This glossary defines the marketing efficiency metrics in the Business Metrics section. Every one uses Net Sales as its revenue basis, so they agree with your P&L. Use Ctrl+F to jump to a term.
Metric | Definition | Formula | Where it comes from |
Ad Spend | Total spend across connected ad platforms | Sum of platform spend | Connected ad platforms |
Blended CAC | Average cost to acquire a new customer, all channels | Total Ad Spend ÷ New Customers | Ad platforms + Shopify Orders |
Blended ROAS | Return on ad spend across all channels | Net Sales ÷ Total Ad Spend | Derived |
New Customer ROAS | ROAS measured against new-customer revenue only | New-customer Net Sales ÷ Ad Spend | Derived |
MER | Marketing efficiency ratio | Net Sales ÷ Total marketing spend | Derived |
Profit on Ad Spend (POAS) | Profit generated per dollar of ad spend | Net Profit ÷ Ad Spend | Derived |
Actual ROAS | Return using last-click UTM attribution | Attributed Net Sales ÷ Ad Spend | Ad platforms + attribution |
Why these differ from Meta and Google
Ad platforms report self-attributed ROAS and frequently claim the same conversion more than once, so their numbers are higher than what ties to your bank account. Shopshot uses last-click UTM attribution and Net Sales as the numerator, so its ROAS is lower, conservative, and internally consistent. See Attribution and acquisition cost (CAC).
Reading the numbers
ROAS answers "how much revenue per ad dollar." POAS answers "how much profit per ad dollar," which is the one that decides whether scaling adds money.
Blended metrics cover all channels together. New Customer metrics isolate acquisition, which is where most ad budgets are really spent.
All are blank until an ad platform is connected.
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