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Marketing efficiency ratio

What is MER (marketing efficiency ratio)?

MER (marketing efficiency ratio) is total store revenue divided by total marketing spend, across every channel.

Formula

MER = total revenue ÷ total marketing spend

A store that sells $120,000 in a month and spends $30,000 on all marketing has a MER of 4.0. It doesn't depend on which ad platform claims which sale.

A real store example

Helix showroom partners page: over 500 Meta ads linked here.

This page sends mattress shoppers to try Helix in partner showrooms. Sales that close in a store never appear in an ad platform's ROAS, which is why brands with offline or cross-channel sales also watch MER.

Open the pageSee their ads

How to improve MER on your store

  1. Track MER weekly, not daily

    Revenue lags spend by days. A weekly number smooths out the noise and shows the trend.

  2. Use MER to set the budget, ROAS to split it

    MER tells you whether marketing as a whole pays. Campaign ROAS tells you where the next dollar should go.

  3. Lift revenue per visit

    Better pages raise revenue from every channel at once, which moves MER more than any single campaign.

Ask Replo: "email me last week's MER every Monday".

Report my MER

MER questions

What's the difference between MER and ROAS?
ROAS counts only the revenue an ad platform credits to its own ads. MER divides all revenue by all marketing spend, so it doesn't depend on tracking. MER shows whether marketing pays; ROAS shows which campaign to cut.
What is a good MER?
A good MER leaves profit after product cost, shipping and fixed costs. Work out the MER at which you break even from your margins, then aim above it. It differs by store, so there's no single number.
Is MER the same as blended ROAS?
Yes, in most usage. Both divide total revenue by total ad or marketing spend. Some teams count only ad spend in blended ROAS and all marketing in MER, so check which one a report means.

Related terms

Browse the glossary

ROAS

ROAS (return on ad spend) is the revenue an ad campaign brings in for every dollar spent on it: revenue from ads divided by ad spend.

Marketing attribution

Marketing attribution is deciding which ads, emails and touchpoints get credit for a sale.

CAC

CAC (customer acquisition cost) is the total sales and marketing spend it takes to win one new customer.

GMV

GMV (gross merchandise value) is the total value of goods sold through a store or marketplace before fees, returns and discounts.

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