Canonical formula calculator
RETURN ON AD SPEND
How many dollars of revenue you generate for every dollar you spend on ads — the unforgiving truth about your marketing.
Worked example
How the number is worked out
A florist who can trace last month’s online orders back to one ad campaign.
Starting from
Working
Four dollars of revenue for every dollar of ads — REVENUE, not profit. If those orders carry a 30% margin the campaign returned $2,880 of contribution against $2,400 spent, which is a far narrower win than 4× sounds.
What this tells you
ROAS tells you how much revenue you generate for every dollar of ad spend. A ROAS of 4 means you make $4 for every $1 spent on ads. The break-even ROAS depends on your margins — for most businesses you need ROAS above 3 to be profitable after accounting for cost of goods, fulfillment, and overhead.
When to use it
Calculate ROAS per channel, per campaign, per month. The numbers are not meaningful in isolation; they only matter compared to your break-even and to alternatives. A 3x ROAS on a scaling channel is great if your break-even is 2x. A 5x ROAS on a tiny channel is unimportant if you can only spend $500 a month there.
What it doesn’t tell you
ROAS does not account for the time lag between spend and revenue, attribution accuracy, or what your customers go on to do after the first purchase. A 2x ROAS today might be a 4x lifetime ROAS once you account for repeat purchases and word-of-mouth. Use ROAS as a directional signal, not gospel.
Reckon it, don’t just calc it
A calculator gives you today’s number. Reckon takes your plan to make your own money and checks it against what’s real — your margin, your price, what it takes to hit the take-home you want. No AI, no guessing — the same input always gives the same answer.