Marketing

Paid Ads Profitability

Evaluates profitability of paid advertising campaigns by calculating CPC, CPA, and ROAS, then flags whether each campaign is profitable after accounting for product margins. Designed for teams running ads across Google, Meta, LinkedIn, or similar platforms.

Marketing - Paid Ads Profitability.xlsx

Excel (.xlsx) — No macros — Works in Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice

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What This Spreadsheet Solves

ROAS looks healthy but campaigns lose money after accounting for margins
No quick way to flag unprofitable campaigns before month-end
CPA varies across campaigns with no benchmark to compare against
Cannot determine the break-even ROAS needed for profitability
Ad platform dashboards do not include product margin in their reporting

Who This Is For

PPC managers running paid search and social campaigns
E-commerce marketers tracking ad-driven revenue
Performance marketing agencies reporting to clients
Marketing analysts building profitability reports

Inputs

textCampaign Name
$Total Ad Spend
#Clicks
#Conversions
$Revenue from Conversions
%Product/Service Margin

Outputs

CPC (cost per click)
CPA (cost per acquisition)
ROAS (return on ad spend)
Net profit per campaign
Break-even ROAS threshold
Profitability flag (profitable / break-even / loss)

How Calculations Work

CPC is Spend / Clicks. CPA is Spend / Conversions. ROAS is Revenue / Spend. Net profit is (Revenue * Margin) - Spend. Break-even ROAS is 1 / Margin. Any campaign with ROAS below the break-even threshold is flagged as unprofitable. The output sorts campaigns by net profit.

Example Use Case

Scenario: An e-commerce store runs two campaigns: Brand Search ($2,000 spend, 4,000 clicks, 100 conversions, $8,000 revenue, 40% margin) and Prospecting ($5,000 spend, 10,000 clicks, 50 conversions, $7,500 revenue, 40% margin).

Result: Brand Search: CPC $0.50, CPA $20, ROAS 4.0x, net profit $1,200, profitable. Prospecting: CPC $0.50, CPA $100, ROAS 1.5x, net profit -$2,000, loss. Break-even ROAS at 40% margin is 2.5x.

What You Get — 5 Sheets

READMEDefines CPC, CPA, ROAS, and break-even ROAS. Explains how margin affects profitability assessment.

INPUTOne row per campaign with spend, clicks, conversions, revenue, and margin percentage.

LOGICCalculates CPC, CPA, ROAS, net profit, break-even ROAS, and assigns profitability flag.

OUTPUTCampaign profitability table sorted by net profit. Color-coded flags for profitable, break-even, and loss.

CONFIGDefault margin percentage, break-even tolerance band, currency format, and flag color settings.

Technical Details

File Format:.xlsx (Open XML)

Macros:None — pure formulas

Compatibility:Excel 2016+, Google Sheets, LibreOffice

Input Cells:Clearly marked with blue background

Formulas:All outputs are live Excel formulas

Protection:LOGIC sheet formulas protected, INPUT cells editable

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do I need margin to assess ad profitability?

ROAS alone does not account for cost of goods. A 2x ROAS with 30% margin means you lose money because only $0.60 of each revenue dollar is gross profit, but you spent $0.50 to earn it.

What if margins differ by product?

Enter the blended margin for each campaign, or split campaigns into rows by product for more precision.

How is the break-even ROAS calculated?

Break-even ROAS = 1 / Margin. At 50% margin you need at least 2.0x ROAS. At 25% margin you need 4.0x.

Can I include agency fees in the spend?

Yes. Add management fees to the spend column for a fully loaded profitability calculation.

What does the profitability flag mean?

Profitable: net profit > 0. Break-even: net profit within the tolerance band set in CONFIG. Loss: net profit below the tolerance band.

Download Paid Ads Profitability

Ready to use immediately. Enter your data in the INPUT sheet, see results in OUTPUT.

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