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.

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 is ROI hard to measure in web3 marketing?

Attribution gaps between off-chain campaigns and onchain outcomes make it difficult to tie spend directly to results without a tool like Formo.