MER = Total Revenue ÷ Total Marketing Spend. Ignores attribution debates. Target 3-5x for DTC.
By The Ad Spend
Total business revenue divided by total marketing spend across all channels. Emerged post-iOS 14 as holistic alternative to platform-specific ROAS.
Formula
Total Revenue ÷ Total Marketing Spend
Benchmark range
Target varies by margin. 3x MER with 33% margins = break-even. Most DTC brands target 3-5x MER.
Why it matters
MER solves attribution by ignoring it—instead of debating which channel gets credit, measure total efficiency. Best used alongside platform metrics, not instead of them. Triple Whale and Northbeam popularized this approach.
