ROAS & LTV Calculator

ROAS Reality Check

Drag your real numbers in. See day-one ROAS and whether your customers are worth acquiring once you factor in AOV and lifetime value — not just whether the first order "worked."

Your numbers

$1K$150K
103,000
$10$1,000
5%90%

Lifetime value

$10$5,000
0.2×12.0×

Day-one ROAS

3.68×
Watch

Where day-one lands

B/E 2.4×
Target 4.0×
Losing moneyScaling territory
Revenue (period)
$91,930
Cost per acquisition
$39.43
Break-even ROAS
2.38×
Day-one gross profit
$13,611
Gap to target
−0.32×
LTV captured day one
14.9%
LTV : CAC ratio
10.4×
Above 3:1 is the standard healthy benchmark — below 1:1 means you're losing money on every customer, full lifetime included.
Day-one ROAS is below your 4.0× target, but with an LTV:CAC of 10.4×, these customers are worth far more than you're paying to acquire them — the real lever here is repeat purchase, not first-touch ROAS.

Illustrative tool — the numbers above are a sample. Plug in your own to see where you land.

How this is calculated

Day-one ROAS is revenue divided by spend — the number most dashboards lead with. This tool goes a step further: it calculates your break-even ROAS from gross margin (1 ÷ margin), then layers in customer lifetime value to show LTV:CAC — what a customer is actually worth once repeat purchases are factored in, not just their first order.

What counts as a "good" ROAS?

There isn't one number — it depends entirely on your gross margin. A 3× ROAS is losing money at a 20% margin but comfortably profitable at 40%. Your break-even ROAS (1 ÷ margin) is the real floor, not some industry-wide benchmark.

Why would I keep spending if day-one ROAS misses my target?

If LTV:CAC is strong — meaning customers come back and spend again — a weak first-order ROAS can still be a great investment. The real lever in that case is repeat purchase rate, not squeezing more out of the first click.

How is break-even ROAS calculated?

It is 1 divided by your gross margin. At a 42% margin, you need 2.38× just to cover the cost of the sale — anything above that is contributing profit, anything below it is losing money on that order.

What's the difference between ROAS and LTV:CAC?

ROAS looks at one transaction: revenue over spend. LTV:CAC compares what a customer is worth across their full relationship with you against what it cost to acquire them — a much better read on whether a channel is actually working.

Zeller Media

Want a straight answer on your own numbers?

No dashboard walkthroughs, no junior account manager — just Bradley Zeller looking at your actual accounts and telling you what's fixable.

Talk to Bradley → Paid Search & Paid Social Consulting · zellermedia.com