Marketing efficiency ratio, or MER, measures the performance of your marketing spend. It’s one of the most important metrics marketers use to measure impact. It’s calculated by dividing total revenue by total spend, which gives you a holistic view of marketing performance across your entire business.
Simply put, MER tells you how many dollars in revenue your business generates for every $1 spent on paid media — regardless of which platform drove the conversion. And while that might sound similar to return on ad spend, ROAS is slightly different in that it’s typically channel-specific and attribution-dependent.
Keep reading to learn how to calculate MER, improve marketing efficiency, and understand marketing efficiency examples.
What is MER? It’s a calculation used to determine how efficient (or effective) your marketing efforts are at a high-level, holistic view of your business.
It helps you answer the question: How many revenue dollars are being generated for every dollar in marketing spend?
Ideally, your MER should be high. When it is, you’re generating better results from your ad campaigns while spending less on marketing overall. This big-picture insight helps you evaluate if your marketing strategy is effective and when to make changes if it isn’t as successful as you’d like it to be.
While the MER metric is different from ROAS, it does go by some other names. These are all other names for MER:
Now that you know the MER definition, you’re ready to learn the MER formula.
To calculate MER, take your total revenue derived from marketing over any given timeframe and divide it by your total marketing spend over the same timeframe.
In other words, the efficiency ratio formula looks like:
MER = Total Revenue ÷ Total Ad Spend
The result will be a number, like 3.25. This represents how many dollars of revenue were generated for each marketing dollar you spent.
As a reminder, that’s different from the ROAS formula, which involves dividing your revenue from ads by the cost of those ads.
For your MER calculation, you’ll include any and all expenditures related to marketing in your “total ad spend” bucket, such as:
For example, let’s say you’re an automotive company that has generated the following:
Your MER calculation would be:
300,000 ÷ 100,000 = 3
There are also a couple of other ways you may see MER represented.
Sometimes MER is referred to as a ratio to communicate the comparison of marketing revenue to marketing spend. For example, a 3.25 MER might be displayed as 3.25:1.
Another way to display MER is a percentage. You multiply the MER formula by 100.
MER = (Total Revenue ÷ Total Ad Spend) × 100
If you multiply your result in the calculation above by 100, you’ll get your MER in a percentage, such as 300%. A MER of 300% means that for every dollar spent, the business generated $3.00 in revenue.
MER in marketing can be used for several different purposes. Here are a few examples to show you how.
You can calculate (or view) your MER anytime to track how effective your paid media is.
Perhaps your brand spent $2,000 on marketing overall last month, and you made $8,000 in revenue from marketing. Your MER calculation would look like:
$8,000 / $2,000 = 4 (or 4:1 or 400%)
If you discover your MER is higher than your goal, you can keep doing what you’re doing. If it’s lower than your goal, you may decide to cut back on spending on the platforms you’re least confident in or launch new ads.
Let’s say you want to hit $100,000 in revenue next month. You know your mode average order value (AOV) is $200. With some simple math, you can use your mode AOV to come up with a target MER and then budget your marketing spend accordingly.
Here’s what that looks like:
You can also use MER to set a budget for your marketing spend if you have different data handy.
Let’s say your business is shooting for $10,000,000 in revenue this year. You typically have a MER of 5. You can use these two numbers to figure out a reasonable budget for your paid media strategy:
Now you know you’ll need $2,000,000 for your total marketing spend to hit that revenue goal this year.
Much like a good ROAS, there is no one universally “good” MER for every business and brand. A higher MER is generally better, because it means your marketing spend is working hard for you. Ultimately, if you’re trying to answer the question “What is a good marketing efficiency ratio?” you’re going to have to adjust your benchmark based on your business’s industry, size, and goals.
As a rule of thumb, a MER of 3 or higher is a strong indicator of success.
As we saw above, a MER of 3 or higher means you're spending 30% or less of your revenue on advertising; a MER of 2 would mean that you're spending 50% of your revenue on advertising, which would make it difficult to be profitable.
In 2025, the median MER for our Triple Whale customers was 41% (or roughly a MER of 4). That’s better than a traditionally “good” MER – go Triple Whale users!
Continuing as a percentage, here is the median MER by industry among Triple Whale brands over the last 90 days:
MER and ROAS are similar, so let’s get really clear on the differences.
When you’re comparing MER vs. ROAS, the first thing to remember is ROAS is channel-specific and attribution-dependent. MER, on the other hand, is a big-picture, holistic view of your marketing performance. ROAS is platform-reported. MER includes all revenue, regardless of attribution.
That means ROAS is more valuable if you want to know how, say, your Instagram ads in particular are performing. MER is more valuable if you’re looking for insight pertaining to the overall performance of your marketing efforts.
ROAS also only takes into consideration the cost of your ads. But MER factors in any and all expenses related to marketing, such as salaries and software subscriptions.
And don’t forget you can use these two metrics together for an even clearer understanding of your specific (ROAS) and overall (MER) success. (More on that below!)
While we are big MER fans at Triple Whale, this metric simply can’t do it all. In fact, MER doesn’t give you actionable insights at the campaign, ad set, or ad level.
Because you don’t take channel-specific metrics into account when calculating MER, your results are a little ambiguous. You’ll need simplified campaign structures and some other architectural nuances to gain more clarity. MER, unlike ROAS, doesn’t tell you anything about marketing attribution. So even if your MER calculation results in a number you’re happy with, that number won’t help you decide which channels to invest more in or scale back on.
MER in marketing also doesn’t take into account the long-term value of your customers through customer retention and loyalty. Instead, it’s a measure of current or immediate revenue generation that doesn't help you forecast future success.
It’s also calculated without thinking about external factors like market conditions or seasonality, which might skew your perception of your MER results.
The only real way to understand the effect of your paid media is incrementality testing. Triple Whale and our Triple Pixel can help you gain this deeper insight.
Because of the limitations mentioned above, you can gain some helpful context for your MER by considering it alongside other metrics, like the following:
What is MER in marketing? It’s a holistic measure of how effective your marketing efforts are. You calculate it by dividing your total revenue by your total marketing spend, which can help you when it comes to tracking, forecasting, and budgeting.
Your MER doesn’t tell you anything about which platforms, channels, or campaigns are most successful. That’s why it’s important to consider MER in the context of other marketing metrics such as your ROAS and LTV. And if that sounds a little overwhelming, we’ve got you: The Triple Whale data platform surfaces the insights you need to make informed decisions that benefit your brand and your bottom line. Book a demo today!
Marketing efficiency ratio, or MER, measures the performance of your marketing spend. It’s one of the most important metrics marketers use to measure impact. It’s calculated by dividing total revenue by total spend, which gives you a holistic view of marketing performance across your entire business.
Simply put, MER tells you how many dollars in revenue your business generates for every $1 spent on paid media — regardless of which platform drove the conversion. And while that might sound similar to return on ad spend, ROAS is slightly different in that it’s typically channel-specific and attribution-dependent.
Keep reading to learn how to calculate MER, improve marketing efficiency, and understand marketing efficiency examples.
What is MER? It’s a calculation used to determine how efficient (or effective) your marketing efforts are at a high-level, holistic view of your business.
It helps you answer the question: How many revenue dollars are being generated for every dollar in marketing spend?
Ideally, your MER should be high. When it is, you’re generating better results from your ad campaigns while spending less on marketing overall. This big-picture insight helps you evaluate if your marketing strategy is effective and when to make changes if it isn’t as successful as you’d like it to be.
While the MER metric is different from ROAS, it does go by some other names. These are all other names for MER:
Now that you know the MER definition, you’re ready to learn the MER formula.
To calculate MER, take your total revenue derived from marketing over any given timeframe and divide it by your total marketing spend over the same timeframe.
In other words, the efficiency ratio formula looks like:
MER = Total Revenue ÷ Total Ad Spend
The result will be a number, like 3.25. This represents how many dollars of revenue were generated for each marketing dollar you spent.
As a reminder, that’s different from the ROAS formula, which involves dividing your revenue from ads by the cost of those ads.
For your MER calculation, you’ll include any and all expenditures related to marketing in your “total ad spend” bucket, such as:
For example, let’s say you’re an automotive company that has generated the following:
Your MER calculation would be:
300,000 ÷ 100,000 = 3
There are also a couple of other ways you may see MER represented.
Sometimes MER is referred to as a ratio to communicate the comparison of marketing revenue to marketing spend. For example, a 3.25 MER might be displayed as 3.25:1.
Another way to display MER is a percentage. You multiply the MER formula by 100.
MER = (Total Revenue ÷ Total Ad Spend) × 100
If you multiply your result in the calculation above by 100, you’ll get your MER in a percentage, such as 300%. A MER of 300% means that for every dollar spent, the business generated $3.00 in revenue.
MER in marketing can be used for several different purposes. Here are a few examples to show you how.
You can calculate (or view) your MER anytime to track how effective your paid media is.
Perhaps your brand spent $2,000 on marketing overall last month, and you made $8,000 in revenue from marketing. Your MER calculation would look like:
$8,000 / $2,000 = 4 (or 4:1 or 400%)
If you discover your MER is higher than your goal, you can keep doing what you’re doing. If it’s lower than your goal, you may decide to cut back on spending on the platforms you’re least confident in or launch new ads.
Let’s say you want to hit $100,000 in revenue next month. You know your mode average order value (AOV) is $200. With some simple math, you can use your mode AOV to come up with a target MER and then budget your marketing spend accordingly.
Here’s what that looks like:
You can also use MER to set a budget for your marketing spend if you have different data handy.
Let’s say your business is shooting for $10,000,000 in revenue this year. You typically have a MER of 5. You can use these two numbers to figure out a reasonable budget for your paid media strategy:
Now you know you’ll need $2,000,000 for your total marketing spend to hit that revenue goal this year.
Much like a good ROAS, there is no one universally “good” MER for every business and brand. A higher MER is generally better, because it means your marketing spend is working hard for you. Ultimately, if you’re trying to answer the question “What is a good marketing efficiency ratio?” you’re going to have to adjust your benchmark based on your business’s industry, size, and goals.
As a rule of thumb, a MER of 3 or higher is a strong indicator of success.
As we saw above, a MER of 3 or higher means you're spending 30% or less of your revenue on advertising; a MER of 2 would mean that you're spending 50% of your revenue on advertising, which would make it difficult to be profitable.
In 2025, the median MER for our Triple Whale customers was 41% (or roughly a MER of 4). That’s better than a traditionally “good” MER – go Triple Whale users!
Continuing as a percentage, here is the median MER by industry among Triple Whale brands over the last 90 days:
MER and ROAS are similar, so let’s get really clear on the differences.
When you’re comparing MER vs. ROAS, the first thing to remember is ROAS is channel-specific and attribution-dependent. MER, on the other hand, is a big-picture, holistic view of your marketing performance. ROAS is platform-reported. MER includes all revenue, regardless of attribution.
That means ROAS is more valuable if you want to know how, say, your Instagram ads in particular are performing. MER is more valuable if you’re looking for insight pertaining to the overall performance of your marketing efforts.
ROAS also only takes into consideration the cost of your ads. But MER factors in any and all expenses related to marketing, such as salaries and software subscriptions.
And don’t forget you can use these two metrics together for an even clearer understanding of your specific (ROAS) and overall (MER) success. (More on that below!)
While we are big MER fans at Triple Whale, this metric simply can’t do it all. In fact, MER doesn’t give you actionable insights at the campaign, ad set, or ad level.
Because you don’t take channel-specific metrics into account when calculating MER, your results are a little ambiguous. You’ll need simplified campaign structures and some other architectural nuances to gain more clarity. MER, unlike ROAS, doesn’t tell you anything about marketing attribution. So even if your MER calculation results in a number you’re happy with, that number won’t help you decide which channels to invest more in or scale back on.
MER in marketing also doesn’t take into account the long-term value of your customers through customer retention and loyalty. Instead, it’s a measure of current or immediate revenue generation that doesn't help you forecast future success.
It’s also calculated without thinking about external factors like market conditions or seasonality, which might skew your perception of your MER results.
The only real way to understand the effect of your paid media is incrementality testing. Triple Whale and our Triple Pixel can help you gain this deeper insight.
Because of the limitations mentioned above, you can gain some helpful context for your MER by considering it alongside other metrics, like the following:
What is MER in marketing? It’s a holistic measure of how effective your marketing efforts are. You calculate it by dividing your total revenue by your total marketing spend, which can help you when it comes to tracking, forecasting, and budgeting.
Your MER doesn’t tell you anything about which platforms, channels, or campaigns are most successful. That’s why it’s important to consider MER in the context of other marketing metrics such as your ROAS and LTV. And if that sounds a little overwhelming, we’ve got you: The Triple Whale data platform surfaces the insights you need to make informed decisions that benefit your brand and your bottom line. Book a demo today!
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Body Copy: The following benchmarks compare advertising metrics from April 1-17 to the previous period. Considering President Trump first unveiled his tariffs on April 2, the timing corresponds with potential changes in advertising behavior among ecommerce brands (though it isn’t necessarily correlated).
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