What Is ROAS and Why Is It Important?

Simply put, ROAS stands for return on ad spend and it is one of the most useful gauges of advertising metrics available. However, ROAS is also a widely underused metric to gauge ad campaign success. There is always a goal when it comes to an advertising campaign. Whether it is to drive sales for a business, increase signups for a subscription email, generate new downloads, or simply increase web traffic, there is always an overarching goal. This is especially true for paid search or digital ad campaigns that attempt to capture audience members that tend to be fairly low down on the sales and marketing funnel, often having little to no familiarity with the product or service. This is where a paid search or digital marketing campaign excels, attempting to turn that audience member into a lead or customer.

Return on ad spend gives advertisers the ability to track and analyze exactly how much was spent per campaign, ad or keyword down to the penny. This allows advertisers to see end results and determine how much new revenue or new customers were gained with very little effort using ROAS. Advertisers can then consistently polish campaigns to garner the best results for their ad spend.

Now that you have a firm grasp on what ROAS is and why it is so essential to monitor, let’s talk about how to craft a truly excellent ad that will provide the best results for your budgeted ad spend. These five simple tips will help you perfectly polish your ads to attract the most clicks, resulting in an increased ROAS for your ad campaigns.

Be Consistent With your Ads

Consistency is key when it comes to increasing your return on ad spend. It really doesn’t matter on what type of platform your audience consumes your ad media, they want to see a consistent message. Many audience members will need to see an ad more than once, typically across multiple mediums, before finally clicking through to a website. A consistent message makes it more likely that audience members will be enticed to click, generating a better ROAS.

Write and Test Creative Ad Copy

One of the best ways to ensure that your ads are resonating with your target audience is to always test your ad copy. The more ways you can test various parts of your ad, the better the chance of generating a higher click-through rate, increasing your ROAS.

Use a Strong Call-To-Action (CTA)

The CTA is arguably the most important thing to craft when it comes to ad copy for any digital campaign designed to attract clicks from audience members. The CTA is often used in button form so you typically have a very minimal amount of words to work with. Creativity is the key when it comes to building a really strong CTA. For example, ten years ago the CTA of “click here” or “learn more” may have been the standard. Today, audience members are attractive to creativity and CTAs that offer something of value. For example, if you are an advertiser for a candle company and your goal is to drive audience members to your online store to make a purchase, you would see a much better ROAS with a creative CTA such as “find your signature candle scent,” rather than something basic such as “shop now.” The more creative you can be, the better your chance of having a strong call to action that converts.

Showcase Value

As mentioned above, showcasing value is one of the best ways to garner more clicks and drive audience members to take the final goal action, generating a higher return on your ad spend. Value can be any type of offer that gives some type of benefit to audience members. Free shipping after a certain purchase point, a 30-day free trial, benefits of subscribing to a daily e-blast, or an exclusive membership are all examples of ways that you can showcase tangible value to audience members after they click your ad. Value can also come in the form of less-tangible things such as knowledge that audience members may wish to obtain.

Create a Sense of Urgency

The very last thing you’ll want to consider when crafting an ad with the goal of increasing your return on ad spend is how you can create a sense of urgency. Offering something of benefit for a limited time is an excellent way to do this. You can also consider seasonal trends or benefits that can be tied into your ad copy.