What to do next
Show the working, step by step
Where I used this
I built Ekhanei’s motorbike category from zero to No. 1 in two and a half months, with revenue up 25% and share up 15%.
Read the case: Building the nation’s #1 motorbike category from zero →Everything is calculated in your browser. Nothing you type is sent or stored.
Why ROAS alone misleads
ROAS counts revenue, not profit. A 3x ROAS sounds strong, but at a 30% gross margin every unit of ad spend returns 0.9 units of profit, and the campaign loses money before you count the agency or the creative. The break-even ROAS is simply one divided by your margin, and it rises further once other campaign costs are included.
- Know your break-even before launch. It is the floor every channel has to clear.
- Platform-reported revenue flatters. Attribution windows and view-through conversions often count sales that would have happened anyway. Hold-out tests tell you the true lift.
- First purchase is not lifetime. If customers come back, a campaign that loses money on day one can still be worth it. Pair this with the LTV to CAC calculator.
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Want to know which campaigns to scale?
Bring your ROAS numbers to a free 30-minute call, and I will tell you where I would cut and where I would push.
Questions
What is a good ROAS?
There is no universal number. A good ROAS is one above your break-even ROAS, which is 1 divided by your gross margin. At 50% margin you need at least 2x; at 25% margin you need 4x.
What is the difference between ROAS and ROI?
ROAS divides revenue by ad spend. ROI divides profit by total investment. ROAS ignores product costs, so it always looks better than ROI.
Should I include agency and creative costs?
Yes, if you want the true break-even. This calculator adds them on top of ad spend when working out profit and the break-even ROAS.