From Ad Losses to Revenue Wins
The Situation
A business spent $1,000 on 10 digital ads. The outcome?
9 ads lost $100 each = –$900
1 ad made $500 in revenue from a $100 spend = +$400
Net loss: –$500
At first glance, it looked like a failed campaign. But a deeper look revealed a different story.
What the Data Showed
Using Tracking Categories and Account Transactions in Xero, we broke down ad performance by campaign. This uncovered a high-performing ad with a Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) of 4.0, hidden among underperformers.
This is a pattern we often see—one strong campaign buried in the averages.
The Fix: Focus on What Works
Stop Spending on the Losing Ads
The budget was redirected away from the 9 underperformers.Scale the Winning Campaign
The full $1,000 monthly ad budget was reallocated to the proven ad.Projected Results at 4.0 ROAS
$1,000 ad spend
$4,000 revenue
$3,000 profit
Key Takeaway
What looked like a $500 loss became a path to $3,000 profit—just by tracking ad performance accurately and reallocating spend. When tools like Xero are set up to monitor ROAS by campaign, even a losing ad budget can become a revenue growth engine.