Calculators
Content Marketing ROI Calculator
Work out the return on content marketing from visits, conversion rates and customer value.
- Runs in your browser
- Nothing uploaded
The tool
Enter your numbers below. Results update as you type, and nothing leaves your browser.
Everything you enter stays on your own machine. Nothing is sent to us or to anyone else, which you can confirm in your browser network tab.
What people use it for
- Justifying a content budget to finance
- Comparing content with paid search on cost per lead
- Setting traffic targets for a content plan
- Deciding whether to refresh or retire old articles
About this tool
What the Content Marketing ROI Calculator does
Content marketing ROI compares the revenue your content produces with what it cost. Visits become leads at your conversion rate, leads become customers at your close rate, and customer value turns that into revenue to set against the investment.
Formula
- Leads = visits × visit-to-lead rate
- Customers = leads × lead-to-customer rate
- Revenue = customers × average customer value
- ROI = (revenue − investment) ÷ investment × 100
Worked example
Using the starting values in the calculator above:
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Total content investment | $30,000 |
| Visits from the content | 60,000 |
| Visit to lead conversion rate | 2% |
| Lead to customer rate | 20% |
| Average customer value | $1,500 |
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| ROI | 1,100.0% |
| Revenue attributed | $360,000 |
| Leads | 1,200 |
| Customers | 240.0 |
| Cost per lead | $25.00 |
| Cost per customer | $125 |
How to read the result
Content keeps earning after it is paid for, so a single year understates its return. Run the calculator for the period the content will realistically keep ranking, often two to three years for evergreen articles.
Use customer lifetime value rather than first order value if customers buy repeatedly; otherwise you will undervalue content that brings in loyal buyers.
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Questions
Questions about this tool
The things clients actually want to know — costs, timelines, ownership and what happens after launch.
Subtract the content investment from the revenue it generated, then divide by the investment. Revenue comes from visits × conversion rate × close rate × customer value.
Any positive ROI means the content paid for itself. Because content compounds, many teams accept a low first-year ROI in exchange for years of traffic.
Use analytics goals or CRM source fields to tag leads that first arrived through content, and decide in advance whether you credit first touch or last touch.
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