In this guide
- POAS = gross profit ÷ ad spend. You need margin per product to compute it.
- In Open Tracked, enter margins under Products & costs; the POAS Data Feed power-up (Pro plan and up) computes profit per order on your server and sends it to GA4 and Google Ads.
- Start by calculating it by hand for last month. The pattern in the data shows whether automation is worth it.
Everyone knows ROAS. POAS is the version that includes what the goods cost you. This page is the how-to: collect the numbers, calculate by hand, automate, and use the result. For the difference between the two ratios read ROAS vs POAS.
What you need
| Data | Where to get it |
|---|---|
| Product price | Your shop |
| Product cost | Supplier invoices or your shop's cost field |
| Shipping you pay per order | Carrier invoices |
| Payment fees | Payment provider reports (about 2 to 3 percent plus a fixed fee) |
| Ad spend by campaign | Meta, Google Ads and TikTok reports |
| Orders by campaign | Your analytics |
Runs on your domain, anywhere
Your tracking runs on your own domain, so a visit from any country is handled the same way.
Calculate by hand first
Compute the margin per product
Margin = (price − product cost − shipping − fees) ÷ price.
Compute the profit of ad-driven orders
For each campaign, sum margin × revenue for its orders.
Divide by ad spend
POAS = profit ÷ spend for the same dates.
Rank campaigns
Sort by POAS. The order often differs from the ROAS ranking.
Example: a campaign spent $2,000 and brought $6,000 of revenue at an average margin of 35 percent. Profit is $2,100, so POAS is 1.05. ROAS is 3.0 and looks great, while the campaign only just pays for the goods.
Automate it in Open Tracked
- Open Products & costs and add the margin of each product, or a default margin.
- Open the POAS Data Feed power-up and press Save to activate it for your tagging server.
- Download the GTM files from the Setup Wizard and import them into your server container.
- Press Test this power-up.
- Send a test purchase in Preview: the GA4 tag carries a profit value and the Google Ads conversion uses it as its value.
The POAS Data Feed is available from the Pro plan. The Open Tracked analytics shows spend, revenue, ROAS and profit together, so you can see both ratios on the same screen.
Check your tracking in one pass
This is an example. Run the check on your own site to see where yours stands.
Use it in decisions
- Budget. Move budget from campaigns with low POAS to campaigns with high POAS, in steps of 10 to 20 percent.
- Creative. Compare creatives by profit, not only by revenue.
- Bidding. Where there is enough conversion volume, let Google Ads optimise for the profit value.
- Pricing. Find products that sell well but earn little and fix their price or cost.
Common mistakes
When to automate
Calculate by hand for one or two months first. If your margins are similar across products, a single default margin may be enough, and a spreadsheet is fine. If margins vary a lot, or you spend more than a few thousand dollars a month on ads, put the margins into the tracking so every order carries its own profit, and let your reports and bidding use it. Update the margins whenever supplier prices or shipping rates change, and note the date so you can explain a jump in the numbers later.
Terms you will see
- Gross margin
- Price minus product cost, shipping and fees, divided by price.
- POAS
- Profit on ad spend: gross profit divided by ad spend.
- Break-even
- The point where ad spend equals the profit it brings.
- Conversion value
- The number you send to an ad platform to say what a conversion is worth.
- Default margin
- A margin used for products you have not set one for.
Scenario: three campaigns, one budget
| Campaign | Spend | Revenue | ROAS | Margin | Profit | POAS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bestsellers | $1,000 | $4,000 | 4.0 | 30% | $1,200 | 1.2 |
| New arrivals | $1,000 | $3,000 | 3.0 | 55% | $1,650 | 1.65 |
| Clearance | $1,000 | $5,000 | 5.0 | 12% | $600 | 0.6 |
Clearance has the best ROAS and the worst POAS. A revenue-based view would add budget to it. A profit-based view moves budget to New arrivals. The figures are an illustration of the pattern, not a prediction for your store.
Watch events arrive, live
A sample feed. In Open Tracked you see the same stream for your own store.
Frequently asked questions
What is POAS?
Profit on ad spend: gross profit from ad-driven orders divided by ad spend.
Which Open Tracked plan includes the POAS Data Feed?
Pro and above.
Do I need exact costs?
Better data gives better results, but a sensible default margin is a good start.
Does the profit value go to Meta?
The power-up sends profit to GA4 and, as the conversion value, to Google Ads. For Meta, see Meta profit-based optimisation.
How often should I review POAS?
Weekly for campaign decisions, monthly for margin updates.
Do I need spreadsheets to read my results?
No. Once tracking is live, the Open Tracked analytics shows spend, revenue, ROAS and profit, and you can ask Ari, the built-in AI assistant, questions about your own numbers in plain words. Ari's allowance depends on your analytics plan.
Is Open Tracked different from Open Track or Open Space Track?
No. Open Tracked is the official name of our server-side tracking platform, and the website is opentracked.io. Many people search for it as Open Track, OpenTrack or Open Space Track. All of them lead to the same product: server-side Google Tag Manager hosting, first-party analytics and a CRM pipeline.
Fix your tracking at the source
Open Tracked hosts your server-side Tag Manager, keeps first-party cookies alive and shows what each ad is really worth.
The Open Tracked team
We build Open Tracked: server-side tracking hosting, analytics and the tools around them, for stores that spend on ads. Questions about this guide, or an idea for the next one?
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