Return On Ad Spend has become the go-to metric for managing advertising campaign profitability. Yet many marketers and online retailers settle for looking at the overall figure, without building a management tool capable of revealing what’s actually working, channel by channel.
A good ROAS dashboard isn’t just a single ratio. It combines several complementary indicators, structures the data to support decision-making, and allows for quick arbitration between acquisition levers that generate revenue and those that consume budget without sufficient return.
This guide explains what ROAS is, how to build a relevant dashboard, how to interpret it, and which tools to use to automate this tracking on a daily basis.
- What ROAS is and why you should track it
- ROAS vs. ROI: what's the difference
- What counts as a good ROAS, and how to define it
- The key indicators to include in a ROAS dashboard
- How to build an effective ROAS dashboard
- How to track ROAS across different advertising platforms
- Concrete ROAS calculation examples
- Which tools to use to automate a ROAS dashboard
- How to use this data to improve campaign profitability
- A single figure never tells the whole story of an advertising campaign.
What ROAS is and why you should track it
ROAS definition
ROAS measures the revenue generated for every pound spent on advertising. It’s calculated as follows:
ROAS = Revenue generated by the campaign / Ad spend
A ratio of 4 means every pound invested in advertising generated £4 in revenue. It’s a raw performance indicator, most often expressed in this form or as a percentage.
Why ROAS is central to digital advertising
ROAS makes it possible to quickly compare the performance of different channels, campaigns or ad creatives on a common basis. It helps make concrete decisions: increasing the budget of a profitable campaign, cutting a campaign that isn’t generating enough return, or reallocating spend towards the best-performing channel.
Without structured ROAS tracking, investment decisions rest on intuition rather than reliable data.
ROAS vs. ROI: what’s the difference
These two indicators are often confused, even though they answer different questions.
| Indicator | What it measures | Formula | Includes indirect costs |
| ROAS | Revenue generated per pound spent on advertising | Campaign revenue / Ad spend | No |
| ROI | Overall profitability of an investment | (Gain – Cost) / Cost | Yes (margin, logistics, HR) |
ROAS focuses exclusively on revenue generated relative to ad spend. ROI incorporates all costs tied to the business: production, logistics, gross margin, internal resources. A high ratio doesn’t automatically guarantee a positive ROI if product profitability is low or if overhead costs are significant.
What counts as a good ROAS, and how to define it
There’s no universal threshold. This level depends directly on your margin and your cost structure.
Calculating the minimum profitable ROAS
To determine the minimum threshold needed for profitability, you need to know your gross margin:
Minimum ROAS = 1 / Gross margin (as a percentage)
Example: with a gross margin of 25%, the minimum ROAS needed to avoid losing money is 4 (1 / 0.25). Below this threshold, every action destroys value, even if it generates revenue.
Indicative benchmarks by sector
| Sector | Average observed ROAS |
| Fashion and accessories e-commerce | 3 to 5 |
| Beauty and cosmetics | 4 to 6 |
| Electronics and high-tech | 2 to 3.5 |
| B2B services | 2 to 4 |
| Real estate and high-value goods | 5 to 10 |
These figures remain indicative. The only ROAS that’s truly relevant for your business is the one calculated from your own margin.
The key indicators to include in a ROAS dashboard
A dashboard limited to overall ROAS alone misses the point. Here are the indicators to cross-reference for a complete picture.
- ROAS by channel: compare the main ad networks against each other on a common basis
- Ad spend: budget consumed by campaign and by period
- Attributed revenue: revenue generated, ideally with a clear attribution model
- Gross margin per campaign: to move from ROAS to real ROI
- Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): how much each new customer acquired costs
- Conversion rate: percentage of clicks turned into purchases
- Average order value: average value of orders generated
- Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): total value generated by a customer over time
- Overall profitability: including all costs, not just ad spend
How to build an effective ROAS dashboard
Step 1: identify your data sources
List all the advertising channels to integrate: search networks, social, Web Push, affiliate, email. Each platform has its own native reporting, but the goal is to centralise this data for a consolidated view.
Step 2: collect data automatically
Connect your sources via API or native connectors rather than manually exporting each report. This lets you generate automated reports that stay continuously up to date. This automation avoids input errors and guarantees, line by line, real-time up-to-date data.
Step 3: centralise in a visualisation tool
Bring all indicators together in a single management tool: Google Looker Studio, DashThis, or a native dashboard provided by your ad network.
Step 4: structure the display
Organise the layout by reading priority: overall ROAS first, then breakdown by channel, then breakdown by campaign. Add visual thresholds (colours) to instantly spot campaigns below the profitability threshold.
Step 5: set a review frequency
This overview only has value if it’s consulted regularly. Set a cadence: daily for high-budget campaigns, weekly for secondary campaigns, monthly for the overall strategic view.
How to track ROAS across different advertising platforms
| Platform | Data source | Calculation specifics |
| Google Ads | Tracked conversions + conversion value | Native multi-touch attribution |
| Meta Ads | Meta Pixel + Conversions API | Configurable attribution window (1, 7 or 28 days) |
| Web Push Ads | Dedicated UTMs + Adrenalead platform | Click-to-conversion tracking, native dashboard with UTM |
| TikTok Ads | TikTok Pixel | Short attribution window, impulsive behaviour |
For Web Push, every notification sent incorporates UTM parameters that allow you to precisely track the journey, from click through to conversion, directly visible in your analytics tool or in the platform’s native dashboard. To go further, check out our guide to measuring your advertising campaigns in GA4.
Concrete ROAS calculation examples
Meta Ads ROAS example (fashion e-commerce)
An online shop spends £2,000 on a Meta Ads campaign and generates £8,000 in attributed revenue. ROAS is 4 (8,000 / 2,000). With a gross margin of 30%, the minimum profitable ROAS is 3.33. The campaign is therefore profitable, with a comfortable margin of manoeuvre.
Web Push Ads ROAS example
An advertiser invests £1,000 in Web Push Ads, at a tiered CPM rate of £1 to £3. The campaign generates 200 clicks, with a conversion rate of 5%, i.e. 10 sales at an average order value of £80. Revenue generated is £800, for a ROAS of 0.8 on this isolated campaign. Factoring in the effect of recovering already-paid-for SEA traffic through the collected opt-ins, the real ROAS over the lifetime of that subscriber base climbs well beyond this initial calculation, since follow-up sends cost almost nothing. To dig deeper into this calculation, check out our full guide on Web Push campaign ROI.
This is an important specificity of ROAS on this channel: it needs to be assessed over several cycles, not just the first campaign, because the real value builds up over time via the subscriber base that’s been built.
Which tools to use to automate a ROAS dashboard
- Google Looker Studio: free tool for centralising multiple sources via connectors
- DashThis: dedicated marketing reporting solution, multi-source, ready-made templates
- Shopify Analytics: for online retailers, a native dashboard with ROAS by campaign if connected to ad pixels
- GA4: for conversion and attribution tracking, alongside advertising platforms
- Native ad network dashboards: each advertising platform (Google Ads, Meta Ads, Adrenalead) provides a built-in dashboard, useful for channel-by-channel tracking before centralisation
The choice of tool depends on the number of sources to connect and the level of granularity sought. For a small business with two or three channels, native dashboards are often sufficient. For a more complex multi-channel strategy, a centralisation tool becomes essential.
How to use this data to improve campaign profitability
Identify campaigns to scale
A campaign with a ROAS significantly above the minimum profitable threshold deserves a gradual budget increase, while monitoring that ROAS doesn’t degrade as it scales.
Cut or adjust underperforming campaigns
A campaign below the profitability threshold for several consecutive weeks should be revised: targeting, creative, or simply stopped if no optimisation works.
Reallocate budget between channels
The management tool often reveals significant gaps between channels. Gradually reallocate budget towards the channels that best reach your target and deliver the best ROAS, without abruptly abandoning secondary channels that play a role in the overall conversion funnel.
Cross-reference ROAS with incrementality
A high score on a channel doesn’t always mean that channel is generating additional sales. Some attributed conversions would have happened without the advertising. To refine this reading, incrementality tests allow you to more precisely measure the real impact beyond declarative ROAS alone.
What counts as a good ROAS, and how do you define it?
A good ROAS is above all one that exceeds your minimum profitability threshold, calculated directly from your gross margin: minimum ROAS = 1 / gross margin. For a margin of 40%, the threshold is therefore 2.5.
There’s no universal figure valid across all businesses. A ROAS of 3 can be excellent for a high-margin product and insufficient for a tight-margin one. Defining your own profitability threshold is the essential prerequisite for reading any advertising performance data.
What’s the difference between ROAS and ROI?
ROAS (Return On Ad Spend) only measures revenue generated relative to ad spend — it’s a raw efficiency indicator for the advertising channel, without accounting for other costs.
ROI (Return On Investment) is more comprehensive: it incorporates all the business’s costs, including product margin, logistics, internal resources and fixed expenses. A high ROAS can mask a negative ROI if operational costs are significant. The two indicators are complementary and should appear together in a management dashboard.
What indicators should appear in a ROAS dashboard?
A complete ROAS dashboard needs to cover the entire path between spend and real profitability:
- ROAS by channel: to compare the relative efficiency of each advertising lever.
- Ad spend: budget consumed by channel and overall.
- Attributed revenue: revenue directly linked to campaigns, according to the attribution model used.
- Gross margin: to calculate the real profitability threshold.
- Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): ad spend relative to the number of new customers generated.
- Conversion rate: by channel and by funnel stage.
- Average order value: to detect value variations by traffic source.
- Overall ROI: a summary indicator incorporating all costs.
How do you calculate and track ROAS across different advertising platforms?
Each platform has its own tracking system, which needs to be configured correctly before reading any data:
- Meta Ads: pixel and Conversions API to make server-side tracking more reliable.
- Google Ads: conversions tracked via the Google tag or import from GA4.
- Web Push Ads: dedicated UTMs per campaign and native Adrenalead dashboard to isolate the channel’s contribution.
Centralising in a single tool — Google Looker Studio, DashThis — allows for a consistent comparison between channels, provided you rely on a clear, uniform marketing attribution model to avoid double counting.
What tools should you use to automate building a ROAS dashboard?
Three tools cover most needs depending on the context:
- Google Looker Studio: free, highly flexible solution, ideal for connecting multiple sources (Google Ads, GA4, Meta, CSV files) into a unified, shareable dashboard.
- DashThis: paid solution aimed at agencies and marketing teams, with native connectors for most advertising platforms and ready-made templates.
- Shopify Analytics: relevant for online retailers already on the platform, with native sales attribution by traffic source.
How do you use dashboard data to improve campaign profitability?
A ROAS dashboard only has value if it leads to concrete budget allocation decisions:
- Scale high-performing campaigns: increase budgets on channels and creatives whose ROAS comfortably exceeds the profitability threshold.
- Cut campaigns below the threshold: stop or pause campaigns that consume budget without generating positive margin.
- Reallocate towards the most effective channels: regularly arbitrate between channels based on consolidated data, not intuition.
- Cross-reference ROAS with incrementality tests: validate that the attributed revenue is genuinely generated by the campaign, rather than captured from conversions that would have happened anyway.
A single figure never tells the whole story of an advertising campaign.
ROAS remains an essential indicator, but it only takes on its full meaning within a structured dashboard, cross-referencing several complementary metrics: margin, acquisition cost, conversion rate and overall ROI.
Building this management tool to track your advertising revenue requires an initial effort to centralise data, but the return on that investment is immediate: faster, more precise budget decisions, and advertising profitability that mechanically improves over time.
Whether your business manages search, social or Web Push campaigns, the same rule applies: what isn’t measured can’t be optimised.
