What is a good ROAS for Meta ads?

These are the formulas you need:

• ROAS = revenue attributed to ads divided by ad spend.

• Margin = (order value minus variable costs) divided by order value. Variable costs are everything you pay per order apart from ads.

• Break-even ROAS = 1 divided by margin.

• Target ROAS = 1 divided by (margin minus target profit margin).

• Blended ROAS = total revenue divided by total ad spend across every channel. Some teams call this MER, the marketing efficiency ratio.

Say an order is worth $60. The product costs $24, shipping $6, payment fees and packaging $3, and you set aside $3 for returns. Variable costs are $36, leaving $24, a margin of 40 percent. Break-even ROAS is 1 divided by 0.4, which is 2.5.

Now a campaign spends $1,000 and Meta attributes $3,000 of sales to it, a ROAS of 3. At a 40 percent margin those sales leave $1,200 before ads, so after the $1,000 of spend you keep $200 towards fixed costs. The same ROAS on a 30 percent margin leaves $900 before ads, a $100 loss.

Two brands can run the same ROAS and get opposite results. A brand selling its own product at a high markup can profit at a ROAS of 2, while a reseller on thin margins can lose money at 4. Subscription and software businesses add a second question, which is how much a customer is worth over time rather than on the first payment.

Virlo is an example. It remade a 'sensitive content' style ad from the Mockingbird library in its own brand and ran it on Facebook and Instagram from July 2026. By Meta Ads Manager figures, it spent $10,195 for 197 sign-ups at $51.75 each, a 2.75 return on ad spend. Whether 2.75 is good for Virlo depends on its margin and on how long those customers stay subscribed. Ask the same question of any ROAS figure, including your own.

Meta's default attribution setting has long been seven days after a click or one day after a view, so check the setting on your own ad sets. Meta also estimates some conversions it cannot track directly. Its reported ROAS can therefore sit above or below the sales your store records. Neither number is wrong, since they count different things.

Compare Meta's figure with your store or billing data, tag ad links with UTM parameters using /tools/utm-builder, and judge profit on blended ROAS, total revenue against total ad spend. If blended ROAS falls while Meta's figure holds steady, trust the blended number.

The most common cause is creative fatigue. The same people have seen the ad too often, so clicks fall and costs rise. The guide at /guides/ad-creative-fatigue covers the signs. Other causes are seasonal jumps in auction costs, an offer ending, a broken tracking setup and a landing page change. Rule those out before you change the ads.

When fatigue is the cause, the fix is new creative, and it helps to have it ready. Mockingbird remakes proven Meta ads in your brand, so the next batch exists before the current winner slows down.

ROAS usually falls as spend rises, because each extra pound or dollar reaches people slightly less likely to buy. Raise budgets in steps rather than doubling overnight, since large changes can send an ad set back into Meta's learning phase, and keep new creative in testing so you have more winners to spend on. Scale while blended ROAS stays above your target, and stop when it nears break-even. The guide at /guides/facebook-ad-testing-budget covers how much to set aside for testing.