What ROAS should I actually be targeting, and how do I use benchmarks correctly?
The short answer
Ignore the flat '3x is good' rule, your target ROAS is whatever clears your break-even ROAS, set by your gross margin, not a benchmark someone posted online. A 60% margin brand can be healthy at 2.5x while a 30% margin brand needs 4x+ just to break even, compute your own number before comparing yourself to anyone. Use published benchmarks only to sanity-check you're in the right zip code for your category, never as your actual target.
A quick summary to orient you. The real value is below: the resources worth your time, from people who've actually done it, not us.
Here are the resources
Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time. India-specific ones carry a badge.
Why we picked it
Resets unrealistic expectations with real 2025 benchmark data by vertical, useful for checking your ROAS against your actual category instead of a made-up universal target.
Why we picked it
Spells out the exact CAC, LTV and payback period formulas with an India lens, the most direct answer we found to 'how do I actually calculate this for my brand' rather than just defining the terms.
Why we picked it
Ties CAC and ROAS back to contribution margin in one framework, which is the missing link that stops founders from optimising a metric that looks good but doesn't actually mean the business is profitable.
Why we picked it
A free, ready-to-use spreadsheet to actually compute your LTV, CAC and ratio instead of eyeballing it, the fastest way to get from 'I think we're profitable' to a real number.
