Glossary: Return on Investment (ROI)

Return on investment (ROI) measures the profit or value generated by a campaign, program, or investment relative to what it cost. In marketing and growth, it’s used to judge whether spend on ads, incentive campaigns, or points programs is paying off.

Examples

• A team calculates ROI on a liquidity mining campaign by comparing rewards paid out to the protocol revenue generated.

• A paid social campaign is paused after its ROI falls below a target threshold.

• An incentive campaign shows strong short-term ROI but weak long-term retention.

Related reading

Explore Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Revenue Attribution, Cost per Click (CPC), and LTV:CAC Ratio.

FAQs

How is ROI calculated?

ROI is typically calculated as (return minus cost) divided by cost, expressed as a percentage.

What counts as “return” for a DeFi campaign?

This can include protocol revenue, TVL growth, or the lifetime value of acquired users, depending on the goal.

Why can ROI be difficult to measure for crypto campaigns?

Campaign exposure and onchain outcomes may be recorded separately, while token prices, incentive costs, market conditions, and attribution windows change. Define return, costs, identity link, and time period; attribution does not prove causation.