Turn ad spend, click costs and conversion rate into cost per acquisition and the return you need to break even.
Fill in your campaign numbers to see CPA, ROAS and the break-even point.
Results are estimates for guidance only and assume the inputs you provide — they aren't financial advice.
The number that matters is margin-adjusted
Ad platforms report ROAS against gross revenue, but a competition operator only keeps the margin after prizes and payment fees — so a "3× ROAS" campaign is profitable at 40% margin and underwater at 25%. Dividing 100 by your margin percentage gives the break-even ROAS, and that single comparison settles whether a campaign worked far faster than staring at click reports.
The same logic gives a break-even CPA: average order value times margin. Campaigns above it aren't automatically bad — competition audiences repeat-purchase heavily, so paying slightly over break-even for a first order can be rational customer acquisition — but it should be a decision, not a surprise. If you're unsure what margin to enter, work it out for a typical draw with the profit calculator.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good ROAS for competition marketing?
It depends entirely on your margin after prizes and fees. If 35% of revenue is margin, you need a ROAS above roughly 2.9 just to break even on the first order — anything below that is buying customers at a loss, which is only sound if repeat purchases recover it.
How do I work out cost per acquisition (CPA)?
Divide total ad spend by the number of paying customers it produced. Working forwards: spend ÷ cost per click gives visitors, visitors × conversion rate gives customers. A £500 campaign at £0.50 a click and 4% conversion yields 40 customers — a £12.50 CPA, which only works if margin per order (or per customer lifetime) exceeds it.
Why do competition ads need first-party tracking?
Competition traffic converts heavily on mobile and social, where ad-platform attribution is patchy — and Meta restricts some competition-style advertising, pushing operators to Google, TikTok and influencer channels with inconsistent reporting. Without UTM-tagged links and server-side or first-party analytics, your real CPA can be far from what the ad platform claims.
Find Competitions tracks live ticket sales, pricing and sell-through across the UK competition market — see how your numbers compare to operators like you.