In ecommerce marketing, there are two very different mindsets at play:
- One optimizes for short-term wins and shiny ROAS metrics.
- The other builds long-term, scalable growth with real business value.
We call the second one the Growth ROAS Mindset.
Both care about revenue and efficiency, but only one sets your business up to scale.
Traditional ROAS: The Safe, Familiar Trap
If you’ve spent time inside performance dashboards, you’ve probably seen this play out:
- You run an ad campaign.
- ROAS looks great (maybe 5x or 8x).
- You pause everything else and pour more money into what’s “working.”
- You cap spend to protect that performance.
- You celebrate the win.
But over time, growth stalls. New customer acquisition flatlines. And month-over-month revenue becomes harder to move.
That’s the trap.
Traditional ROAS is focused on efficiency, not expansion.
It’s rooted in the idea that a good campaign delivers the highest return, not the maximum profit or customer volume.
Growth ROAS: A New Way to Think
The Growth ROAS mindset flips the goal:
- It’s not about achieving the highest possible ROAS.
- It’s about scaling ad spend to the point where you maximize customer acquisition, while maintaining profitable unit economics.
A high ROAS is great if you’re also acquiring as many new customers as you could be. But most of the time, you’re not. You’re optimizing for ratios, not results.
Growth ROAS accepts that ROAS will decline as you scale but profit and customer count can go up.
Side-by-Side: Traditional ROAS vs. Growth ROAS
Let’s break it down in plain terms:
|
Aspect |
Traditional ROAS Mindset |
Growth ROAS Mindset |
|
Primary Goal |
Maximize ROAS (ratio) |
Maximize scalable profit & customer acquisition |
|
Focus |
Efficiency |
Expansion |
|
Ad Budget |
Kept small to maintain high ROAS |
Increased strategically to maximize customer volume |
|
Reporting |
ROAS, click-through rate, in-month performance |
CAC, LTV, contribution margin, new customers |
|
Growth Strategy |
Optimize current channels & creatives |
Test new audiences, creatives, and scale aggressively |
|
Success Metrics |
High ROAS, low spend |
More customers, more revenue, higher lifetime profit |
|
Biggest Risk |
Overspending and hurting ROAS |
Underspending and missing out on growth |
If you’ve plateaued, even with “great” ROAS numbers,it’s probably because you’re living in column one.
Real Example: Same Profit, More Growth
From the book, here’s a breakdown of three campaign scenarios that all generate the same contribution margin (~$76K), but with drastically different outcomes:
|
Scenario |
ROAS |
Ad Spend |
Revenue |
Contribution Margin |
Customers |
|
High ROAS |
8x |
$20,000 |
$160,000 |
$76,000 |
2,133 |
|
Growth Play |
5x |
$38,000 |
$190,000 |
$76,000 |
2,533 |
|
Scale Play |
3x |
$95,000 |
$285,000 |
$76,000 |
3,800 |
Same profit, up to 1,667 more customers.
That’s future revenue, future referrals, and future brand value. All because we stopped trying to have our metrics (ROAS) “look good”, and started focusing on scale.
Why the Growth Mindset Wins in the Long Run
- You control the volume of new customer acquisition.
- You compound revenue and LTV over time.
- You unlock scale, not just efficiency.
Most ecommerce brands are over-optimized for efficiency, and under-optimized for growth.
The Growth ROAS mindset lets you change that.
It gives you permission to spend more when it makes sense, not less.
It shifts your reports from “what’s our ROAS?” to “how many profitable customers did we acquire this month, and how can we get more?”
What It Takes to Shift Your Mindset
- Know your break-even ROAS
Understand the lowest ROAS you can sustain, and still make profit. - Track CAC, LTV, and contribution margin
These are your real business drivers, not just the return ratio. - Model tradeoffs
Ask: “If we spent 2x more, what would happen to ROAS, customer volume, and profit?” - Test aggressively, not recklessly
Push budgets incrementally, and monitor impact. Not just on ROAS, but on total growth. - Stop chasing what looks good. Start chasing what works.
You Don’t Need the Highest ROAS. You Need the Highest Return on Growth.
A traditional ROAS mindset might give you peace of mind.
But a Growth ROAS mindset will give you scale, sustainability, and serious value.
The next time your agency or media buyer shows you an 8x ROAS, ask this:
“Cool. But how many new customers did we get, and could we have doubled them by accepting a 5x?”
Explore Human’s Ecommerce Marketing Services
We specialize in helping brands shift from efficiency-obsessed to growth-optimized, without sacrificing profitability.
👉 Work with Human to scale profitably
Read the Book: Why High ROAS Is Bad for Your Ecommerce Business
This concept is core to the Growth ROAS playbook we lay out in the book. If you’re serious about unlocking real scale, start here:
📘 Read the full book → High ROAS Is Bad For Your Ecommerce Business
