What ROAS should I actually be targeting, and how do I use benchmarks correctly?
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.
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4 resources, 1 India-specific, 4 link-checked.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
