What is ROAS?
ROAS, or Return on Ad Spend, is a measure of how much revenue your SMS marketing is generating relative to what you're spending on it. In TxtCart, ROAS gives you a quick, at-a-glance signal of how well your campaigns and flows are performing financially.
Where is ROAS displayed?
You'll find ROAS surfaced in three places across TxtCart:
Home page: Reflects your overall SMS marketing performance.
Flows screen: ROAS is shown broken down by individual flow in the ROAS column next to each flow.
Campaigns screen: Each campaign shows its own ROAS alongside other performance metrics.
How is ROAS calculated?
TxtCart calculates ROAS by taking your total attributed revenue, subtracting your SMS costs, and dividing by what you spent. Here's the formula:
(Total Attributed Revenue - Marketing Spend) / Marketing Spend
Total Attributed Revenue is the total revenue credited to your SMS activity based on your Attribution Settings.
Marketing Spend is the total cost of sending SMS/MMS (Campaigns & Flows).
So, for example, if you generated $5,000 in attributed revenue and spent $500 in total SMS/MMS messaging costs, your ROAS would be 9x (or 900%), meaning you earned $9 for every $1 spent.
Note: If you signed up before January 18, 2026 and are still on performance-based billing, your Total SMS Costs will also include Transaction Fees for any successfully recovered orders.
How do Attribution Settings affect your ROAS?
TxtCart gives you full control over how revenue is reported. Attribution determines which orders get credited to your SMS activity, and since attributed revenue feeds directly into your ROAS calculation, your Attribution Settings have a direct impact on the number you see.
For example, a broader attribution window (crediting any purchase made within 7 days of a click) will capture more revenue and produce a higher ROAS. A more restrictive setting will credit less revenue and result in a lower ROAS.
Neither is wrong. It comes down to how conservatively or generously you want to measure performance. What matters is keeping your settings consistent over time so your ROAS trends are actually comparable.
You can update your Attribution Settings from two places:
General Settings: automatically applies to all flows. To adjust it, go to your TxtCart app and navigate to Account Details > Messaging > Attribution Settings.
Individual Flow level: lets you customize attribution per flow. To adjust it, you can follow this guide here and check the "Flow-Level Attribution Settings" section.
Are carrier fees included in my ROAS?
TxtCart's ROAS reflects the return on your SMS marketing, specifically how much revenue your messages drove relative to your campaign and flow investment.
Carrier fees are separate. They are transmission fees charged directly by telecom carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile) per message segment. TxtCart passes these fees through to you at cost; we don't mark them up or pocket any portion of them.
Because they are a delivery cost rather than a campaign cost, they fall outside the ROAS calculation.