Skip to main content
Return on Investment can be a challenging concept to work with. It is an art as much as a science. If you project too low of an ROI, there won’t be much reason for a prospect to justify purchasing your product. If you estimate the ROI too high, your champion will be held accountable for delivering that value to their organization. ROI controls give admins two workspace-wide settings: how ROI is displayed, and a guardrail range that flags business cases with an unusually high or low ROI. Both live under Settings, in the ROI controls tab.

​
Display format

ROI can be shown in one of two formats:
  • Multiple (for example 3.0x). This is the total benefit divided by the total investment. For every 1invested,thecustomergets1 invested, the customer gets 3 back.
  • Percentage (for example 200%). This is the net return on the investment, calculated as benefit minus investment, divided by investment. A 3.0x multiple is the same value written as 200%.
Both describe the same underlying calculation. Percentage is the “true ROI” that finance teams often expect, because it shows the net gain on top of what was spent. The format you choose applies everywhere ROI is shown, to you and to your customers: in the business case, in presentation mode, and in exported slide decks. It does not change how ROI is written to your CRM or data warehouse. There, the value is always stored as the raw multiple, so your reporting and integrations are unaffected. Changing the format updates every ROI display at once. Before it is applied you will see a short confirmation with a before and after preview, including any guardrail values, so there is no confusion about what the new numbers mean.

​
Guardrails

Some organizations have a staff of value engineers ready to drop in and offer feedback on each and every business case. For everyone else, there are guardrails: a suggested minimum and maximum value for the ROI, based on what is typical at your organization.

​
Seeing the range

Once you have added an investment to your business case, the ROI is calculated by dividing the benefit and the investment. With guardrails set up, you will be able to see the typical range for other business cases at your organization. Place your cursor into the ROI at the top of your business case to reveal the range. If your ROI is outside of the range, you will see a yellow indicator and the bell icon. Rest assured that guardrails are only for your eyes. Your champion and external users will never see a warning or the optimal ROI range. For them it will always have the typical green background.

​
What to do when your ROI is out of range

If your ROI is out of the typical range, you have a few options that you should consider in this order:
  • Introduce additional use cases. This depends on your organization, but sometimes a low ROI is a suggestion that your prospect needs to see more value from your product. You might ask yourself if the prospect mentioned any additional problems you could help them solve.
  • Adjust the inputs in your use case. You don’t want to make something up, but it can be helpful to ensure that all of the numbers accurately represent the prospect’s situation. A classic example is Number of Seats. Perhaps selling in more licenses would have a positive effect on the calculated benefit.
  • Tweak the investment. Again, this depends on your organization, but mathematically lowering the investment will increase the ROI. If you are promising too much value for the price, increasing the investment will lower the ROI.
  • Talk to your manager, and maybe do nothing. There is nothing inherently wrong with delivering more value to a customer. You might decide that for this context, it is okay to present with an ROI that is outside of the typical range.

​
For admins: changing ROI controls

Open Settings and go to the ROI controls tab.
  • Under Display format, choose whether ROI is shown as a multiple or a percentage.
  • Under Guardrails, turn guardrails on and set the ROI minimum and maximum in the input fields. A preview underneath shows what an account executive would see in their business case.
Both settings apply to all existing and future business cases in your organization, and you can change them at any time.