How to Calculate the Real ROI of Your New Platform or Application (The Metrics SMEs Forget)

When people talk about return on investment (ROI) for a new digital project — whether it’s a custom ERP, a mobile app or a customer portal — most SMEs only look at additional revenue. That’s a mistake.

If higher sales are the most visible metric, they’re often just the tip of the iceberg. The profitability of a digital solution is often hidden in what it helps you save, optimize and secure.

For a digital agency, proving the value of a tool means translating operational efficiency into hard numbers. Here’s how to calculate the real ROI of your investments, beyond revenue alone.

1. Productivity

This is the most obvious gain, but it’s rarely measured precisely. A new platform should automate time-consuming tasks (data entry, report generation, stock synchronization).

It’s not enough to say “we’ll save time”. You have to prove it.

Simple formula:

Annual gain = Time saved × Frequency × Hourly rate × Number of employees

💡 Concrete example:

Your 5 sales reps spend 2 hours per week creating manual reports. Your new CRM automates this.

• Time saved: 2 hours / week
• Fully loaded hourly rate: €40

💶 Gain: 2h × 47 weeks × €40 × 5 employees = €18,800 saved per year

2. Reducing the Error Rate

Human error is expensive. A wrongly shipped order, a double accounting entry or a missed appointment all have a direct cost (refunds, credit notes) and an indirect cost (crisis management, lost trust).

A well-designed application acts as a safety net (form validation, automated workflows).

Simple formula:

Savings = (Error rate before − Error rate after) × Total volume × Average correction cost

💡 Concrete example:

Out of 5,000 e-commerce orders, 2% have address errors requiring a reshipment (unit cost €25).

The new platform validates addresses via API and lowers the error rate to 0.5%.

• Difference: 1.5% of 5,000 orders = 75 avoided errors

💶 Gain: 75 × €25 = €1,875 saved per year

3. Customer Support: The Value of Self-Service

If you build a customer portal (extranet) or a mobile app, one of the main goals is often to give users more autonomy.

Every time a customer finds an invoice, tracks a delivery or updates their details by themselves, that’s one less incoming call to your support team.

Simple formula:

Support savings = (Decrease in ticket volume) × (Average handling cost per ticket)

Note: The average cost of a level-1 support ticket is often estimated between €5 and €15, depending on the industry.

💡 Concrete example:

💶 Gain: If you receive 100 fewer tickets per month, the savings range from €500 to €1,500 per month.

4. Satisfaction (CSAT) and Retention (Churn)

This is the hardest metric to translate into money, but it’s the most critical in the long term.

A smooth user interface (UX) reduces frustration. A satisfied customer stays longer.

Here, we calculate the impact on LTV (Lifetime Value). If your new platform reduces churn by 1%, the impact can be massive.

Tools like Google Analytics or Amplitude can help you measure these numbers.

Simple formula:

Retention gain = (Customers kept thanks to lower churn) × Average LTV

5. Employee Onboarding

This metric is often forgotten. For internal tools (intranet, ERP, line-of-business tools), UX plays a crucial role in training.

If training a new employee on your old software took 2 weeks, and the new intuitive interface cuts this down to 3 days, you gain productive days for them and for you.

Simple formula:

Training gain = (Training days saved) × (Employee salary + your salary) × Number of new hires / year

💡 Concrete example:

You hire on average one new employee per month.

• Daily salary per employee: €150
• Your daily salary: €300
• The new software reduces training by 3 days.

💶 Gain: 3 × (300 + 150) × 12 = €16,200 per year

6. Reducing Technical Debt and Fixed Costs (New Metric)

Often, a new web platform (Cloud/SaaS) replaces legacy software or costly physical servers. You shouldn’t forget to account for the savings on maintaining the old system.

Simple formula:

Infra gain = (Old licences + Server maintenance costs) − (New solution subscription)

7. Shortening the Sales Cycle (New Metric)

For B2B tools (CRM, CPQ – Configure, Price, Quote), speed is critical.

If your new tool lets you generate a quote in 10 minutes instead of 2 days, you close deals faster. Reducing time-to-cash improves your cash flow.

Simple formula:

Cashflow gain = (Days saved on the sales cycle) × (Average daily revenue)

8. Employee Experience (EX) and Lower Turnover (New Metric)

Employees often resign because they’re frustrated with outdated tools that prevent them from doing their job properly.

Replacing an employee costs between 6 and 9 months of their salary (recruitment, training, lost productivity). A good tool helps retain talent.

Simple formula:

HR savings = (% Reduction in turnover) × Total headcount × Average replacement cost

Summary Table: Which Metrics for Which Project?

Not all metrics matter equally depending on the nature of your digital project.

Here’s a matrix to quickly identify where to look for your ROI.