By Kristians, Founder, AutoAdy. Six years buying Meta ads — first for agency clients, then for his own ecommerce and lead-gen brands.
Last updated:
What changed: Turned the five core rules into a table, linked Meta's own automated-rules documentation, and added the free grader.
Automated rules pause, adjust, or scale ads based on performance without manual monitoring. Every account needs 5 core rules: kill high-spend zero-conversion ads, pause fatigued creatives, cap CPA overspend, scale winners, and alert on anomalies.
Key Takeaways
Five rules cover the decisions you would otherwise make by hand every morning: kill the bleeders, catch fatigue, cap overspend, feed the winners, and shout when something moves that you did not move.
| Rule | Condition | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Kill bleeders | Spend over $50 and zero conversions in 3 days | Pause the ad |
| Catch fatigue | Frequency above 3.0 | Pause the ad |
| Cap overspend | Ad set CPA above 2x target for 3 days | Cut budget 20% |
| Feed winners | Ad set CPA below 0.7x target for 3+ days | Raise budget 20% |
| Anomaly alert | Daily spend deviates 30%+ from average | Notify, do not act |
Meta's rules are free with basic conditions. Limitations: 30-min intervals, max 250 rules, no cross-campaign logic. Third-party tools offer 5-15 min checks, multi-condition rules, cross-campaign budget shifting, and AI thresholds that adapt to your patterns.
Don't evaluate on insufficient data -- wait for 1,000+ impressions. Don't stack conflicting rules. Use 3-7 day windows, not lifetime metrics. Never automate scaling without a daily budget cap.
Figures below come from Meta ad accounts AutoAdy has audited or monitors. They are directional, not a controlled study.
FAQ
Start with 5 essentials. Mature accounts run 8-15. More than 20 usually means conflicting or overlapping rules.
Yes, if poorly configured. Use minimum impression thresholds (1,000+) and cap budget increases at 20% per day to avoid premature decisions.
Under $3K/mo with simple structures, yes. Above that, 30-min intervals and no cross-campaign logic become limiting.
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