Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) measures how much revenue you generate for every dollar spent on advertising. A ROAS of 5x means you earned $5 for every $1 spent.
But what counts as “good” depends entirely on your industry, margins and business model.
NZ benchmarks by industry
E-commerce (physical products): 4x-8x ROAS is solid. Margins are typically 30-50%, so you need at least 3x to be profitable after ad spend.
SaaS & subscriptions: 3x-5x on initial acquisition is strong, because lifetime value usually makes even lower-ROAS campaigns profitable long-term.
Professional services: 8x-15x is achievable because average deal values are high. A single client worth $10,000+ can justify significant ad spend.
Lead generation: Measure cost per qualified lead rather than direct ROAS. Under $50 per qualified lead is excellent for most NZ B2B businesses.
How to improve your ROAS
The three fastest levers are: better targeting (reach the right people), better creative (make them click), and better landing pages (make them convert). Most businesses focus only on targeting and ignore their landing page experience, which is often the biggest bottleneck.
Try our ROAS Calculator to model what your campaigns could deliver.