Target ROAS (tROAS)
Target ROAS (tROAS) is an automated bidding strategy in which the ad platform predicts the conversion value of each auction and sets bids to achieve an average return on ad spend close to the percentage target the advertiser sets.
Where Target CPA optimizes for a cost per conversion, tROAS optimizes for value. The platform predicts how much revenue a given click is likely to produce and bids proportionally: a query predicted to generate $300 gets a much higher bid than one predicted to generate $30, even though both count as one conversion. That makes tROAS the natural strategy for e-commerce, lead scoring with values attached, and any account where conversions are worth very different amounts. Google Ads expresses the target as a percentage (400% = 4x); it is available in Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen, and Microsoft Advertising offers an equivalent.
The hard prerequisite is conversion value tracking. Dynamic transaction values must be passed back correctly, and if you use static values for leads they should reflect real downstream worth — a form fill assigned an arbitrary $1 teaches the model nothing. Volume requirements are higher than for tCPA because the model is predicting a distribution of values, not a binary event; a commonly cited working floor is around 50 conversions in the trailing 30 days, and more if your order values are highly variable.
Set the target from your own data, not ambition. Look at the campaign's actual ROAS over the last 30-60 days and start there or slightly below, then raise in 10-20% steps. Every increase in target ROAS trades volume for efficiency: at a higher target the system declines auctions it can no longer justify, so spend and revenue both fall while the ratio improves. If the goal is total profit rather than a pretty ratio, the right target is usually the one that maximizes revenue above break-even, which is frequently lower than the one advertisers instinctively pick. Also expect seasonality — a target that works in Q4 may starve the account in January.
Opus Growth lets you inspect value-based performance and change bidding strategies conversationally across Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising, including moving a campaign from Maximize Conversion Value to tROAS or adjusting an existing target. As with every write action, you get a dry run of the exact change before anything reaches the live account, and agency users can work across multiple client accounts through MCC-safe isolation.
Frequently asked questions
Use tROAS when conversions have meaningfully different values — e-commerce orders, subscriptions with different tiers, or scored leads. Use tCPA when every conversion is worth roughly the same, such as a single-product lead form.
More than Target CPA, because it predicts value rather than a yes/no event. Around 50 conversions in the last 30 days is a reasonable working minimum, and highly variable order values call for more before the predictions stabilize.
A higher target makes the system skip auctions it cannot deliver profitably at that ratio, so impressions, spend and revenue all shrink while efficiency improves. If total profit matters more than the ratio, test a lower target and compare absolute margin.
