Beyond the click: how Jelliby redefines ROI and ROAS in complex digital projects
In today’s consulting ecosystem, the question is no longer whether digital marketing works, but exactly how much value it adds to the company’s bottom line. For a brand with a presence in Madrid, Mexico City, or any global capital, user fragmentation forces us to abandon vanity metrics and embrace financial engineering applied to marketing.
In this article, we break down how we calculate real profitability at Jelliby and why the traditional ROI formula needs an urgent update to survive 2026.
1. ROI vs. ROAS: They are not the same (and confusing them costs you money)
To make strategic decisions, we must first separate tactical efficiency from business profitability.
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
This is your day-to-day compass. It measures the effectiveness of your paid campaigns.
If you invest €1,000 in LinkedIn Ads and generate €4,000, your ROAS is 4. An excellent indicator that your creativity and targeting are working.
ROI (Return on Investment)
This is the metric your CFO actually cares about. This is where Jelliby focuses, integrating all costs: technology (AI, CRM), talent, and consulting fees.
2. The complexity of multiple assets: The 27-touchpoint journey
Nowadays, a customer doesn’t buy right after seeing an ad. According to our research, the B2B buyer journey can involve up to 27 touchpoints.
How do you calculate the ROI of an AI blog post or a UX writing audit if the final sale closes three months later following a Google ad?
At Jelliby, we adapt the formula using Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) models. We no longer give all the credit to the “last click.” We use contribution coefficients ($\omega_{active}$) to understand how each digital asset (SEO, Social, Web Design) has assisted in the final conversion:
3. How do we validate your investment at Jelliby?
Our value as a strategic consultancy is not just to execute, but to justify. We help Project Managers and CMOs defend their budgets to general management through three pillars:
- 1. Data Governance: We unify your CRM and ad platforms into a “single source of truth.” Without clean data, there is no real ROI.
- 2. Digital Maturity Roadmap: We don’t invest based on trends. We design phases that guarantee Quick Wins (immediate results that self-fund the project) followed by scalability with AI.
- 3. Long-Term Asset Vision: SEO and content are not expenses; they are assets that depreciate over time, reducing your dependence on paid advertising and improving cumulative ROI.
4. From cost center to revenue engine
In our Barcelona, Madrid, and Mexico offices, we see a clear trend: the companies leading their sectors are those that have stopped seeing marketing as a “necessary expense” and started seeing it as revenue engineering.
Investment validation today involves Predictive AI. We no longer just look at what happened last month; we use models to predict how many leads your next €50,000 investment in the Latin American market will generate.
Do you need to validate the effectiveness of your digital strategy?
At Jelliby, we don’t just create roadmaps; we build measurement systems that demonstrate the true value of each digital asset. From UX design to AI implementation, every step is designed to improve your ROI.