Marketing metrics measure different stages of the path from ad spend to customer value. Most of them measure cost or revenue efficiency, not profit — profitability only appears once product and operating costs are brought in.

Traffic cost: CPC (cost per click) and CPM (cost per thousand impressions) describe what you pay for attention.
Conversion and acquisition: Conversion Rate shows what share of visitors act; CPA divides campaign spend by acquisitions; CAC divides acquisition spend by new customers.
Ad revenue efficiency: ROAS divides ad-attributed revenue by ad spend.
Longer-term customer value: LTV estimates revenue per customer over time, and LTV:CAC compares it with acquisition cost.
Return and thresholds: ROI measures net return on an investment, and Break-Even ROAS shows the ROAS needed to cover ad spend and per-sale costs.

Understand why strong ROAS is not the same as profit in ROAS vs ROI.
See how the denominator separates the two acquisition metrics in CAC vs CPA.

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Each tool explains the formula, shows a worked example, and links to related calculations so you can move from one decision to the next.

Related categories

Pricing & Profit Sales Finance