What the number actually does
A target ROAS tells the model the minimum return it must believe a click will produce before it bids on it. Set it to 5x and the model only chases traffic it predicts will return five dollars for every one spent — everything below that bar gets starved.
That makes the target a throttle, not a guarantee. Push it up and you protect margin but shrink reach. Pull it down and you unlock volume at lower efficiency. Most teams set it once, emotionally, and never revisit it.
Start from your margins, not a competitor
Work backward from the contribution margin you need on incremental revenue. If you can afford to spend $1 to make $3 and still hit your margin target, your floor is roughly 3x — not whatever number a case study quoted.
Then give the model headroom. Setting the target exactly at break-even leaves no room for the learning period, where early bids are noisier. A target slightly above break-even lets the model explore without bleeding money.
Move it deliberately
Treat the target as a dial you turn in response to goals, not daily performance. Chasing growth this quarter? Lower it a point and accept thinner efficiency for more volume. Defending profitability? Raise it. AlgoBoost will reallocate within hours either way — but it can only optimize toward the goal you actually set.