ROI Profitability Benchmarks: What Is a Good ROI? (2024 Data)

73% of businesses fail within 10 years. The reason? They measure the wrong metrics. You track revenue. You track expenses. But you ignore the one number that determines survival: ROI.

Here’s the problem. Most entrepreneurs think 30% ROI is good. It’s not. The average SaaS company achieves 300% ROI. The top 10% of e-commerce businesses hit 500% ROI. Your 30% is a death sentence.

You need real benchmarks. Not guesses. Not “industry averages” that include failing companies. You need data from profitable businesses only.

This guide gives you the exact ROI benchmarks for 2024. You’ll know what’s good. What’s bad. And how to calculate your own numbers in 5 minutes.

What Is a Good Benchmark for ROI? (The Real Numbers)

Forget “industry averages.” They’re useless. They include failing businesses that drag the numbers down.

You need benchmarks from profitable companies only. Here’s what the top performers achieve in 2024:

That’s not a typo. The best SaaS businesses return $300 for every $1 invested.

But SaaS is special. What about traditional businesses?

Notice the pattern? Service-based businesses (SaaS, agencies, consulting) crush product-based businesses (restaurants, real estate). Why? Lower overhead. Higher margins.

Is ROI 30% Good? The Brutal Truth

30% ROI is mediocre. It’s below average for most profitable industries.

Here’s what 30% actually means:

• For SaaS: You’re in the bottom 25% of performers
• For e-commerce: You’re slightly below average
• For real estate: You’re beating 60% of investors
• For restaurants: You’re in the top 10%

The context matters. 30% ROI in real estate is excellent. 30% ROI in SaaS is a red flag.

But here’s the real question: 30% of what?

Most people calculate ROI wrong. They use revenue. They should use profit.

ROI Calculation Methods (Get It Right Every Time)

There are 3 ways to calculate ROI. The first is wrong. The second is better. The third is what professionals use.

Let’s calculate the same investment three ways:

Scenario: You invest $10,000 in Facebook ads. You generate $50,000 in revenue. Your total costs (ads, product, labor) are $35,000.

• Basic ROI: ($50,000 – $10,000) / $10,000 × 100 = 400% ROI
• True ROI: ($15,000 profit – $10,000 investment) / $10,000 × 100 = 50% ROI
• Annualized ROI: If this took 6 months: [(1.5)^(1/0.5)] – 1 = 125% annualized ROI

See the difference? The “basic” method tells you 400% ROI. The “true” method tells you 50%. The “annualized” method tells you 125% per year.

Which number do you report to investors? The true ROI.

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PRO TIP

Create an ROI dashboard in Google Sheets or use a pre-built template. Track ROI weekly. Use this formula: =((Total Revenue – Total Costs) / Total Costs) * 100. Set up automatic imports from your ad platforms and accounting software.

The Hidden Costs That Destroy Your ROI

Most businesses miss 23% of their costs when calculating ROI. Here’s what they forget:

• Payment processing fees: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (Stripe, PayPal)
• Software subscriptions: $200-$2,000/month for tools
• Salaries for managers: Time spent overseeing the project
• Office overhead: Rent, utilities, internet allocated to the project
• Customer support: Time spent handling issues from the project
• Refunds and chargebacks: 1-3% of revenue

A $100k revenue project with $70k direct costs actually has $85k total costs. Your 30% ROI drops to 17%.

“I’ve audited 500+ businesses. 90% overstate their ROI by 40-60%. The ones that track every penny grow 3x faster. It’s not about having more money. It’s about knowing where it goes.”

Profitability Metrics Analysis: Beyond ROI

ROI is just one metric. The best businesses track 5 metrics simultaneously. Here’s your complete dashboard:

Metric	Formula	What It Tells You	Good Benchmark
ROI (Return on Investment)	(Profit – Investment) / Investment	Efficiency of capital	15-20% (varies by industry)
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)	Revenue / Ad Spend	Ad campaign efficiency	4:1 (e-commerce), 8:1 (SaaS)
EBITDA Margin	EBITDA / Revenue × 100	Operational profitability	15-25% (healthy business)
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)	Avg. Purchase × Purchase Frequency × Lifespan	Total value per customer	3x Customer Acquisition Cost
Payback Period	Months to recover investment	Risk level	<12 months (SaaS), <24 months (other)

Track all 5. If one is weak, the others can’t save you.

ROAS vs ROI: The Critical Difference

ROAS is for ad campaigns. ROI is for business decisions.

Example:

• Ad spend: $10,000
• Revenue from ads: $50,000
• Product costs: $30,000
• Profit: $20,000

ROAS: $50,000 / $10,000 = 5:1 (Excellent)

ROI: ($20,000 – $10,000) / $10,000 = 100% (Good, but not great)

ROAS looks better. But ROI tells the truth. You made 100% profit on your investment.

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PRO TIP

Use ROAS to optimize ad campaigns. Use ROI to decide whether to scale the business. If your ROAS is 5:1 but ROI is only 30%, your product costs are too high. Fix your margins before increasing ad spend.

Financial Benchmarking Standards by Industry

Here are the 2024 benchmarks from 10,000+ companies. Use these to grade your performance:

2.3x

Companies that benchmark weekly grow 2.3x faster than those benchmarking quarterly (Source: Harvard Business Review, 2023)

SaaS & Software Benchmarks

SaaS has the highest ROI potential. Here’s what top performers achieve:

• ARR Growth Rate: Top 10% grow 150% YoY (average: 50%)
• Net Revenue Retention: Top 10% have 130%+ (average: 100%)
• Gross Margin: Top 10% have 85%+ (average: 70%)
• LTV:CAC Ratio: Top 10% have 8:1+ (average: 3:1)
• Payback Period: Top 10% recover CAC in 6 months (average: 12 months)

If you’re in SaaS and your ROI is under 100%, you’re in the bottom 25%. Fix your product or pricing immediately.

E-commerce Benchmarks

E-commerce ROI varies wildly by niche:

• Dropshipping: 80-150% ROI (low overhead, high competition)
• Private Label: 120-200% ROI (better margins, higher upfront cost)
• Print-on-Demand: 60-100% ROI (low risk, lower margins)
• Subscription Boxes: 150-250% ROI (recurring revenue, predictable)

The average e-commerce store makes $0.12 profit per $1 of revenue. Top performers make $0.30+.

⚠️
WARNING

E-commerce ROI looks great until you factor in returns. The average return rate is 20-30%. If you’re not tracking net ROI after returns, you’re flying blind. A 150% ROI becomes 105% after returns.

Service Business Benchmarks

Consulting, agencies, and freelancers have the highest ROI potential:

• Marketing Agencies: 200-400% ROI (low overhead, high margins)
• Consultants: 300-600% ROI (time-based, no inventory)
• Coaches: 400-800% ROI (digital products, recurring revenue)
• Freelancers: 150-300% ROI (scalability issues cap ROI)

The key? Don’t trade time for money. Productize your service. Create templates, courses, or software.

💡
PRO TIP

Use short-form video content to scale your service business. Create 50 pieces of content from one client project. This turns 1 hour of work into 50 hours of marketing. ROI on content creation is 1000%+.

Investment Return Evaluation: The 80/20 of ROI

20% of your investments generate 80% of your returns. Identify them. Double down.

Here’s the 80/20 framework for ROI evaluation:

📋 The 80/20 ROI Evaluation Framework

1. Track every investment for 90 days (ad spend, software, contractors, courses)
2. Calculate true ROI for each (profit-based, not revenue-based)
3. Rank investments from highest to lowest ROI
4. Kill the bottom 50% immediately (stop spending money on low ROI)
5. Double the budget on the top 20% (scale what works)

Most businesses do the opposite. They cut the winners and keep funding the losers.

Real Example: How One Company Tripled ROI in 90 Days

Company: E-commerce brand selling fitness equipment

Month 1 Data:

• Facebook Ads: $20k spend, $60k revenue, $10k profit = 50% ROI
• Google Ads: $15k spend, $45k revenue, $8k profit = 53% ROI
• Influencers: $5k spend, $12k revenue, $2k profit = 40% ROI
• Email Marketing: $2k spend, $15k revenue, $8k profit = 400% ROI

Action Taken:

• Stopped influencer campaigns (lowest ROI)
• Reduced Facebook/Google spend by 30%
• Increased email marketing budget by 300%

Month 4 Results:

• Facebook Ads: $14k spend, $50k revenue, $12k profit = 86% ROI
• Google Ads: $10k spend, $35k revenue, $9k profit = 90% ROI
• Email Marketing: $8k spend, $45k revenue, $25k profit = 313% ROI

Overall ROI increased from 68% to 125%. They cut total spend but increased profit.

“Most businesses have a hidden winner they’re ignoring. I once found a client’s abandoned email sequence generating 800% ROI. They’d stopped sending it because ‘nobody opens emails.’ Turns out, they just weren’t tracking properly.”

📹 Related Video

ROI Meaning: What Is Return on Investment? + 5 Proven Tips …

Business Performance Indicators That Predict ROI

These 5 indicators predict future ROI with 87% accuracy:

87%

Accuracy of these 5 indicators in predicting 90-day ROI (Source: McKinsey Analytics, 2023)

1. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) Trend: If CAC is rising 10%+ month-over-month, ROI will drop in 60 days.
2. Lead-to-Customer Ratio: If this drops below 2%, your ROI will collapse.
3. Repeat Purchase Rate: Below 20% means you’re losing money on customer acquisition.
4. Refund Rate: Above 5% indicates product-market fit issues, killing ROI.
5. Employee Turnover: Above 20% increases training costs, reducing ROI.

Monitor these weekly. If 3+ are trending down, your ROI will follow.

The ROI Prediction Formula

Use this formula to predict next quarter’s ROI:

Predicted ROI = (Current ROI × (1 + (Lead Growth Rate – CAC Growth Rate)))

Example:

• Current ROI: 100%
• Lead growth rate: 20% (good)
• CAC growth rate: 15% (bad, but less than lead growth)
• Predicted ROI = 100% × (1 + (0.20 – 0.15)) = 105%

Your ROI should increase by 5% next quarter.

Cost-Benefit Assessment: When to Invest

Not all investments are equal. Use this decision matrix:

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Alexios

Veteran Digital Strategist and Founder of AffiliateMarketingForSuccess.com. Dedicated to decoding complex algorithms and delivering actionable, data-backed frameworks for building sustainable online wealth.

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Published: January 9, 2026

Last Updated: January 21, 2026

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