Metrics & KPIs

ROAS

Return on Ad Spend — revenue generated for every dollar spent on ads. A 3x ROAS means you earned $3 for every $1 you spent.

ROAS is the headline metric every media buyer checks first, but it hides more than it reveals. A 3x ROAS sounds healthy, but if your product has 25% contribution margin, you need closer to a 4x ROAS to actually profit after COGS, shipping, and fees. That's why operators track ROAS alongside breakeven ROAS and blended ROAS, not in isolation.

Platform-reported ROAS (what Meta or Google shows you) is almost always inflated because of attribution windows and click-vs-view credit. Real ROAS — what actually hit your bank account — is usually 20-40% lower. Tools like Triple Whale or a simple blended calculation (total revenue / total ad spend across all channels) are more honest.

Scaling is not about maximizing ROAS. It's about finding the ROAS level where you can spend the most and still profit. A 2.5x ROAS at $3K/day can beat a 5x ROAS at $300/day all day long.

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