The same campaign, two answers
One week of one Meta campaign
- Ad spend
- $500
- Revenue the platform reports
- $1,500
- Platform ROAS
- 3.0×
- Profit on earned orders (after goods, courier, fees, returns)
- $420
- Profit after ads
- − $80
Illustrative figures: a 3.0× ROAS that loses money once real costs are counted.
The problem
Where this goes wrong without the right numbers
A 3× ROAS can still lose money
If your costs eat most of each sale, a ratio that looks healthy in the ad dashboard is a loss in your bank account.
Returns arrive after the ad report is closed
Cash-on-delivery returns come back days later. The platform counted the sale; you paid the courier both ways and got nothing.
Ad accounts are paid in another currency
Dollar ad accounts paid with rupees, or the reverse, make spend and revenue hard to compare unless each day is converted at its own rate.
How it works
Three steps
Connect your ad accounts, read-only
Meta, Google Ads and TikTok Ads are connected with reporting access only. ProfitIQ reads spend and performance; it does not change your campaigns.
Turn on order attribution
Add the UTM parameters to your ad links. Each storefront order records its landing page’s campaign.
Read profit by campaign
Campaigns show orders, revenue, profit and profit after ads, against the real cost of what they sold.
What you get
What ProfitIQ does for this
Profit after ads
Profit on earned orders minus ad spend, per period and per campaign. It answers one question: are the ads paying for themselves?
Break-even ROAS per product
Worked out from the contribution each product has actually earned on real orders, so it moves when your costs, couriers or return rate move.
Honest attribution
Campaigns match on name or on the platform’s ID, so a renamed campaign is still found. Orders that cannot be attributed are shown as unattributed, never as zero.
Spend in your currency
Foreign-currency ad spend is converted at the rate for the day it was spent, into the currency you report in.
Three platforms, one view
Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Google Ads and TikTok Ads sit side by side, with spend logged by hand for any other channel.
Read-only by design
Reporting scopes only.
FAQ
Common questions
What is the difference between ROAS and profit-based ROAS?
ROAS is revenue divided by ad spend. Profit-based ROAS asks what is left after the cost of goods, courier charges, fees and returns, so it shows whether a campaign actually makes money. Read the full explanation in break-even ROAS explained.
Can ProfitIQ change or create my ads?
No. Connections are read-only for reporting.
Why are some orders shown as unattributed?
Attribution reads UTM parameters from your storefront’s landing page. Marketplace orders (Amazon, eBay) never touch your site, so they cannot carry a campaign, and ProfitIQ says so rather than assigning them to one.
What if I pay for dollar ads in rupees?
Spend is stored in the ad account’s currency and converted into your reporting currency at each day’s rate, so profit after ads compares like with like.
See what you really earn.
Connect a store in minutes. The free plan has no card and no time limit.