Divide ad spend by total sales, not just attributed sales, to see true advertising dependency.
The total advertising cost of sales is the share of total sales across all channels that ad spend represents, expressed as a percentage. The same figure is also shown per 1,000 and as a "one in every N" odds statement, which is easier to reason about when the rate is very small. Absolute counts hide scale — a rate normalises the number so you can compare periods, channels or cohorts of different sizes, where lower is better.
TACOS
TACOS = Ad spend ÷ Total sales across all channels × 100
TACOS = Ad spend ÷ Total sales across all channels × 100 The total advertising cost of sales is the share of total sales across all channels that ad spend represents, expressed as a percentage. The same figure is also shown per 1,000 and as a "one in every N" odds statement, which is easier to reason about when the rate is very small.
Absolute counts hide scale — a rate normalises the number so you can compare periods, channels or cohorts of different sizes, where lower is better.
This calculator takes 2 inputs: Ad spend, Total sales across all channels. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.