ROAS (return on ad spend)
ROAS (return on ad spend) is the revenue that advertising brought, divided by what the advertising cost. A ROAS of 5.99× means every $1 of ad spend came back as $5.99 of revenue, not profit.
Also written: ROAS, return on ad spend, return on advertising spend, ROAS formula, ROAS calculation, ROAS meaning, ad ROAS, роас, roas nima
What does ROAS mean?
ROAS stands for return on ad spend: how many times over the money put into ads came back as revenue. It is written as a multiple (5.99×), sometimes as a percentage. CPL, CPQL and CAC divide spend by leads, qualified leads and sales. ROAS looks from the other side: how much money came back.
How is ROAS calculated?
ROAS = revenue from ads ÷ ad spend
Example: A driving school, 2–8 October 2026: $5,297 ÷ $885 = 5.99×.
The two numbers come from two places. Spend comes from the Meta ad account. Revenue comes from the CRM: the amounts on deals that closed as sales for leads the ads brought. When a business sells through lead forms, the sale closes in the CRM, so ROAS cannot be calculated from the ad account alone. That week Meta on its own saw 863 leads and none of the 36 sales.
Example: $885 of spend, $5,297 of revenue
- ad spend
- $885
- salesone customer cost $24.58
- 36
- revenue recorded in the CRM
- $5,297
- ROAS
- 5.99×
ROAS vs ROMI vs ROI: what is the difference?
In one line: ROAS divides revenue by ad spend only, while ROMI and ROI are calculated from profit and take in the other costs.
| Metric | Formula | What it accounts for |
|---|---|---|
| ROAS | revenue ÷ ad spend | The ad budget only; cost of goods is left out |
| ROMI | (gross profit − marketing cost) ÷ marketing cost × 100% | Cost of goods and every marketing cost: ads, the media buyer’s fee, tools |
| ROI | (profit − investment) ÷ investment × 100% | Every cost of the business: rent, salaries, taxes |
FAQ
What is a good ROAS?
There is no single benchmark; it depends on margin. Ads break even at 1 ÷ margin: 2× at a 50% margin, 4× at 25%. Anything above that is money left after advertising. The same ROAS can be a good result for one business and a loss for another.
Can I see ROAS in Meta Ads Manager?
In an online shop, yes: the payment happens on the site and the Pixel passes the amount to Meta. When a business sells through lead forms, the sale closes in the CRM: Ads Manager knows the spend but not the revenue. In CAPI Platform’s report spend comes from Meta, revenue from the CRM, and ROAS is shown per creative, ad set and campaign. The Purchase event goes to Meta with the deal amount, when the CRM has one.
Why can ROAS in a report be lower than the real figure?
Three reasons. The deal has no amount: a sale without revenue. The lead is not attributed to an ad: its sale is credited to no creative’s revenue. The payment has not happened yet: the lead came this week and the deal closes later.
Related terms and pages
- CAC (customer acquisition cost)CAC (customer acquisition cost) is what it costs to win one customer: spend divided by the number of sales in the same period. Ad-spend CAC holds ad spend only; a full CAC adds the other marketing and sales costs.
- CPQL (cost per qualified lead)CPQL (cost per qualified lead) is what one qualified lead costs: ad spend divided by the number of leads the sales team has confirmed as qualified in the CRM. Unlike cost per lead (CPL), it counts only the people who passed qualification, not every submitted form.
- CPL (cost per lead)CPL (cost per lead) is what one lead costs: ad spend divided by the number of leads in the same period. It shows what the ads pay to get one request, and says nothing about whether that lead will ever buy.
- Attribution (tying a lead to its ad)Attribution is tying a lead or a sale to the ad that brought it: the campaign, the ad set and the ad. Without it, spend sits in the ad account, sales sit in the CRM, and nobody can see which creative brings in money.
- Sales funnelA sales funnel is the sequence of stages a person goes through from first seeing an ad to paying; fewer people remain at each stage, hence the name. In a CRM the funnel, or pipeline, is the list of stages a lead or a deal moves through.
- CPL vs CPQL vs CAC vs ROAS: four formulas, one funnel, a worked exampleFour metrics, four formulas and one real week: $885 of spend → 863 leads → 335 qualified leads → 36 sales.
- ReportSee which Meta ad drives sales: spend, leads, qualified leads, sales, CAC and ROAS for every creative, with outcomes from Bitrix24, amoCRM or capiCRM.
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