Methodology

We show every formula so you can audit each number. The projection calculators model a 12-month return with a ramp-up where results take time to appear; the rest — ROI, break-even, ROAS and the SaaS metrics — are exact identities with no ramp and no scenarios. The same definitions power the on-page “How is this calculated?” panels, the PDF report, and these notes.

Conventions

  • Three scenarios. Scenario-sensitive variables are multiplied by 0.8 (Conservative), 1.0 (Expected) or 1.2 (Aggressive).
  • Ramp-up. For SEO, enterprise SEO and B2B ecommerce, ramp(m) = m ≤ lag ? 0 : min((m − lag) / rampMonths, 1) (defaults: 3-month lag, 9-month ramp to full speed; for B2B ecommerce the lag is the months until the portal goes live).
  • Payback is the first month cumulative net gain turns positive; over 36 months it shows “N/A (>36 mo)”. Division by zero shows “—”.
  • Rounding. Currency to whole units, percentages to one decimal, months rounded up.

ROI Calculator

  • ROI % = (returned − invested) / invested × 100
  • net profit = returned − invested
  • annualized ROI % = ((returned / invested) ^ (12 / months) − 1) × 100
  • return multiple = returned / invested
Approximations:
  • Annualized ROI assumes the gain compounds evenly across the period; for a single period equal to your inputs it equals the simple ROI.

CRM ROI Calculator

  • timeSavings = reps × hoursSaved/week × 4.33 × hourlyCost
  • revenueUplift = reps × deals/rep × (winUplift% × scenario) × dealSize × margin%
  • monthlyGain = timeSavings + revenueUplift
  • monthlyCost = reps × seatCost + adminCost
  • netGain(M) = (monthlyGain − monthlyCost) × M − implementation
  • ROI% = netGain(12) / (monthlyCost × 12 + implementation) × 100

Enterprise SEO ROI Calculator

  • monthlyCost = platformCost + teamCost
  • incrSessions(m) = sessions × uplift% × ramp(m) × scenario
  • incrRevenue(m) = incrSessions(m) × leadRate% × closeRate% × ACV × margin%
  • netGain(M) = Σ incrRevenue(1..M) − (monthlyCost × M + oneoff)
  • PPC-equivalent = incrSessions(full speed) × CPC

SEO ROI Calculator

  • ramp(m) = m ≤ lag ? 0 : min((m − lag) / rampMonths, 1)
  • incrRevenue(m) = traffic × (uplift% × ramp(m) × scenario) × convRate% × dealValue × margin%
  • netGain(M) = Σ incrRevenue(1..M) − monthlyCost × M
  • ROI% = netGain(12) / (monthlyCost × 12) × 100
  • payback = first month where cumulative net gain ≥ 0

Marketing ROI Calculator

  • totalSpend = spend + extraToolCost
  • customers = leads × leadToCustomer% × scenario
  • monthlyGain = customers × customerValue × margin%
  • ROI% = (monthlyGain − totalSpend) / totalSpend × 100
  • CAC = totalSpend / customers · break-even CAC = customerValue × margin%
Approximations:
  • Year-1 customer value is recognised in the acquisition month (see methodology).

Content Marketing ROI Calculator

  • monthlyCost = piecesPerMonth × costPerPiece + toolCost
  • liveSessions(m) = Σ_{k<m} piecesPerMonth × sessionsPerPiece × ramp(m−k) × scenario
  • revenue(m) = liveSessions(m) × leadRate% × closeRate% × customerValue × margin%
  • netGain(M) = Σ revenue(1..M) − Σ monthlyCost(1..M)
  • ROI% = netGain(12) / Σ monthlyCost(1..12) × 100
Approximations:
  • Each monthly cohort of content ramps independently from when it is published; sessions per piece is the mature (full-ramp) level. Year-1 customer value is credited as monthly gross margin (value × margin ÷ 12) in the months a customer is active within the 12-month window.

Marketing Automation ROI Calculator

  • timeSavings = marketers × hoursSaved/week × 4.33 × hourlyCost
  • incrCustomers = leads × leadToCustomer% × (convUplift% × scenario)
  • monthlyGain = timeSavings + incrCustomers × dealValue × margin%
  • netGain(M) = (monthlyGain − platformCost) × M − setup
  • ROI% = netGain(12) / (platformCost × 12 + setup) × 100

Customer Experience ROI Calculator

  • savedCustomers = activeCustomers × churn% × (churnReduction% × scenario)
  • retentionGain = savedCustomers × ARPU × retainedMonths × margin%
  • deflectionSavings = tickets × deflection% × costPerTicket
  • monthlyGain = retentionGain + deflectionSavings
  • ROI% = (monthlyGain − programCost) / programCost × 100
Approximations:
  • Each saved customer is credited their lifetime value (ARPU × retained months) once, in the month saved (see methodology).

Website ROI Calculator

  • added conversions/mo = visitors × currentConv% × (uplift% × scenario)
  • added margin/mo = added conversions × order value × grossMargin%
  • net gain(M) = (added margin − upkeep) × M − project cost
  • ROI% = net gain(12) / (project cost + upkeep × 12) × 100
  • payback = first month cumulative net gain ≥ 0
Approximations:
  • The conversion uplift is applied from month one (no ramp); for a phased rollout, lower the uplift or model it in stages.

Ecommerce ROI Calculator

  • kept revenue per order = order value × (1 − returns%)
  • contribution per order = kept revenue × grossMargin% − kept revenue × fees% − fulfilment per order
  • effect(M) = scenario × ramp(M, lag, rampMonths)
  • orders(M) = sessions × (1 + sessionUplift% × effect) × orderRate% × (1 + orderRateUplift% × effect)
  • incremental orders(M) = orders(M) − sessions × orderRate%
  • net(M) = incremental orders(M) × contribution per order − monthly investment
  • net gain(12) = Σ net(M) for M = 1..12 − one-off cost
  • ROI% = net gain(12) / (one-off cost + monthly investment × 12) × 100
  • break-even orders / month = monthly investment / contribution per order
Approximations:
  • The two uplifts compound: a 25% session lift on top of a 15% order-rate lift produces 44% more orders, not 40%. That is how a store actually behaves, but it also means the aggressive scenario moves faster than the inputs read.
  • Returns are modelled as a share of order value that never becomes revenue, and the goods are assumed not to be resold. If your returned stock goes back on the shelf, the model understates the contribution — lower the returns rate to compensate.
  • Customers are counted once, at the order that the investment produced. Repeat purchases, subscriptions and lifetime value are outside this model; for a retention-driven store, pair the result with the LTV and churn calculators rather than raising the uplift.

B2B Ecommerce ROI Calculator

  • share(M) = min(portal share × scenario, 100%) × ramp(M, go-live months, ramp months)
  • orders moved(M) = offline orders per year ÷ 12 × share(M)
  • handling cost per order = minutes ÷ 60 × hourly cost + error rate × cost per error
  • saving per order moved = offline handling cost − portal handling cost
  • rep value(M) = rep order hours/week × 4.33 × share(M) × to-selling% × rep hourly cost
  • call saving(M) = status calls/month × share(M) × cost per call
  • added gross profit(M) = orders moved(M) × order value × extra spend% × gross margin%
  • savings(M) = orders moved(M) × saving per order moved + rep value(M) + call saving(M)
  • running cost = subscription + maintenance (per year); one-off cost = implementation + integration
  • net(M) = savings(M) + added gross profit(M) − running cost ÷ 12
  • net benefit(N) = Σ net(M) for M = 1..N − one-off cost
  • ROI%(N) = net benefit(N) / (one-off cost + running cost × N ÷ 12) × 100, N = 12 and 36
  • payback = first month M in which net benefit(M) ≥ 0 (shown as N/A beyond 36 months)
  • cost savings per year = savings at full share × 12; added gross profit per year = added gross profit at full share × 12
  • cost per portal order = portal handling cost + running cost ÷ (orders per year × full share)
Approximations:
  • Order volume is held flat: the portal changes how orders arrive and what each one costs to handle, not how many there are. New business enters only through the optional extra-spend input, only its gross margin is counted, and it is treated as larger orders, so it adds no handling time.
  • Freed staff time is valued at loaded hourly cost. It turns into cash only if the hours are redeployed or a vacancy is not re-filled; if the same team stays on the order desk doing less, the hours are real but the saving is smaller than shown.
  • Rep time and order-status calls fall in step with the share of orders on the portal. Subscription and maintenance are charged from month 1, including the months before go-live, and one-off costs are counted up front — if your contract only bills from go-live, the result is understated by those months of fees.

HubSpot ROI Calculator

  • time savings/mo = users × hours saved/wk × 4.33 × hourly cost
  • extra customers/mo = leads × baseRate% × (uplift% × scenario)
  • revenue uplift/mo = extra customers × deal value × margin%
  • net gain(M) = (time savings + revenue uplift − subscription) × M − onboarding
  • ROI% = net gain(12) / (subscription × 12 + onboarding) × 100
Approximations:
  • Independent estimate — not affiliated with or endorsed by HubSpot. Defaults are illustrative; enter your own plan cost and metrics.

Break-Even Calculator

  • contribution margin per unit = price − variable cost
  • contribution margin ratio % = contribution margin / price × 100
  • break-even units = fixed costs / contribution margin per unit
  • break-even revenue = break-even units × price
  • units for target profit = (fixed costs + target profit) / contribution margin
  • margin of safety % = (expected units − break-even units) / expected units × 100
  • profit at expected volume = expected units × contribution margin − fixed costs
Approximations:
  • A single product (or one average unit) is assumed: one price and one variable cost. Fixed costs are treated as constant across the volume range, which holds inside a normal operating range but not across a step change such as a second production line.
  • If the contribution margin per unit is zero or negative, there is no break-even point at any volume and the unit figures show “—”.

Contribution Margin Calculator

  • variable cost per unit = material cost + other variable cost + net price × commission%
  • contribution margin per unit = net price − variable cost per unit
  • contribution margin ratio % = contribution margin per unit / net price × 100
  • total contribution margin (stage 1) = contribution margin per unit × units per month
  • contribution margin after product fixed costs (stage 2) = stage 1 − product-specific fixed costs
  • units to cover product fixed costs = product-specific fixed costs / contribution margin per unit
  • price floor = (material cost + other variable cost + product-specific fixed costs / units) / (1 − commission%)
Approximations:
  • This is a two-stage contribution margin, not a full-cost calculation. Company overhead — rent, administration, management, anything not caused by this one product — is deliberately excluded, so the stage-2 figure is what the product contributes towards overhead and profit, not the profit it makes.
  • One average unit is assumed: a single net price and a single variable cost. For a product family with different prices, run each variant separately rather than averaging, because the contribution margin ratio of a mix is not the average of its members’ ratios.
  • Sales commission is treated as a percentage of the net selling price. If yours is paid on the gross price or on the margin itself, convert it to a share of the net price before entering it.

ROAS Calculator

  • ROAS = revenue from ads / ad spend
  • break-even ROAS = 1 / gross margin%
  • POAS = (revenue × gross margin%) / ad spend
  • gross profit after ad spend & fees = revenue × gross margin% − ad spend − agency/tool fee
  • ACoS % = ad spend / revenue × 100
  • CPA = (ad spend + agency/tool fee) / conversions · AOV = revenue / conversions
  • ROAS incl. fees = revenue / (ad spend + agency/tool fee)
Approximations:
  • ROAS uses the revenue your reporting attributes to the ads. It ignores organic and repeat sales, returns and refunds, and anything the customer buys later — so it measures the campaign, not the customer.
  • Break-even ROAS is derived from gross margin, so it is the point where the campaign covers product cost plus ad cost. It does not cover overheads; to include them, lower the gross margin input or add them to the agency/tool fee.

CAC Calculator

  • blended CAC = (sales + marketing spend) / new customers
  • fully-loaded CAC = (spend + salaries + tools) / new customers
  • CAC payback = CAC / (ARPA × margin%)

Churn Rate Calculator

  • churned = start + new − end · customerChurn% = churned / start × 100
  • monthlyRate = 1 − (1 − periodRate)^(1/n) (n = 1/3/12)
  • annualized% = (1 − (1 − monthlyRate)^12) × 100
  • gross MRR churn% = (churned + downgrade) / startMRR × 100
  • net MRR churn% = (churned + downgrade − expansion) / startMRR × 100
  • avg lifetime = 1 / monthlyRate (months)

LTV & LTV:CAC Ratio Calculator

  • avg lifetime (months) = 1 / monthly churn%
  • LTV (gross-margin) = ARPA × gross margin% / monthly churn%
  • LTV (revenue) = ARPA / monthly churn%
  • LTV : CAC = LTV (gross-margin) / CAC
  • CAC payback = CAC / (ARPA × gross margin%) (months)
  • health band: ≈3:1 healthy · <1:1 loss-making · >5:1 possibly under-investing
Approximations:
  • LTV uses a constant monthly churn and constant ARPA — it does not model expansion revenue, cohort decay or a discount rate. It is the standard "1 / churn" lifetime approximation; treat it as a planning figure, not a DCF.
  • The margin-adjusted LTV (ARPA × margin ÷ churn) is the figure used for the LTV:CAC ratio, because CAC is a real cash cost and should be compared against gross-margin dollars, not gross revenue.

LTV:CAC Ratio Calculator

  • LTV : CAC = LTV / CAC
  • max CAC at target = LTV / target ratio
  • LTV needed at today’s CAC = CAC × target ratio
  • CAC headroom = max CAC at target − CAC
  • distance to target % = (LTV:CAC / target ratio − 1) × 100
  • gross profit per customer after CAC = LTV − CAC
  • CAC payback = CAC / (ARPA × gross margin%) (months)
  • return per unit of CAC = (LTV − CAC) / CAC
Approximations:
  • The ratio is only as good as the LTV you feed it. Use a gross-margin LTV, not a revenue LTV: CAC is real cash, so it should be compared against margin dollars. A revenue LTV will flatter the ratio by roughly one divided by your gross margin.
  • The 3:1 convention is a planning heuristic, not a law. It came out of SaaS operating practice and assumes a subscription business with a long, fairly stable retention curve; it says nothing about a business whose customers pay once, and it ignores how long the payback takes — which is why CAC payback is shown alongside it.
  • Nothing here is discounted for time. A ratio of 3:1 earned over eighteen months and one earned over five years look identical in this calculator; read the CAC payback figure next to it before treating them as the same.

Default values & benchmark policy

Assumption fields ship with demonstration defaults that produce a realistic example — they are not claimed industry averages. Each is marked “Demo default — adjust to your data” until we attach a cited public source, at which point it shows the source and year. We do not publish fabricated benchmark statistics.

Benchmark dataset version: 2026-09-26

Every assumption default and its status

One row per assumption field the calculators ship with, and the value it ships with. Status is placeholder while the field carries a demonstration default, and cited once a public source is attached — a cited row shows that source and its year, and the calculator label changes from “Demo default — adjust to your data” to the source. The rows are generated from the calculators’ own field definitions — the same objects that render the inputs — so a field cannot ship without appearing here.

CalculatorFieldDefaultStatusSourceYear
b2b-ecommerce-roi Cost per order-status call
costPerCall
$5 placeholder — —
b2b-ecommerce-roi Average cost of one order error
costPerError
$100 placeholder — —
b2b-ecommerce-roi Extra spend on portal orders (your assumption)
extraSpendPct
0% placeholder — —
b2b-ecommerce-roi Gross margin
grossMarginPct
25% placeholder — —
b2b-ecommerce-roi Order-desk loaded hourly cost
hourlyCost
$40 placeholder — —
b2b-ecommerce-roi Error rate, offline orders
offlineErrorPct
2% placeholder — —
b2b-ecommerce-roi Staff minutes per offline order
offlineMinutes
15 placeholder — —
b2b-ecommerce-roi Error rate, portal orders
portalErrorPct
1% placeholder — —
b2b-ecommerce-roi Staff minutes per portal order
portalMinutes
3 placeholder — —
b2b-ecommerce-roi Share moving to the portal at full adoption
portalSharePct
50% placeholder — —
b2b-ecommerce-roi Months from go-live to full adoption
rampMonths
9 placeholder — —
b2b-ecommerce-roi Sales-rep loaded hourly cost
repHourlyCost
$60 placeholder — —
b2b-ecommerce-roi Freed rep time moved to selling (your assumption)
repToSellingPct
0% placeholder — —
cac Gross margin
grossMarginPct
80% placeholder — —
content-marketing Lead → customer rate
closeRatePct
10% placeholder — —
content-marketing Gross margin
grossMarginPct
75% placeholder — —
content-marketing Session → lead rate
leadRatePct
2% placeholder — —
crm Gross margin
grossMarginPct
60% placeholder — —
crm Rep hourly cost
hourlyCost
$40 placeholder — —
crm Hours saved per rep / week
hoursSavedPerRepWeek
4 placeholder — —
crm Win-rate uplift from CRM
winUpliftRelPct
5% placeholder — —
customer-experience Avg retained months (saved customer)
avgRetainedMonths
12 placeholder — —
customer-experience Current monthly churn
baseChurnMonthlyPct
3% placeholder — —
customer-experience Churn reduction from CX program
churnReductionRelPct
10% placeholder — —
customer-experience Cost per ticket
costPerTicket
$6 placeholder — —
customer-experience Tickets deflected
deflectionPct
15% placeholder — —
customer-experience Gross margin
grossMarginPct
80% placeholder — —
ecommerce-roi Product gross margin
grossMarginPct
55% placeholder — —
ecommerce-roi Returns & refunds rate
returnsRatePct
8% placeholder — —
enterprise-seo Equivalent ad CPC
avgCpc
$4.50 placeholder — —
enterprise-seo Lead → customer rate
closeRatePct
15% placeholder — —
enterprise-seo Gross margin
grossMarginPct
75% placeholder — —
enterprise-seo Session → lead rate
leadRatePct
1.5% placeholder — —
hubspot-roi Base lead-to-customer rate
baseLeadToCustomerPct
8% placeholder — —
hubspot-roi Gross margin
grossMarginPct
70% placeholder — —
hubspot-roi Loaded hourly cost
hourlyCost
$45 placeholder — —
hubspot-roi Hours saved per user / week
hoursSavedPerUserWeek
3 placeholder — —
ltv Gross margin
grossMarginPct
80% placeholder — —
ltv Monthly customer churn
monthlyChurnPct
2.5% placeholder — —
ltv-cac Gross margin
grossMarginPct
80% placeholder — —
marketing Gross margin
grossMarginPct
70% placeholder — —
marketing Lead → customer rate
leadToCustomerPct
10% placeholder — —
marketing-automation Conversion uplift from automation
convUpliftRelPct
10% placeholder — —
marketing-automation Gross margin
grossMarginPct
70% placeholder — —
marketing-automation Marketer hourly cost
hourlyCost
$45 placeholder — —
marketing-automation Hours saved per person / week
hoursSavedPerWeek
6 placeholder — —
marketing-automation Baseline lead → customer rate
leadToCustomerPct
8% placeholder — —
roas Gross margin
grossMarginPct
60% placeholder — —
seo Visitor → customer rate
convRatePct
2% placeholder — —
seo Gross margin
grossMarginPct
70% placeholder — —
website-roi Gross margin
grossMarginPct
70% placeholder — —

0 of 51 assumption fields carry a cited public source; the rest are demonstration defaults.

Changelog

  • 2026-06-12 — Initial release: 13 calculators, formulas published, all assumption defaults marked as demo defaults pending citation.
  • 2026-09-04 — Added the break-even and ROAS calculators (15 in total). Both are exact identities; the ROAS gross-margin field is a demo default like every other assumption field.
  • 2026-09-06 — Added the contribution margin, ecommerce ROI and LTV:CAC ratio calculators (18 in total). Contribution margin and LTV:CAC are exact identities; ecommerce ROI is a projection with a lag and ramp-up, and its gross margin and returns rate are demo defaults like every other assumption field.
  • 2026-09-06 — Published the table above: every assumption field, its shipped default and its citation status. Building it exposed six fields (website ROI, HubSpot ROI and ROAS) that had never been entered in the benchmark dataset; they are now listed, as the demonstration defaults they always were. The table is now built from the calculators’ field definitions rather than the dataset, so a missing entry can no longer hide a field.
  • 2026-09-26 — Added the B2B ecommerce ROI calculator (19 in total). It is a projection with a go-live lag and an adoption ramp, and it reports ROI over three years as well as one. Its portal share, handling minutes, error rates, cost per error, hourly costs, cost per status call, ramp, gross margin and the two “your assumption” inputs are demo defaults like every other assumption field; the extra-spend and rep-time assumptions ship at 0%.