Blended ROAS, platform ROAS and Fabrik-attributed ROAS compared
Why three ROAS figures for the same ad spend disagree, what each one counts, where each appears, and which one to use for which decision.
3 min readUpdated 7 October 2026
The same ad spend can show three different returns, because each ROAS answers a different question. None of them is wrong. This article shows what each counts and when to use it.
The three figures
| Figure | Revenue side | Answers |
|---|---|---|
| Blended ROAS | Every sale (net sales plus shipping), whichever channel drove it | For every unit spent on ads, how much did the business sell in total? |
| Platform-claimed ROAS | The revenue each ad platform claims for its own ads, added together | What do the platforms say their ads earned? |
| Fabrik-attributed ROAS | Net sales on orders Fabrik's own answer gives to a paid channel (paid social, paid search, display) | Which orders can we trace to a paid visit? |
All three divide by the same total ad spend across Meta and Google Ads.
A worked example
Fellwick spends 10,000 in a month.
- Net sales plus shipping for the month is 40,000. Blended ROAS = 4.00x.
- Meta claims 30,000 of revenue and Google claims 15,000. Some orders are claimed by both, and some were bought by people who only saw an ad. Platform-claimed ROAS = 4.50x, even though it is more than the share of sales ads could have driven.
- Fabrik traces 22,000 of net sales to visits from paid social or paid search. Fabrik-attributed ROAS = 2.20x. The rest went to email, organic, referral or Direct.
How Fabrik gives each order its channel
Each order gets one answer, the first of these that applies:
- The pixel's last visit with a source (a UTM tag or an outside referring website) in the 30 days before the purchase.
- The landing page Shopify recorded: its UTM tags or ad click id.
- The outside website that referred the visit.
An order where the pixel saw only visits with no source, or whose landing page carried no tags, is Direct. An order with no evidence at all, such as a point of sale order, is Not recorded.
Step by step: compare them
- Open the brand and choose Paid Media.
- On the Overview, the Fabrik-attributed ROAS tile shows the platforms' own claimed ROAS in its hint. MER % beside it is blended ROAS turned upside down.
- In the By channel table, each channel's Platform-claimed ROAS sits beside its Fabrik-attributed, last click ROAS.
- Blended ROAS itself is on Trading, Overview.
- Pick the period and comparison in the date control to see how each moved.
Which one to use
- Set budgets and targets on blended ROAS or MER. They compare spend with real revenue.
- Compare campaigns inside one platform with that platform's ROAS on the Meta or Google pages, since every campaign there is judged by the same rules.
- Check what paid traffic really brings with Fabrik-attributed ROAS, remembering that it gives nothing to ads that inspired a later direct visit.
Troubleshooting
- Fabrik-attributed ROAS is very low. Check that your ad links carry UTM tags (Settings, Tracking) and that the pixel is active. Without tags, more orders fall to Direct.
- Platform-claimed ROAS jumped overnight. A platform may have changed its attribution setting, or revised recent days. Recent days settle after a few days.