Looking to invest in digital asset management software but need buy-in from your team? You’re not alone. For growing ecommerce brands, every tool has to deliver a clear return on investment. And while DAM software helps you organise and manage digital assets, you still need to prove its business value before signing off on the spend.
In this article, we’ll help you make a strong business case for DAM—from showing the ROI of digital asset management to breaking down costs, time savings, and how different teams across your business will benefit.
TLDR: what you’ll learn in this article
No time to read the whole thing? Here’s a handy summary of what we cover in this guide:
- Why DAM is worth the investment
We’ll explain why a digital asset management tool isn’t just a ‘nice-to-have’, but a smart way to save time, cut costs and grow your brand more efficiently. - How to calculate the ROI of DAM
Use our simple method (with real numbers) to figure out how much time and money your team could be saving each month. - What different teams will get out of it
We’ll show how marketing teams, designers, support teams, retail partners and brand managers can all benefit from using a DAM like Dash. - How Dash compares to other tools
We break down what other DAMs charge, and why Dash gives you all the features you need without the enterprise price tag. - What to include in your business case
If you’re trying to convince your boss (or the budget holder), we’ve got a checklist and editable pitch deck to help you make a strong case.
Let’s get into it!
Why should you buy a DAM solution?
As your ecommerce brand grows, so does the volume of visual content you create. You’ve got product images, videos, campaign graphics, social content, packaging files, and much more. Managing all of that content in a structured way becomes increasingly important if you want to keep things running smoothly.
A digital asset management (DAM) solution provides a central place to store, organise and access your brand’s digital marketing assets. It acts as a single source of truth for your team, making it easy to find the most up-to-date version of a file, check usage rights, and repurpose existing content across your channels.
Without a DAM, teams often rely on shared drives, local folders or tools like Google Drive and Dropbox. While these might work early on, they become inefficient as asset libraries grow. It’s easy for files to get lost, duplicated, or used incorrectly—especially when different teams or external partners are involved.
DAM platforms like Dash (that’s us!) are designed to solve these problems. You’ll get features including advanced search, tagging, and expiry dates to help teams find what they need quickly, reduce duplicated work, and avoid mistakes. This will free up more time for content creation and campaign planning.
If managing your visual content is starting to slow things down, or you’re spending too much time trying to stay organised, you’ll want to invest in a digital asset management tool.
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What ROI can you expect from a DAM?
Now you’re convinced you need a DAM and you’re ready to pull the trigger. But your manager is holding the purse strings and needs you to prove it’s worth the investment. To convince them, you’ll need to present a strong case for the DAM ROI. That will include weighing up the benefits and find ways of measuring ROI. Scoot down this article for tips on how to calculate ROI.
First, let's look at some clear benefits that impact return on investment.
Get your time back
It might be a cliché, but it’s true: time is money. When your product images, campaign assets, and brand visuals are scattered across shared drives or buried in folders, your team ends up spending far too long just trying to find what they need. On top of that, you’ll likely be fielding frequent requests from teammates or partners who can’t locate the right files themselves.
That’s exactly why the haircare brand, RevAir, chose Dash as their DAM tool. Before switching, their team was storing assets in Google Drive, but it was almost impossible to find the assets they needed. Time was being wasted and productivity was being compromised. But, since finding Dash, the ROI couldn’t be clearer. Kim, the brand’s CCO says:
“I truly believe Dash has saved us at least ten times its cost.” 🥰
👉 Watch Kim's case study that uncovers why RevAir picked Dash.
Spend less on content creation
Creating visual assets costs money. You’re likely running photoshoots, working with agencies to create ad graphics and using some stock photography in the mix. Whatever it is, you'll want to make sure you're getting the most out of that investment.
If you don’t use a DAM to store these creative assets, it's really easy for them to get lost in your shared drives. If you can’t find them, you’ll likely forget they ever existed and end up creating them again.
Luckily, a DAM like Dash makes it really easy to surface old content. Take the paint brand COAT, for example. Abi, their Brand Manager, says Dash’s search features make it super easy to find assets that she’d forgotten about.
“The searchability in Dash has been a game changer for us. It’s my favourite feature. It helps spark new ideas—especially since we have so much content, it’s easy to forget what existing assets. Being able to dive into these little rabbit holes and discover things we didn’t even know we had is incredibly useful.”
So how does it work?
When you upload a new asset in Dash, it will automatically add tags based on the contents of your image. In COAT’s example, Dash is able to identify key objects like ‘bar stool’ and ‘kitchen’.
Abi has also added her own custom tags like ‘ghosted’ (which is a paint colour), making it really easy to find again later.
Make better use of your assets
Once all your assets are all in one place, it becomes much easier to reuse and repurpose them—without the hassle of tracking them down. Your marketing team might create product shots or campaign graphics for paid ads, but those same visuals can often be used by other teams too—like ecommerce, social, or customer service.
That’s exactly what the dog food brand, Forthglade, finds now they’re using Dash. As David Keefe, their Graphic Design Manager, explains:
“There’s a lot more collaboration between departments with what each is creating. The ecommerce team, for instance, can see assets uploaded by the sales team in case they want to use them in their campaigns. Seeing what others are creating sparks ideas.”
When your teams have visibility over each other’s work and easy access to approved content, you get more value from every asset.
Avoid costly mistakes
When you’re managing a growing library of content, it’s easy for things to slip through the cracks leading to unnecessary expenses.
But even small mistakes in your visual assets can come with a price—whether it’s legal risk, brand damage, or just the time spent fixing an error after it’s gone live.
Two of the most common issues ecommerce teams run into:
- Using assets without the correct permissions – For example, images from a photographer or influencer that don’t have the appropriate rights. Without a clear system to track usage, there’s a risk of publishing something you’re not legally allowed to use.
- Using outdated or incorrect visuals – This could be an old version of your logo or brand graphics. These mistakes can affect your brand’s credibility and consistency—and may lead to last-minute rework or reprints.
Kim at RevAir, explains that they work with influencers on a regular basis and Dash has been vital in ensuring they honour their relationships.
“We always want to honour our influencers and affiliates. Without a tool like Dash, it’s difficult to monitor that one piece of content is licensed for six months while another is licensed indefinitely. We can also ensure it’s no longer available for download in any of our portals, so we don’t have to worry.”
A digital asset management solution like Dash helps reduce these risks by giving you a structured way to manage asset rights and availability. You can add expiry dates, usage notes, and licensing information directly to each file—so everyone knows what’s safe to use, and when.
Boost the ROI of marketing campaigns
For ecommerce brands, visual content is essential for growth. Whether it’s on your product pages, social ads, or email campaigns, assets are what drives clicks and conversions. And with the rising cost of paid media, making the most of your creative assets is more important than ever.
This was another reason RevAir invested in Dash.
When they were using Google Drive, photoshoot content was getting lost, team members couldn’t find the files they needed, and valuable creative material was going underused.
As Kim puts it:
“I felt anxious knowing how much money had been spent on the photoshoot, only to struggle to find the images in Google Drive. I couldn’t show them to team members who weren’t at the photoshoot. I wanted to create wonderful things from the content, but it was impossible with Google Drive.”
Now with Dash in place, RevAir’s content is properly organised and accessible. Teams can easily find and repurpose visual assets, whether they were involved in the original shoot or not—helping them get more value from every piece of content they produce. Kim explains:
“For what it costs per month, I easily get ten times the return in productivity from my team members. In addition to happier team members and better quality work.”
This kind of ROI isn’t unique to RevAir. It’s something many growing brands experience once they get their content under control. If your team is spending time chasing down files or re-creating lost assets, that’s time and money that could be reinvested into campaigns that drive revenue.
👀 Want to hear more? Watch Kim’s full case study interview to see how her team is using Dash.
How teams can benefit from your DAM
While a digital asset management system is often championed by marketing teams, the benefits go far beyond that. The right DAM can support your entire business and help different teams work more efficiently, stay aligned, and avoid unnecessary roadblocks.
Here’s how all your departments can get value from your DAM:
Marketing teams
Marketing teams are often the first to feel the pain of messy file management. If your campaign assets are scattered across folders or buried in old email threads, it's going to slow you down. A digital asset management tool like Dash helps your marketing team move faster and stay consistent.
Instead of wasting time tracking down the right product image or worrying about whether a file is up to date, marketers can search for what they need, grab the right version, and get on with the job. Whether they’re building product pages, launching seasonal campaigns or briefing external agencies, everything is easy to find, organise, and reuse.
Read up on how the marketing team at FashionFitness use Dash to help sell Reebok in Latin America.
Design teams
Your designers are some of your most valuable (and often most time-strapped) team members. But without a proper system in place, they can easily become bottlenecks—fielding constant asset requests, re-creating files that have gone missing, or digging through folders to find the “final-final-v2” version of a logo.
Abi, the Lead Creative at Beavertown uses Dash in lots of different ways. For example, she uses the Adobe Creative Cloud integration to quickly update assets and send them back into Dash. She also makes use of the upload approvals feature, so any new assets need to be approved by her first before they’re live in Dash. That means she’s confident that her colleagues are only using the approved versions of the brand’s creative.
Discover how Beavertown’s design team uses Dash to improve their creative workflows
Retail partners
If you work with resellers, stockists, or distributors, chances are they need regular access to your product images and promotional assets. Instead of sending files manually or managing messy shared folders, a good DAM like Dash will allow you to set up portals. These are publicly-accessible versions of your Dash that lets retailers self-serve assets. It means they’re always up-to-date with the latest assets and they don’t need to come to you to ask for content.
Learn how BrewDog uses Dash’s portals to share assets with bars and partners around the world.
Brand managers
Brand consistency and integrity is super important for growth. When shoppers recognise and trust your brand, they're more likely to pick you over your competitors. So if you're responsible for how your brand is represented in the wild, a DAM can make your life a lot easier.
Instead of chasing down outdated files or worrying about off-brand assets slipping through the cracks, you’ll have one central place to manage everything. Brand managers can make sure only the most up-to-date logos, guidelines, and campaign assets are being used, while keeping an eye on usage rights and expiry dates. It also becomes much easier to brief agencies or share collections for seasonal campaigns, product launches or brand refreshes. With everything organised and searchable, you spend less time on admin and more time shaping a brand that feels consistent and cohesive—no matter who’s creating content.
Read how Abi, COAT’s brand manager, used Dash to ensure only the most up to date assets are being used in their campaigns.
Customer support
Support teams often need quick access to visuals—whether it’s to answer product questions, guide customers through a setup, or send branded collateral. With a DAM, they can search for what they need in seconds, without having to chase down designers or marketers for help.
This is something that COAT’s customer support team makes use of in Dash. If a customer asks for a picture of a particular paint colour, they can quickly hop into Dash and find the assets they need.
How much does DAM cost?
You’ve seen the kind of ROI a DAM can deliver. But how much does a digital asset management system cost?
The truth is, most digital asset management platforms are built for large enterprises. They often come with complex features and hefty price tags to match. While those tools might work for global corporations with dedicated IT teams and multi-layered approval processes, they’re often overkill (and overpriced) for growing ecommerce brands. What’s more, most DAM vendors hide pricing on their website, so you won’t know how much you’ll be paying until you’ve been through the demo and sales process. Here’s a breakdown of what we’ve discovered about the pricing of some key digital asset management vendors:
Bynder
Bynder is a well-known enterprise DAM with advanced functionality for multinational teams. It’s a good choice if you're a global brand, but less suited to scaling ecommerce businesses.
💸 Pricing starts at around $450/month, with costs rising quickly as you add users or features.
🤓 Read our full Bynder comparison.
Brandfolder
Brandfolder is a popular choice for large corporations and agencies, offering some advanced features like integrated printing services.
Pricing starts at around $1600/month, making it one of the priciest DAMs on the market.
🤓 Check out our Brandfolder alternatives guide.
Canto
This is a DAM tool for mid-market and enterprise brands across a range of industries. Canto’s features include branding tools and templates, but you won’t find any pricing information on the website.
💸 Estimates suggest $600/month, though exact costs are hidden and you’ll need to book a demo for the full scope.
🤓 See our Dash vs Canto breakdown.
MediaValet
MediaValet is another DAM tool aimed at enterprise businesses. It has some advanced features like forensic watermarking and over 50 integrations.
💸Again, there’s no pricing information on the website. However, our research suggests it has a similar price point to Brandfolder at $1600 per month.
🤓 Explore our MediaValet alternatives and comparison article.
Dash
We’ve designed Dash specifically scaling businesses and teams that need a powerful, easy-to-use DAM without the bloated feature set or enterprise-level costs. Our pricing starts at £99 / $139 per month, and includes:
- All features (nothing locked behind expensive upgrades)
- Unlimited users
- Transparent, usage-based pricing (cost only increases with extra storage or download needs)
You’ll get to try Dash free for 14 days, and if you want to chat with the team, there’s the option to book a 30-minute demo.
👉 Get an in-depth picture of digital asset management pricing in our article.
How to calculate the money you could save with DAM
By now, you’ve seen how a digital asset management system can bring serious value to your business. But if you’re trying to make a solid case for it, you’ll need to show some real numbers.
Here’s a simple ROI calculator to help you make a business case to your boss:
1. How much time is your team spending searching for assets?
Start by figuring out how long it takes your team to find files in your current setup.
Let’s say you’ve got 5 employees, each spending 15 minutes a day hunting for product images, campaign visuals or social content.
That’s:
- 75 minutes per day across the team
- 6 hours and 15 minutes a week
- 25 hours a month spent on just… searching
2. What does that time actually cost?
Let’s assume your team members earn £15/hour. That means 15 minutes of their time costs around £3.75.
Multiply that by 5 employees and you’re looking at:
- £18.75 per day
- £375 per month spent on asset hunting alone
(And that’s not even counting overheads or opportunity cost.)
3. What happens when you add a DAM like Dash?
With Dash in place, asset searches are much faster. Let’s say that same 15-minute task drops to just 5 minutes per person per day.
Now you’re looking at:
- £1.25 per person per day
- £6.25 per day across the team
- £125 per month on search-related time
That’s a £250 monthly saving—just from cutting down time spent searching.
Now factor in the cost of Dash, starting at an initial investment of £99 / $139 per month. Even on our smallest plan, you’ve already more than made your money back—and that’s without touching all the extra ways Dash saves you time.
Want to work out what that saves you in a year? We’ll let you grab a calculator to measure DAM ROI. 😉
And remember—this doesn’t even include the extra time saved when sharing assets with agencies and partners, faster campaign launches, or fewer mistakes across your marketing. Those wins add up quickly too. 🙌
Your checklist for a digital asset management business case
If you’re ready to pitch DAM to your team, here’s a step-by-step summary of what to include in your business case:
1. Define the problem
Explain how your current setup is slowing things down:
- Time wasted searching for files
- Duplicated or lost assets
- Delays launching campaigns
- Mistakes from outdated or unauthorised content
2. Show who benefits
Make it clear this isn’t just a ‘marketing problem’ and highlight how it can benefit different teams:
- Marketers: to help manage all their content across multiple campaigns
- Designers: fewer asset requests and better version control
- Customer support: quick access to visual content
- Retail partners: self-serve assets via portals
- Leadership: have confidence in brand consistency and content ROI
3. Break down the ROI
Use real numbers to show what you’ll save:
- Estimate current asset search time and associated wage cost
- Show how a DAM like Dash can cut that by 60–70%
- Compare that monthly saving with Dash’s cost (£99 / $139 per month)
4. Compare vendors
Position Dash against bloated enterprise tools:
- Highlight how Dash is built for small and growing ecommerce brands
- Mention transparent pricing, unlimited users, and ease of use
- Point out how other DAMs hide pricing or charge hundreds more
You can also use our DAM software comparison worksheet to help pick the best DAM for your brand.
5. Wrap with a clear recommendation
End your business case with a confident call to action, emphasising the need for continued investment in a DAM system:
“Dash will save us time, reduce content costs, and improve the ROI of our marketing. It’s easy to use, cost-effective, and already proven to work for brands like ours.”
How Dash helps you get a return on your DAM investment
If you want to see real digital asset management ROI, you need a tool that’s actually useful day to day—not just something that looks good on a software list. Dash is built for growing ecommerce brands that need to manage digital assets without the faff. It helps you cut costs, save time, and make the most of the content you’ve already created.
Here’s how Dash helps you get value for money:
- It’s easy to find what you need
Dash adds automatic tags to your images so you can search by keyword and pull up the right asset in seconds. No digging through folders or trying to remember file names. It’s a huge time-saver for busy teams juggling multiple campaigns. - You won’t waste money on mistakes
You can add usage rights and expiry dates to each file, so your team knows exactly what can be used, where, and for how long. It helps you avoid problems like publishing expired content or using images you don’t have permission for. - Everyone can get what they need, without asking
Dash includes unlimited users and simple sharing tools like public portals. Whether it's your marketing team, freelancers, or retail partners, people can grab the right assets without going through your design team first. - You’ll get more out of your existing content
Use custom fields and collections to organise your assets by campaign, season or product line. It makes it easy to reuse content across different channels—so you’re getting more mileage out of every photoshoot or asset you’ve already paid for. - You’re only paying for what you actually use
Dash’s pricing is based on how much storage and download activity you need. There are no surprise charges and no inflated packages full of stuff you don’t want. That helps keep your storage costs under control. - It’s quick to set up and simple to use
You don’t need an IT team or weeks of onboarding. Dash is easy to roll out, and your team can start using it straight away. That means a faster, more effective DAM implementation—and a quicker return on your investment.
With Dash, managing digital assets becomes one less thing to worry about. And when your content’s organised, searchable and easy to share, your marketing runs more smoothly—and that can directly impact the revenue generated from your campaigns.
If you're looking to save time, cut down on content chaos, and prove the value of your marketing efforts, Dash is a smart investment. It's simple to use, affordable for growing brands, and designed to help you get the most out of your digital assets.
👉 Start your free trial of Dash — no credit card needed, no auto-renew.
👉 Need help getting sign-off? Download our editable ROI pitch deck and show your team exactly how Dash pays for itself.
Amy Burchill is the SEO and Content Manager for Dash. She works with ecommerce experts to create articles for DTC brands wanting to improve their campaigns.
