Separate cost categories
List media spend, management or production fees and the variable costs of serving an order. Keep setup work separate from monthly work. Clarify which costs scale with orders and which stay fixed over the period. A media ROAS target is not a complete profit calculation.
Estimate contribution before advertising
Begin with revenue and subtract variable costs expressed on the same revenue basis. The remaining proportion is contribution margin before ads. Be consistent about taxes, shipping revenue, discounts and returns. Mixing net revenue with costs calculated on another basis produces a misleading answer.
Use break-even as a model
At a 40% contribution margin before ads, simple media-only break-even ROAS is 1 divided by 0.40, or 2.50×. That excludes fixed overhead and management fees unless modeled separately. Our calculator explores this relationship. Starting values are illustrative, not peptide-industry benchmarks.
Plan a review around evidence
Agree what the business can allocate to learning and what would support continuing. A small test can provide directional evidence without establishing a stable acquisition cost. Write review conditions before launch and update assumptions with actual business records. Keep uncertainty visible rather than replacing it with an unsupported forecast.
Put it into practice
Use consistent cost assumptions, separate fixed fees and check targets against real business records.