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: only with separate authorization, durable headline numbers with their attribution window, source, and uncertainty; a calculation request alone does not authorize hot-cache writes.
- Done when:
- At least one ROI methodology is computed with the inputs and formula shown.
- Each headline metric is stated against a declared, source-dated comparison target; no universal benchmark is invented.
- 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, and CAC. Compare only against a declared, source-dated target with a compatible market, window, and attribution basis; otherwise report the metric descriptively and mark the comparison pending. (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)
Produce the measured Return (R) evidence for the gate
The financial outputs from steps 1–8 are the campaign's measured Return (R) evidence for STAR: ROI/ROAS read against the declared target (R1) and the alternative-channel baseline (R3), CPE/CPM/CPA benchmarked on a normalized window (R2), KPI attainment versus the pre-registered target (R4), conversions attributed with a stated method and rigor (R5), and incremental impact separated from baseline where measurable (R6). Measured Return exists only at assessment_time: actual; a forecast read has no R1–R6. Label each figure Measured / User-provided / Calculated / Estimated.
Hand this Return evidence to the creator-content-auditor gate — it folds R into the full actual STAR run and computes the profile-weighted SQS. This skill does not run the scorer or emit the composite. Unverified conversions emit results-unverified: report R1/R2/R5 as low-confidence and make no attributable-return claims. These financial numbers are consumed as R evidence; they are not themselves an SQS.
For a multi-creator campaign, the gate scores each creator partnership separately; a budget-weighted mean of the per-partnership SQS values may summarize the campaign but never replaces the per-partnership diagnosis. This skill supplies the per-partnership Return evidence; it does not aggregate or roll up a composite.
Persist only with permission — save under memory/influencer/roi-calculator/ (or the paid path) only after authorization; request separate authorization for hot-cache promotion.
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** (directional scenario at a declared $8 CPM): $16,800
- **EMV Multiple**: 0.67x
### Cost Efficiency
- **CPM**: $11.90
- **CPA**: Unknown (conversion count was not supplied)
## Assessment: Profitable on the supplied direct-revenue basis
Direct revenue exceeds the supplied investment, but no source-dated peer target or incrementality evidence was provided. Do not infer benchmark outperformance or authorize a scale decision from this read alone; obtain verified conversions, attribution evidence, and the campaign owner's precommitted decision rule first.
The source-dated benchmark evidence template lives in references/roi-templates.md#benchmark-evidence-template.
Reference Materials
- references/roi-templates.md — fill-in templates for every Instructions step, the worked example, and benchmark evidence inputs.
- measurement-protocol.md — read ROI and Return (R) deltas against a control over the readback window; do not over-claim attribution.
- skill-contract.md — shared contract and Handoff Summary format.
- state-model.md — memory tiers and save-path conventions.
- CONNECTORS.md — free/keyless data recipe per connector category.
- STAR scoring: star-benchmark.md — the Return (R) dimension this skill's evidence feeds and the profile-weighted SQS the gate computes.
- performance-analyzer — supplies the results data this skill consumes.
- report-generator — wraps these numbers into a full report.
- budget-optimizer — uses ROI output to reallocate spend.
- campaign-planner — sets the ROI targets these results are checked against.
Next Best Skill
Primary: report-generator — turn the ROI numbers into a stakeholder-ready report.
Alternates (same Report 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-43description: 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**: only with separate authorization, durable headline numbers with their attribution window, source, and uncertainty; a calculation request alone does not authorize hot-cache writes.
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 declared, source-dated comparison target; no universal benchmark is invented.
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, and CAC. Compare only against a declared, source-dated target with a compatible market, window, and attribution basis; otherwise report the metric descriptively and mark the comparison pending. ([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. **Produce the measured Return (R) evidence for the gate**
74
75 The financial outputs from steps 1–8 are the campaign's **measured Return (R) evidence** for STAR: ROI/ROAS read against the declared target (`R1`) and the alternative-channel baseline (`R3`), CPE/CPM/CPA benchmarked on a normalized window (`R2`), KPI attainment versus the pre-registered target (`R4`), conversions attributed with a stated method and rigor (`R5`), and incremental impact separated from baseline where measurable (`R6`). Measured Return exists only at `assessment_time: actual`; a forecast read has no `R1`–`R6`. Label each figure Measured / User-provided / Calculated / Estimated.
76
77 Hand this Return evidence to the [creator-content-auditor](../../activate/creator-content-auditor/SKILL.md) gate — it folds R into the full actual STAR run and computes the profile-weighted **SQS**. This skill does not run the scorer or emit the composite. Unverified conversions emit `results-unverified`: report `R1`/`R2`/`R5` as low-confidence and make no attributable-return claims. These financial numbers are consumed as R evidence; they are not themselves an SQS.
78
79 For a multi-creator campaign, the gate scores each creator partnership separately; a budget-weighted mean of the per-partnership SQS values may summarize the campaign but never replaces the per-partnership diagnosis. This skill supplies the per-partnership Return evidence; it does not aggregate or roll up a composite.
80
8110. **Persist only with permission** — save under `memory/influencer/roi-calculator/` (or the paid path) only after authorization; request separate authorization for hot-cache promotion.
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** (directional scenario at a declared $8 CPM): $16,800
111- **EMV Multiple**: 0.67x
112
113### Cost Efficiency
114- **CPM**: $11.90
115- **CPA**: Unknown (conversion count was not supplied)
116
117## Assessment: Profitable on the supplied direct-revenue basis
118
119Direct revenue exceeds the supplied investment, but no source-dated peer target or incrementality evidence was provided. Do not infer benchmark outperformance or authorize a scale decision from this read alone; obtain verified conversions, attribution evidence, and the campaign owner's precommitted decision rule first.
120```
121
122The source-dated benchmark evidence template lives in [references/roi-templates.md#benchmark-evidence-template](references/roi-templates.md#benchmark-evidence-template).
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 benchmark evidence inputs.
127- [measurement-protocol.md](../../../references/measurement-protocol.md) — read ROI and Return (R) 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- STAR scoring: [star-benchmark.md](../../../references/star-benchmark.md) — the Return (R) dimension this skill's evidence feeds and the profile-weighted SQS the gate computes.
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](../../target/budget-optimizer/SKILL.md) — uses ROI output to reallocate spend.
135- [campaign-planner](../../target/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 Report family):
142
143- [performance-analyzer](../performance-analyzer/SKILL.md) — go back for deeper performance breakdowns if the ROI math exposed gaps.
144- [budget-optimizer](../../target/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.