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Does Google Ads actually pay off for you?
Two calculators in one: at which ROAS and CPA you make a profit — and what a budget turns into in clicks, enquiries, new customers and revenue. With industry benchmarks from the DACH region.
- 1 Mio. €+ Werbebudget verantwortet
- Ex-Google Performance-Berater
- 120+ Kunden im DACH-Raum
At which ROAS and CPA your advertising even pays for itself — from order value and margin.
Your economics
Revenue per won customer (incl. follow-up orders if any).
What's left after materials, external costs & fees — before ad spend.
Your profit target
What should remain as margin after the advertising is paid for.
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Background
Break-even ROAS explained in 60 seconds
The ROAS (return on ad spend) tells you how much revenue you make per euro of ad budget. A ROAS of 4 means: €1 budget → €4 revenue. Sounds good — but says nothing about profit.
The only formula you need to remember:
Break-even ROAS = 100 ÷ margin in %
At a 25% margin you need a ROAS of 4 just to break even. At a 50% margin a ROAS of 2 is enough. That is why the same ROAS can be a profit fireworks display for one shop and a loss-making deal for another.
For lead gen you do the mirror image with the CPA: deal value × margin = the most a lead is allowed to cost you. You'll find both perspectives above in "Profitability" mode.
What Google Ads costs — and the metrics behind it
"What does Google Ads cost?" can't be answered with a click price. It costs as much as your CPA allows relative to your margin. The "Budget → Result" mode runs your budget through the whole funnel — here are the metrics that matter:
- CPC — Cost per Click
- What you pay on average for a click. Drops with a better quality score — relevant keywords, ads and landing page.
- CPL — Cost per Lead
- What an enquiry costs you: budget ÷ enquiries. Good for comparing campaigns — but says nothing about enquiry quality yet.
- CPA — Cost per Acquisition
- What a paying new customer costs: budget ÷ new customers. The key number. As long as CPA is below your break-even CPA, you make money.
- Margin & break-even
- Only margin decides profit. Break-even ROAS = 100 ÷ margin %. At a 40% margin you need at least ROAS 2.5 to cover costs.
The calculator is a model with your estimates — not a promise. Real accounts have fluctuations, seasonal effects and learning phases. That's exactly what I look at with you in the intro call.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about the Google Ads calculator
What is the break-even ROAS?
Why is a ROAS of 2 often not enough?
What is the difference between ROAS and CPA?
How much budget do I need for Google Ads?
Do I need my real numbers?
Which margin should I enter?
What is the most important metric?
My result is negative — does that mean Google Ads is not for me?
Are my numbers stored or transmitted?
Do your campaigns not know their break-even?
I bring tracking and campaign management onto a profit basis: conversion values, target-ROAS bidding and reporting that shows profit instead of clicks.