Why ROAS Is Holding Back Your eCommerce Growth | Google Ads Strategy

Is ROAS holding back your ecommerce growth? Alex Stephens, Head of Performance at eComOne, shows how ROAS can rise 18% while revenue falls 6%, and why chasing the ratio can quietly cap growth. Speaking at the Salesfire Summit 2026, she compares two Google Ads campaigns with identical ROAS where one drove 2.75x more revenue, and explains why incrementality testing beats trusting last-click. You'll also learn how to set targets on the customer rather than the campaign, and what 2026 changes to bidding targets, AI Max, Performance Max and ChatGPT shopping ads mean for ecommerce retailers. Chapters: 0:00 Why moving beyond ROAS drives ecommerce growth 0:31 Alex Stephens: 10 years in ecommerce SEO and paid ads 1:08 The ROAS trap: ROAS up 18% while revenue falls 6% 3:02 Three reasons ROAS misleads: ratio, margin and harvesting 3:50 Same ROAS, different revenue: one campaign drives 2.75x more 4:36 Four Google Ads platform changes for 2026 5:07 Bidding target overhaul: PMax pulled towards ROAS and CPA targets 5:57 AI Max for Search exits beta 6:21 Performance Max gets guardrails: negative keywords and brand exclusions 6:52 Promotion mode: scheduling ROAS adjustments for Black Friday 7:17 Conversational commerce: ChatGPT shopping ads 8:13 Conversational attributes: richer product feed data 9:46 Agentic commerce: AI agents completing purchases 11:25 Where ROAS belongs in the chain from spend to profit 12:25 Shift 1: Budget allocation and channel saturation 13:38 Shift 2: Measurement with incrementality tests 15:37 Budget test: halving daily budgets with no revenue loss 16:35 Shift 3: Set targets on customers, not campaigns 18:29 Stop asking "was this efficient?" and start asking "did this grow profit?" Need help driving profitable performance with Google Ads? Talk to eComOne: www.ecomone.com/contact eComOne, Mosaic, Thomas Parker House, First Floor, Silver Street, Lincoln, LN2 1DY