Which ad spend and costs does each Dashboard card add up?
Blended ROAS, Blended MER, Blended Profit, Cost Breakdown and the channel table each add up a different set of ad spend and costs.
Why the totals differ
Not every card on the Dashboard adds up the same money. Some count only Meta, Google Ads and TikTok spend, others count more ad platforms, and some also count the costs you entered in Cost Manager (under Setup in the left menu, see What is Cost Manager and what can I do there?). So two cards can show a different spend, ROAS or profit for the same dates.
Three kinds of money go into these cards:
- Ad spend is what your connected ad platforms charged: Meta, Google Ads, TikTok, Pinterest, Microsoft Ads, Snapchat and AppLovin. Microsoft Ads is called Bing in Cost Breakdown and Bing Ads in the channel table. Spend you entered by hand under Ad Spend Without an Integration in Cost Manager is added on top. See How do I add ad spend from a platform TrueROAS can't connect to?.
- Order costs are the product cost, handling, shipping and payment processing of the orders in your date range. See How do I add my product costs in Cost Manager?. Where these come from when you have not entered any, and what est. and Add cost next to a number mean, is explained in How do I set my break-even ROAS and use it instead of product costs?.
- Custom Costs are your Fixed Monthly and % of Revenue costs, entered under Custom Costs in Cost Manager. How much of each one counts for your dates is explained in How do I add monthly costs like apps, rent or payment fees?.
Ad spend in each card
| Ad spend counted | Cards |
|---|---|
| Meta, Google Ads and TikTok, plus your hand-entered spend | Blended Ad Spend, Blended MER, Blended CPA and the ROAS before the slash on Blended ROAS / POAS |
| Meta, Google Ads, TikTok, Pinterest, Microsoft Ads and AppLovin, plus your hand-entered spend. Snapchat is left out. | Blended Profit, Blended POAS and Marginal ROAS |
| All seven ad platforms, plus your hand-entered spend | The POAS after the slash on Blended ROAS / POAS, Blended CAC, Contribution Margin, Ad Spend Total in Cost Breakdown and the Total row of the channel table |
Marginal ROAS looks at how your sales moved with your spend from day to day. It spreads TikTok, Pinterest, Microsoft Ads and AppLovin spend evenly over the days, so only Meta, Google Ads and hand-entered spend change from one day to the next.
Costs in each card
| Costs counted | Cards |
|---|---|
| None, ad spend only | Blended Ad Spend, Blended MER, Blended CAC, Marginal ROAS and the ROAS in the channel table |
| Custom Costs, added to the ad spend | The ROAS on Blended ROAS / POAS, and Blended CPA with New CPA |
| Order costs and Custom Costs | The POAS on Blended ROAS / POAS, Blended Profit and Blended POAS |
| Order costs and your % of Revenue Custom Costs. Fixed monthly costs are not taken off. | Contribution Margin |
| Order costs only | Profit and the POAS in the channel table, also in the Total row |
| Each kind in its own group | Cost Breakdown, with Ad Spend Total, Order Costs Total, Custom Costs Total and Total Costs at the bottom |
What this means for numbers that look like they should match:
- The ROAS in the Total row of the channel table divides Total Sales by the spend of all seven ad platforms plus your hand-entered spend, without costs. The ROAS on Blended ROAS / POAS counts only Meta, Google Ads, TikTok and hand-entered spend, and adds your Custom Costs to it. The two are rarely the same.
- The Profit in the Total row of the channel table is the sum of the rows above it, and no row takes off Custom Costs. Blended Profit does take them off.
- Without Snapchat spend, Contribution Margin is your Blended Profit plus your fixed monthly Custom Costs.
- The Blended Ad Spend chart draws your Custom Costs as an extra line, spread evenly over the days, and counts them in its dashed total line. The big number leaves them out.
- The dashed line on the Blended CPA chart leaves Custom Costs out, while the big number includes them.
Break-even for POAS
POAS means profit on ad spend. Where it breaks even depends on the card:
- The POAS after the slash on Blended ROAS / POAS and in the channel table takes your costs off your sales, but not your ad spend. It breaks even at 1.
- Blended POAS also takes your ad spend off, so it breaks even at 0. Its tooltip says A POAS greater than 0 means your campaigns are profitable.
For example, with sales of 5,000, costs of 3,000 and ad spend of 1,000, the POAS on Blended ROAS / POAS is 2 and Blended POAS is 1. Both mean you made money.
Good to know
- Costs and hand-entered spend in Cost Manager are saved for the whole store, so they count the same for everyone on the store.
- Cards for one ad platform, such as Meta Ad ROAS, use only that platform's spend and no costs. See What do the Meta, Google and TikTok cards mean?.
- Which sales a card counts is a separate question. See Why don't my Dashboard Meta or Google sales match the Ads Manager?.
- You cannot choose which ad platforms or costs a card adds up.