Agencies hate us for sharing this insider-only calculator.
But we just want to help your business succeed. 🤷

It's common to lose traffic at each step of the customer journey.

But which fixes maximize revenue?

Graphs can show where buyers drop off. But our agency can tell you why they leave. Then we fix it. This is how we 10x client ad campaign revenue. Not just with better ad strategies, but also by optimizing every step of the user experience after the click.

Incremental improvements that lead to compounding results every single time. Just ask our clients like Baskin Robbins, Dodge Motor Sports, RTIC, and hundreds of small businesses & ecomm brands.

Use this calculator to see how each KPI influences the next step in typical ad campaign funnel impacts revenue.

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Key Takeaways

ROAS is math. Your funnel decides it.
The “best” KPI depends on the next step.
Small funnel leaks compound fast.
Checkout drop-off is normal. It is not harmless.
Break-even ROAS is a business number, not a platform number.
Get enough staistical data to identify what to fix first. Then another. Then another. Then scale.

What is this calculator (in plain English)

What ROAS you'll get from your current funnel

Plug in your real numbers. Or your expected projections.

The calculator returns an expected ROAS range, CPC, revenue from ads, blended revenue when including potential email automation conversions, and more. When you know expected revenue for your ad spend, you can more realistically identify areas to focus to maximize return.

Of course, remember, how campaigns perform changes seasonally, per platform, and over time as more and more optimizations occur.

What breaks first when performance drops

Most accounts do not fail everywhere at once. They fail at one choke point.

It is usually click quality, landing engagement, or checkout completion. Cart abandonment averages around 70% in many studies, so drop-off is normal, but you still have to control it.

What inputs move ROAS the fastest

Some levers compound harder than others. CTR can help. But crazy good CTR can also poison the funnel if you downstream. A small lift in checkout completion can beat a big CTR lift, because it increases true revenue, not just traffic.

The important area to note is that paid ads is is a very important driver for total inbound customers. But it takes a sophisticated team to understand how to integrate and optimize every step of the way. Incremental changes across multiple areas compounds significantly.

The old adagae still applies: the best ads in the world can't fix a broken landing pages.

When it comes to ads, it's not all about ads. You should work with a team who's expertise extends across all phases of the buyers journey.

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How to use it

Step 1: Set budget + product price

Start with monthly spend. Add your average order value, or average booked job value. Keep it conservative. You are stress-testing reality.

This calculator is not factoring in additional business operations elements like COGs or shipping etc. We are first focused on trying to generate cashflow.

Step 2: Set top-of-funnel realistically (CPM, CTR, bounce)

Use your platform reports for CPM and CTR. Then add bounce or engagement rate from GA4. In GA4, bounce rate is the inverse of engagement rate. That is a cleaner diagnostic than old UA bounce logic.

We have tried to default to common numbers. But always know that things can vary wildly between ad creative, product, time of year, and price even within the same brand.

Even more on new accounts vs matured accounts with a lot of historical customer data to work off.

Step 3: Set purchase path (ATC, checkout, completion)

If you are ecommerce, use ATC rate and checkout completion. If you are lead gen, use lead rate and close rate. Then compare outputs to your actual results. If they mismatch, tracking is a suspect.

Built-in sanity checks

If ROAS looks “great” but cash is tight, your costs are missing.
If CTR is high but ROAS is low, the click may be misaligned.
If carts happen but purchases do not, checkout friction is likely.

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Definitions

ROAS vs Blended Roas

ROAS is revenue divided by ad spend for a platform or campaign.

Blended ROAS includes multiple channels together. An example are sales from an email subscriber list may feel like it cost $0, but that person likely got on your list from a paid ad months ago. Or a refer-a-friend purchase may not have been a specific expense, but rather due to a contribution from good customer service and a continuation of a sale that originated from a source. Tracking and attributing where these sales come from help further understand which pieces of the puzzle contribute to overall success.

The calculator supports both thinking styles, but your next action depends on which story you need.

CPC, CPM, CTR, Conversion Rate

CPM: cost to reach 1,000 impressions.
CTR: percent of impressions that become clicks.
CPC: cost per click.
Conversion rate: percent of sessions that become purchases or leads.

Bounce rate, engaged sessions, and scroll depth

In GA4, an engaged session is tied to meaningful engagement, and bounce rate is the percentage of sessions that were not engaged.

Scroll depth adds context. It helps you see if people are reading, or leaving fast.

Why email lift changes “true” ROAS

Email or SMS converts days or weeks after the paid ad click. Some businesses generate significant revenue via email and SMS. But this is where last-click ROAS can be misleading. People got to that email list somehow.

It would be like Mercedes Benz seeing that all their actual sales come from sales staff in a dealer. So they cut all marketing and ad spend and hire thousands of sales staff in a dealership.

The other channels contribute in significant ways. Finding which channel contributes what, and how, and when is why you need an expert, not just a "buyer."

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The uncomfortable truth about “better CTR”

CTR can be improved in ways that harm the next step.

Focusing on optimizing a single metric above all else is easy. There are ways to get incredible CTR. Clickbait headlines, misleading CTAs, and vague curiosity all raise clicks.

They also raise bounce and reduce buyer intent. And can damage performance significantly.

“Traffic only has value if it turns into something.” - Gyi Tsakalakis

Why it hits: Ecommerce is compounding leakage. Small inefficiencies kill scale.

Apply it: No one metric is more important than another. We see it as mathematical representations of how your customers are reacting to your presentation. It's about how they all work together.

Works for US advertisers (local + national)

ROAS vs Blended Roas

This calculator works across the US. It fits local and national campaigns.

It is useful for ecommerce stores and lead gen teams.

It applies to plumbers, HVAC, dentists, law firms, and Shopify brands.

It also applies when you advertise across states, not just one city.

Metrics aren't everything, but individually, KPIs and drop off ratios give visibility into potential buyer behavior and areas of opportunity to optimize.

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Frequently asked questions

What is good ROAS?

A good ROAS depends on margin, fulfillment cost, and cash cycle.

Many teams aim for 2.0–4.0 as a starting zone, then adjust based on contribution profit, not just revenue.

But many industries thrive off optimizing for blended ROAS from different channels. Your path to success could be ads to build a huge email list. Or it could be getting a large number of repeat customers.

What is break-even ROAS?

Break-even ROAS is the minimum ROAS needed to cover product cost and variable costs. If you ignore shipping subsidies and refunds, you will overstate “profit.”

Why do I have add to carts but no purchases?

Cart abandonment is common, often around 70% on average.

That does not mean you accept it. It means checkout clarity and surprise reduction matter.

Stay tuned for a deep dive into 6-10 different factors that may influence your abandon cart.

Should I optimize Meta and Google Ads the same way?

No. The math can be shared. The intent is different. Search captures demand. Social manufactures demand. Your model should reflect that difference.

Why does my ROAS look fine but profit feels bad?

Attribution is imperfect. Costs are often missing. Measure contribution margin. Track refunds. Then decide.

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Need help improving ROAS without gambling your business?

You can run ads yourself. Many do. The hard part is the burden.

You are funding experiments with real cash. You are also responsible for outcomes. While also running your business.

Pretty-Impressive runs Google Ads and Meta with a full-funnel lens. Looking deep into the ad campaign and build, and deep into the activities that occur after the click. We focus on the KPIs that actually drive revenue.

We also build toward what is next, including ChatGPT Ads when it fits.

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If we can help you fix your campaigns in 10 minutes, we will tell you.If the system requires restructuring, we will show you why.

A Conversion-focused summary

If your ROAS is unstable, the fix is rarely “change the ads.” It is usually a bottleneck. Use the calculator to find it.

Better ad creative always helps, sure. But modern ads is all an auction, there's a minimum cost to reach your target audience. There's a degree of diminishing returns over-investing in ads or creative, when the same effort could be directed at a down-funnel fix that can have significantly more impact.

If you want a team that owns the whole chain, Pretty-Impressive can help you do it fast, with less risk.