ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is a key advertising metric that measures the revenue generated for every dollar spent on ads.
It helps you understand how effectively your advertising campaigns are performing.
For example, if you spent $100 on ads and earned $500 in sales directly attributed to those ads, your ROAS would be 5x (or 500%).
In your Meta Ads Manager, ROAS appears as part of your campaign performance data.
Appesy helps improve the accuracy of this data by sending detailed conversion events (such as purchases, add-to-cart, view content, etc.) from your Shopify store to Meta Pixel and Conversion API (CAPI).
However, please note that Appesy does not collect or store your ad spend data.
The app only sends event data (purchases, etc.) to Meta. The cost information always comes directly from your Meta Ads account.
A higher ROAS means your ads are performing well and generating more revenue compared to what you spend.
However, it’s important to look at ROAS over a sufficient period of time to ensure the data is accurate and meaningful.
Because Meta’s attribution and event tracking take time to stabilize, we recommend analyzing ROAS across longer timeframes, such as:
7 days: Early data, may be incomplete or fluctuating
1 month: More stable, shows clearer performance trends
2–6 months: Best for long-term insights and accurate performance evaluation
Short-term ROAS may be misleading due to delayed conversions or attribution updates.
If you only check your ROAS after a few days or one week, the data may not yet reflect the full customer journey.
Meta’s system needs time to receive, attribute, and process events like purchases and conversions from multiple sessions or devices.
That’s why Appesy encourages merchants to evaluate their performance over a longer period — typically a month or more — before making conclusions about campaign effectiveness.
To see ROAS for your campaigns, follow these steps in Meta Ads Manager:
Open Ads Manager and select the campaign, ad set, or ad you want to inspect.
Click Columns → Customize Columns (or choose a saved column set).
Search for and add ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) — you can pick the ROAS variant you need (e.g., Website Purchase ROAS).
Apply the change — ROAS will appear in the table and in exported reports.
ROAS in Ads Manager is calculated from the conversion value Meta receives for purchase events. If any of the following conditions are missing or misconfigured, ROAS may be empty or inaccurate
Meta Pixel or Conversions API must be installed and firing correctly.
ROAS uses values recorded by the Meta Pixel or Conversions API, so at least one of these must be sending events to Meta.
The Purchase event must include a numeric value and currency.
The Purchase (or equivalent) event needs a value (amount) and currency parameter so Meta can compute revenue. If purchase value isn’t sent, ROAS cannot be calculated.
You need actual purchases attributed to the ads.
ROAS will only show meaningful data if your ads have generated at least one attributed purchase — zero purchases = no ROAS to report.
Event deduplication and correct event_id handling (if using both Pixel + CAPI).
When using both methods, ensure deduplication is set up (unique event_id) so Meta counts conversions only once; otherwise values can be misreported.
Attribution window and reporting delays can affect visibility.
Differences in attribution settings, conversion window, or reporting latency may cause ROAS to appear delayed or differ from other systems. Check your attribution settings in Ads Manager.
Data sufficiency rules for some optimization features (not strictly ROAS visibility).
Some bidding/optimization controls require a minimum number of conversion events (e.g., for certain predictive behaviours), but for ROAS display itself the key is having purchase value data and at least one purchase.
