — reach, impressions, engagements, video views per platform for EMV and cost-per-metric math.
~~ecommerce / analytics — revenue, conversions, link clicks, and AOV for direct ROI and attribution.
~~CRM — new-customer counts, repeat-purchase rate, and lifetime value for LTV-based ROI.
~~influencer database — per-influencer fees and tier data for by-influencer ROI.
With zero integrations, supply the investment and results tables by hand and the skill still produces every calculation. See CONNECTORS.md for the free/keyless recipe per category.
Instructions
When a user requests ROI calculation, work the steps below. Each step has a fill-in template in references/roi-templates.md — link the step number to its block there.
Gather ROI inputs — campaign details, the investment (total spend) table, and the results-data table. (template)
Calculate direct ROI — Simple ROI = (Revenue − Investment) / Investment × 100; ROAS = Revenue / Investment. State profit and a Profitable/Break-even/Loss assessment. (template)
Calculate Earned Media Value (EMV) — impression-based (Impressions × CPM / 1000) and engagement-based (Engagements × CPE), then average. Flag EMV as directional, not absolute. (template)
Calculate cost-efficiency metrics — CPM, CPR, CPE, CPV, CPC, CPA, CAC, each against a benchmark; rate the campaign and compare CPA to other channels. (template)
Apply attribution modeling — run first-touch, last-touch, linear, time-decay, and position-based; recommend the model that fits the customer journey. (template)
Calculate customer lifetime value impact — LTV-Based ROI = (New Customers × Avg LTV − Investment) / Investment; project short- vs. long-term and compare customer quality to organic/paid. (template)
Calculate by-influencer ROI — per-influencer ROI/ROAS rank, investment efficiency, and ROI by tier (macro/micro/nano). (template)
Generate the ROI report summary — investment, returns, ROI by methodology, key metrics vs. benchmark, bottom line, and 1-3 recommendations. (template)
Roll up into the C³ Campaign Value Index (CVI)
This skill emits the ROI scope score of C³ and the CVI rollup. Score ROI on the 0–100 rubric in c3/roi-campaign-benchmark.md (Return · Orchestration · Impact, each on Pass/Partial/Fail → scaled to 0–100). This 0–100 ROI score is not the financial ROI % from steps 1–8 — feed the rubric score into the formula, never the percentage (R1 simply consumes your ROI%/ROAS as one of its inputs). Then combine it with the Creator and Content scope scores — from fit-scorer (ACE) and content-reviewer (ART) — as a geometric mean:
CVI = ( ACE_avg × ART_avg × ROI )^(1/3)
ACE_avg is the budget-weighted mean of the campaign's creator ACE scores; ART_avg is the simple mean of its content ART scores (per scoring-architecture §8). Keep the three scope scores beside the CVI — the index ranks and alerts, the three scores diagnose. If ACE or ART is unavailable, emit the ROI score and mark CVI pending (needs ACE/ART) rather than guessing. A blocked scope (e.g. an ART T1/T2 veto on the content, or an ACE A2/C1/E2 veto on the creator) caps the rollup — surface it, don't average it away.
Example
User: "Calculate ROI for our influencer campaign: $25K spend, $72K revenue, 2.1M reach"
Output:
# ROI Calculation Summary
## Investment & Returns
| Item | Value |
|------|-------|
| Total Investment | $25,000 |
| Direct Revenue | $72,000 |
| Total Reach | 2,100,000 |
## ROI Results
### Direct ROI
- **Profit**: $47,000
- **ROI**: 188%
- **ROAS**: 2.88:1
For every $1 spent, you generated $2.88 in revenue.
### Earned Media Value
- **EMV** (at $8 CPM): $16,800
- **EMV Multiple**: 0.67x
### Cost Efficiency
- **CPM**: $11.90 (Good)
- **Est. CPA**: ~$54 (if 460 conversions)
## Assessment: ✅ Strong Performance
This campaign outperformed the typical 2:1 ROAS benchmark for influencer marketing. Recommend increasing investment in similar campaigns.
Industry ROAS benchmarks (Beauty, Fashion, Food & Beverage, Tech, Health) live in references/roi-templates.md#industry-roi-benchmarks.
Reference Materials
Next Best Skill
Primary: report-generator — turn the ROI numbers into a stakeholder-ready report.
Alternates (same Track family):
- performance-analyzer — go back for deeper performance breakdowns if the ROI math exposed gaps.
- budget-optimizer — feed by-influencer and by-tier ROI into the next budget allocation.
Termination note: keep a visited-set of skills invoked this session. If the primary next skill was already run, stop and report the chain complete rather than re-invoking it. Stop after at most 3 hops in a single chain.
1---2name: roi-calculator-33description: Use when the user asks to "calculate influencer ROI", "prove campaign value", or "what was our ROAS"; produces direct ROI/ROAS, earned media value, attribution-modeled revenue, LTV-based ROI, and a stakeholder-ready summary. Not for building the full slide/written report — use report-generator.4license: Apache-2.05---6
7# ROI Calculator
8
9This skill helps you calculate and communicate the return on investment for influencer marketing campaigns using various methodologies appropriate for your goals and available data.
10
11> **Cross-discipline (paid ads):** this is the shared **return-math engine** for paid ads — [paid-measurement-loop](../../../ad/scale/paid-measurement-loop/SKILL.md), [attribution-reconciler](../../../ad/scale/attribution-reconciler/SKILL.md), and budget-optimizer delegate ROAS/CPA/payback ratios here rather than recomputing them. Save paid runs under `memory/ad/roi-calculator/`.
12
13## Quick Start
14
15Shortest invocation:
16
17```
18Calculate ROI for our influencer campaign: $25K spend, $72K revenue, 2.1M reach
19```
20
21Common scenario — compare methods before reporting:
22
23```
24What's the ROI of our campaign using direct revenue, EMV, and LTV-based methods?
25```
26
27## Skill Contract
28
29- **Reads**: campaign spend breakdown, results data (reach, impressions, engagements, clicks, conversions, revenue, new customers), AOV and repeat-rate data if LTV is in scope, any prior performance output from `performance-analyzer`.
30- **Writes**: ROI calculation file at `memory/influencer/roi-calculator/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>.md` containing direct ROI/ROAS, EMV, cost-efficiency metrics, attribution-modeled revenue, LTV-based ROI, by-influencer ROI, and a summary report block.
31- **Promotes**: durable headline numbers (final ROI %, ROAS, total investment, net profit, recommended attribution model) to `memory/hot-cache.md`.
32- **Done when**:
33 1. At least one ROI methodology is computed with the inputs and formula shown.
34 2. Each headline metric is stated against a benchmark with a pass/fail status.
35 3. A bottom-line assessment (profitable / break-even / loss) and 1-3 recommendations are written.
36- **Primary next skill**: [report-generator](../report-generator/SKILL.md)
37
38### Handoff Summary
39
40> Emit the standard shape from [skill-contract.md §Handoff Summary Format](../../../references/skill-contract.md).
41
42## Data Sources
43
44This family is Tier 1 — it works with no live integrations. Ask the user for spend and results data and compute everything from those inputs. Connectors below can pull the numbers automatically when available:
45
46- `~~social platform analytics` — reach, impressions, engagements, video views per platform for EMV and cost-per-metric math.
47- `~~ecommerce / analytics` — revenue, conversions, link clicks, and AOV for direct ROI and attribution.
48- `~~CRM` — new-customer counts, repeat-purchase rate, and lifetime value for LTV-based ROI.
49- `~~influencer database` — per-influencer fees and tier data for by-influencer ROI.
50
51With zero integrations, supply the investment and results tables by hand and the skill still produces every calculation. See [CONNECTORS.md](../../../CONNECTORS.md) for the free/keyless recipe per category.
52
53## Instructions
54
55When a user requests ROI calculation, work the steps below. Each step has a fill-in template in [references/roi-templates.md](references/roi-templates.md) — link the step number to its block there.
56
571. **Gather ROI inputs** — campaign details, the investment (total spend) table, and the results-data table. ([template](references/roi-templates.md#step-1--roi-calculation-inputs))
58
592. **Calculate direct ROI** — Simple ROI = (Revenue − Investment) / Investment × 100; ROAS = Revenue / Investment. State profit and a Profitable/Break-even/Loss assessment. ([template](references/roi-templates.md#step-2--direct-roi-calculation))
60
613. **Calculate Earned Media Value (EMV)** — impression-based (Impressions × CPM / 1000) and engagement-based (Engagements × CPE), then average. Flag EMV as directional, not absolute. ([template](references/roi-templates.md#step-3--earned-media-value-emv))
62
634. **Calculate cost-efficiency metrics** — CPM, CPR, CPE, CPV, CPC, CPA, CAC, each against a benchmark; rate the campaign and compare CPA to other channels. ([template](references/roi-templates.md#step-4--cost-efficiency-analysis))
64
655. **Apply attribution modeling** — run first-touch, last-touch, linear, time-decay, and position-based; recommend the model that fits the customer journey. ([template](references/roi-templates.md#step-5--attribution-analysis))
66
676. **Calculate customer lifetime value impact** — LTV-Based ROI = (New Customers × Avg LTV − Investment) / Investment; project short- vs. long-term and compare customer quality to organic/paid. ([template](references/roi-templates.md#step-6--lifetime-value-analysis))
68
697. **Calculate by-influencer ROI** — per-influencer ROI/ROAS rank, investment efficiency, and ROI by tier (macro/micro/nano). ([template](references/roi-templates.md#step-7--influencer-level-roi))
70
718. **Generate the ROI report summary** — investment, returns, ROI by methodology, key metrics vs. benchmark, bottom line, and 1-3 recommendations. ([template](references/roi-templates.md#step-8--roi-summary-report))
72
739. **Roll up into the C³ Campaign Value Index (CVI)**
74
75 This skill emits the **ROI** scope score of [C³](../../../references/c3-benchmark.md) and the **CVI** rollup. Score ROI on the **0–100 rubric** in [c3/roi-campaign-benchmark.md](../../../references/c3/roi-campaign-benchmark.md) (Return · Orchestration · Impact, each on Pass/Partial/Fail → scaled to 0–100). **This 0–100 ROI score is not the financial ROI % from steps 1–8** — feed the rubric score into the formula, never the percentage (R1 simply *consumes* your ROI%/ROAS as one of its inputs). Then combine it with the Creator and Content scope scores — from [fit-scorer](../../discover/fit-scorer/SKILL.md) (ACE) and [content-reviewer](../../activate/content-reviewer/SKILL.md) (ART) — as a geometric mean:
76
77 ```
78 CVI = ( ACE_avg × ART_avg × ROI )^(1/3)
79 ```
80
81 `ACE_avg` is the **budget-weighted** mean of the campaign's creator ACE scores; `ART_avg` is the simple mean of its content ART scores (per scoring-architecture §8). Keep the three scope scores beside the CVI — the index ranks and alerts, the three scores diagnose. If ACE or ART is unavailable, emit the ROI score and mark CVI **pending (needs ACE/ART)** rather than guessing. A blocked scope (e.g. an ART T1/T2 veto on the content, or an ACE A2/C1/E2 veto on the creator) caps the rollup — surface it, don't average it away.
82
83## Example
84
85**User**: "Calculate ROI for our influencer campaign: $25K spend, $72K revenue, 2.1M reach"
86
87**Output**:
88
89```markdown
90# ROI Calculation Summary
91
92## Investment & Returns
93
94| Item | Value |
95|------|-------|
96| Total Investment | $25,000 |
97| Direct Revenue | $72,000 |
98| Total Reach | 2,100,000 |
99
100## ROI Results
101
102### Direct ROI
103- **Profit**: $47,000
104- **ROI**: 188%
105- **ROAS**: 2.88:1
106
107For every $1 spent, you generated $2.88 in revenue.
108
109### Earned Media Value
110- **EMV** (at $8 CPM): $16,800
111- **EMV Multiple**: 0.67x
112
113### Cost Efficiency
114- **CPM**: $11.90 (Good)
115- **Est. CPA**: ~$54 (if 460 conversions)
116
117## Assessment: ✅ Strong Performance
118
119This campaign outperformed the typical 2:1 ROAS benchmark for influencer marketing. Recommend increasing investment in similar campaigns.
120```
121
122Industry ROAS benchmarks (Beauty, Fashion, Food & Beverage, Tech, Health) live in [references/roi-templates.md#industry-roi-benchmarks](references/roi-templates.md#industry-roi-benchmarks).
123
124## Reference Materials
125
126- [references/roi-templates.md](references/roi-templates.md) — fill-in templates for every Instructions step, the worked example, and industry ROAS benchmarks.
127- [measurement-protocol.md](../../../references/measurement-protocol.md) — read ROI/CVI deltas against a control over the readback window; do not over-claim attribution.
128- [skill-contract.md](../../../references/skill-contract.md) — shared contract and Handoff Summary format.
129- [state-model.md](../../../references/state-model.md) — memory tiers and save-path conventions.
130- [CONNECTORS.md](../../../CONNECTORS.md) — free/keyless data recipe per connector category.
131- C³ scoring: [c3-benchmark.md](../../../references/c3-benchmark.md) (CVI rollup formula) and [c3/roi-campaign-benchmark.md](../../../references/c3/roi-campaign-benchmark.md) — the ROI Campaign rubric this skill emits into the CVI.
132- [performance-analyzer](../performance-analyzer/SKILL.md) — supplies the results data this skill consumes.
133- [report-generator](../report-generator/SKILL.md) — wraps these numbers into a full report.
134- [budget-optimizer](../../plan/budget-optimizer/SKILL.md) — uses ROI output to reallocate spend.
135- [campaign-planner](../../plan/campaign-planner/SKILL.md) — sets the ROI targets these results are checked against.
136
137## Next Best Skill
138
139**Primary**: [report-generator](../report-generator/SKILL.md) — turn the ROI numbers into a stakeholder-ready report.
140
141**Alternates** (same Track family):
142
143- [performance-analyzer](../performance-analyzer/SKILL.md) — go back for deeper performance breakdowns if the ROI math exposed gaps.
144- [budget-optimizer](../../plan/budget-optimizer/SKILL.md) — feed by-influencer and by-tier ROI into the next budget allocation.
145
146Termination note: keep a visited-set of skills invoked this session. If the primary next skill was already run, stop and report the chain complete rather than re-invoking it. Stop after at most 3 hops in a single chain.