ROAS.

ROAS stands for Return on Ad Spend. This metric compares the revenue you can attribute to your advertising to the money you spent on that advertising. For an online store, it shows whether a campaign generates more revenue than it costs. For a business that collects leads rather than sales, it’s only meaningful if a lead is assigned a value.

Here's how to calculate ROAS

The formula is: advertising revenue divided by advertising spend. If you spend 500 euros on ads and attribute 2,000 euros in revenue to those ads, the ROAS is 4. Google Ads expresses this value as a percentage: According to Google, 5 euros in revenue from 1 euro in advertising spend corresponds to a ROAS of 500 percent.

In the German Meta Help Center, this metric is called “ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) for Purchases.” According to Meta, it is calculated by dividing the conversion value of purchases by the amount spent. Purchase values are obtained via the Meta Pixel or the Conversions API. If data is missing, Meta sometimes uses modeling, according to its own help documentation.

What Your Business Should Keep in Mind

First, calculate your break-even point. If you’re left with 25 cents for every euro in revenue after accounting for materials and labor, you’ll need an ROAS of at least 4 just to break even on your advertising costs.

Assign a value to inquiries if you don't sell products online. According to Meta, you can set a value and a currency for standard pixel events to measure return on ad spend (ROAS). For example, a craft business can multiply the average order value by the percentage of inquiries that turn into orders. Without a value, the ROAS field will remain blank, no matter how well the ads are performing.

Compare the ROAS in your advertising account with your actual sales. Each platform attributes purchases according to its own rules. If you’re running ads on multiple channels, the same purchase may appear in two accounts, so be sure to also check the conversion rate in your own store. In projects, we also often see that a very high ROAS comes from campaigns that primarily reach existing customers who would have made a purchase anyway.

Frequently Asked Questions About ROAS

What is a good ROAS? There is no single number that applies to all businesses. Whether a value is good depends on your margin. The same ROAS can be very good with a high margin but can mean a loss with a low margin.

What is the difference between ROAS and ROI? ROAS measures revenue relative to advertising costs. ROI (Return on Investment) measures profit relative to the total investment and deducts all costs—including materials, labor, and fees.

Why doesn't Meta show ROAS for me? Usually, it's because no purchase values are being reported. According to Meta, this metric also isn't calculated in some cases, such as for results from ads served to devices running iOS 14 or later.

You can find out what a realistic budget is in "Meta Ads 2026: What Advertising on Facebook and Instagram Really Costs." If you want campaigns that are measured by your profit rather than by clicks, we'll handle the setup and analysis in Ad Management.